Steam Salmon Fillet With Herbs

Here is another Chinese New Year auspicious dish from Cuisine Paradise Kitchen. Despite of the Cod Fish that I always used, Salmon is another type of fish that is always on my shopping list. And since now is near to the Chinese New Year festive season, I think having something which is "BRIGHT" and "RED" will be a great presentation to impress our guests during Chinese New Year gathering...... So let me share with you my 2nd Chinese New Year "Fish" dish which I called it "鸿运当头" due to the colour of the salmon slices and herbs like red dates and wolfberries.

The idea of steaming salmon with Chinese Herbs came into my mind because I wanted to prepare something different using the salmon fillet that I bought. Instead of the usual pan-fry, bake with herbs or poaching.... I think maybe I can in-cooperate some Chinese Herbs to it and turn the Salmon into a Auspicious Chinese New Year dish.......... There are a few types of Salmon available in the supermarket or Japanese seafood stall, but usually those that we get from the local supermarket are the Norwegian Salmon which is sold in pre-packed of different parts of the salmon fillet from head to tail. No matter how you like to consume your salmon in a way from RAW to grill or poach, I am sure every different methods will brings up another level of taste in the salmon.

Ingredients: (serves 2)
1 Pieces of Boneless Salmon Fillet, abt 400g
10g Shredded Ginger
1 Stall of Spring Onion, cut into long section
4 Red Dates, soften and cut into halves
1/2 Teaspoon of Wolfberries
2 Slices of Dang Gui, break into smaller portion
Drizzle of Sesame Oil, optional

Method:
1. Rinse the Salmon fillet, pat dry and cut into slices and set aside.
2. Place some spring onion on a steaming plate, top with some Dang Gui slices and arrange the salmon slices on top of it.
3. Scatter the red dates and wolfberries evenly on the salmon slices then get ready a pot of boiling water for steaming.
4. While waiting for the water to boil, pre-heat a small frying pan with about 1 tablespoon of oil, sauté the shredded ginger till fragrant and golden brown, removed and set aside for garnish.
5. When the pot of water boils, place some saute ginger on top of the salmon slices, drizzle some ginger oil and scatter some extra chopped spring onion and steam it over medium heat for about 5 to 7 minutes depend on the thickness of the salmon slices.
6. Before severing, top with the remaining saute ginger and oil and try to scoop a few teaspoons of the fish gravy(after steaming the fish, there will be some water/sauce appears below the fish) over the fish in order to make it look more glossy and presentable.

Note:-
~ This dish is best to serve warm, just right after steaming or else the texture of the salmon slices will be tough and not smooth.

Finally, this is the end product of my "Steam Salmon Fillet with Herbs - 鸿运当头" which I hope those who consume this will have great Prosperity and luck in the coming year. If you are going to try out this dish, do let me know your feedback irregardless of good/bad :) Till then I will leave you with the two Chinese New Year Fish Dish that I have shared with you..... Will update more if I have any new ideas to share......

Baked Mango & Salmon Salad

Salmon Baked Rice for Saturday Lunch and now we have Bake Mango & Salmon Salad using the remaining Salmon cutlet that I have left over from making the Salmon Bake Rice. Hahaha! This is one of the bad-point when preparing meal if there are less people at home as we tends to have some extra ingredient left over from making the previous dish.


This is a very refreshing and colouring dish there consists more than 5 colours: 1) Pink for salmon, 2) Yellow for mango and lemon, 3) Brown for Shimeiji mushroom and cashew nuts, 4) Green for cucumber and seaweed flakes, 5) Red for tomato 6) White for mayonnaise sauce and cheese. This dish is very easy to prepare all you need is about 15 - 20 minutes of cutting and baking time.

Ingredients: (serves 2)
8 Pieces of 1" cube size Salmon
1/2 Bundle of Shimeiji Mushrooms
1/2 Japanese Cucumber, cut into half cubes
1/2 Medium Size Mango, cut into cubes
1/2 Tomato, cut into 1/4 wedges
3 -4 Thin Lemon Slices
Some roasted Cashew Nuts
Some Japanese Mayonnaise Sauce
Some Seaweeds Flakes, optional
1 Tablespoon Shredded Cheese, optional

Methods:
1. Pre-heat a small saucepan with 1/2 teaspoon of olive and and stir-fry the Shimeiji for 30 seconds and remove, set aside.
2. Next lightly pan-fry the salmon cube for about 30 seconds on each side until it's almost cooked through, remove and set aside.
3. Arrange in alternate way using the salmon cubes, cucumber, mango, tomato, shimeiji mushroom, lemon and some shredded cheese in a baking dish.(refer to the 2nd picture, 1st row picture 2 and 3)
4. On the top layer, drizzle some Japanese mayonnaise, shredded cheese and cashew nuts then pop it into the toaster oven for about 5 minutes until cheese melt.
5. Serve it as a starter or side dish and you can sprinkler some seaweeds flakes on it.

Notes:
a) You can purchase those small packed of snack roasted cashew nuts from supermarkets.
b) Rinse and cut the Shimeiji mushroom into single stalk.
c) You can omit using cheese if you don't not have them or you are not a fan of cheese.
d) You can replace the mango with avocado cubes instead.....

Salmon Baked Rice

As you might notice that I always cooked with either salmon or cod fish that is because the flesh on these fish are much fine and tastier for my picky boy :) And he loves to eat either one of this fish whenever I come out with new ideas to cook them. Today's Special will be on Salmon again and we are going to make a simple version of Salmon Baked Rice without using any white or red sauce.

Yup... no hectic preparation of sauce involved. It's just some cooked rice, fresh salmon slices, shimeiji mushroom, egg and Japanese Mayonnaise sauce. That's it! With all these ingredients you can whipped up a Quick and Easy Salmon Baked Rice within 15 - 20 minutes.


From the pictures, you can see that i actually serves it with some extra baked butter corns, tomato wedges and drizzle some extra BBQ sauce on top of the baked rice to enhance the favour. Since there are no liquid sauce in this baked rice, I crack an egg in the middle of the rice to create some moisture from the egg white and yolk.

Ingredients: (serve 1)
8 slices of Sashimi cut Salmon
1/4 Bunch of Shimeiji Mushroom
1 Rice Bowl of Cooked Rice
1 Egg, optional
2 Tablespoons of Assorted Shredded Cheese
Some Japanese Mayonnaise
Some BBQ Sauce

Methods:
1. Cook the rice accordingly and get ready a 1 person serving size baking dish.
2. Drizzle about 1 teaspoon of olive oil in a small non-stick pan and stir-fry the shimeiji mushroom for about 30 seconds, remove and set aside.
3. Next spoon the cooked rice into the baking dish and arrange the shimeiji mushroom around the side of the baking dish.
4. Make a well in the middle and crack an egg into the hole.
5. Lastly arrange the salmon slices on top of the rice and spread the shredded cheese evenly on top the fish.
6. Before baking, drizzle some japan Mayonnaise on it and bake in a toaster oven for about 5 - 7 minutes.(depend on the thicken of the fish and how well cooked you want the egg to be)
7. Remove the bake rice from the toaster and drizzle some extra BBQ sauce on top and serve immediately.

Notes:
a) Rinse and cut the shimeiji mushroom into individual stalk from the bundle.
b) You can serve it with some baked corn, just removed the husk from the corn, wash and pad dry then brush it with some butter and baked in the toaster oven for about 10 minutes, turn occasionally.

Salmon With Passionfruit Sauce

Cooking with Passion fruit is never to come across my thought as I don't really have passion with this fruit. But after hearing good comments from my friend Tracy on this fruit, I decided to give it a try and at one go I have whipped up a main course and a dessert to pair with it. So today's Menu will be Salmon With Passion fruit Sauce served with Passion fruit Salad and PassionMisu(recipe) here for dessert.

The passion fruit is round to oval, yellow or dark purple at maturity, with a soft to firm, juicy interior filled with numerous seeds. The fruit can be grown to eat or for its juice, which is often added to other fruit juices to enhance aroma. Fresh Passion Fruit is known to be high in vitamin A, Potassium and dietary fibre. Passion fruit juice is also a good source of ascorbic acid (vitamin C).


For this dish I used the passion fruit to make the serving sauce for the salmon and sweet potato as well as the passion fruit salad. I made use of the empty shell of the passion fruit as a serving plate for the salad to the overall dish more presentable. You can make use of any kind of vegetables or fruits that you can find in your fridge compartment. For my Passion fruit Salad the ingredients used are as follow:-

Salad Ingredients : (serves 2)
2 Tablespoons of Cucumber Cubes
2 Tablespoons of Apple Cubes
1 Tablespoons of Tomato Cubes
1 Tablespoon of Passion fruit Pulps
1 Tablespoon of Pomegranate

Methods:
1. Cut all the items into similar shape and sizes then mixed them together and set aside in the fridge.
2. Scoop the salad into the reserved passion fruit shell.

Note:
a) You can use whatever fruits and vegetables that is in your fridge but try to choose those with mild favour to compromise with the passion fruit taste.

As for the main course, I used salmon fillet to accompany the fragrant of the passion fruit sauce and it really blend well with this combination. This salmon dish consists of 3 portion of preparing method for the fish, sauce and side dish. You can use any side dish you prefer, eg. fresh salad greens, mash potato, potato wedges or etc. For my case, I served it with pan-fry sweet potato slices.

Sauce Ingredients:
2 Medium Passion fruits
1/2 Teaspoon Butter
3 Shallots, sliced & roughly chopped
1/2 Teaspoon Honey
1 Tablespoon Cooking Wine

Methods:
1. Halves the passion fruit, scrape flesh into strainer and push it through the stainer and get about 80 - 100ml of juice. Set aside.
2. After frying the salmon, use the kitchen paper towel to wipe the pan then add in the butter and saute the shallot till fragrant, about 1 minutes or less.
3. Add in cooking wine, passion fruit juice and honey then simmer on medium low heat till thickened, about 30 seconds then remove and set aside.

Note:
a) The use of honey is for seasoning purpose as in sweeten and enhance the favour of the passionfruit and it also act as a caramelised agent to thicken the sauce.

Main Ingredients: (serves 2)
2 Pieces of Salmon Fillet, about 200g each
Salt & Pepper
1/2 Tablespoon passion fruit juice
1/2 Tablespoon Cornflour
1 Teaspoon Olive Oil
1 Teaspoon Butter

Methods:
1. Season the salmon with salt, pepper and passion fruit juice then coat it with some cornflour on both side then set aside for about 1 minute.
2. Heat up the pan with olive oil and butter then pan-fry the salmon, skin-side down for about 4 minutes on each side until cooked through. the timing will depending on the thickness of the fillet.
3. Removed the fillet and arranged on serving plate together with the side dish, salad and drizzle some passion fruit sauce on the fillet and served extra sauce on the side.

Salmon Onigiri

Onigiri also known as Omusubi, is a snack of Japanese rice formed into triangle or oval shapes and often wrapped in nori (edible seaweed). Traditionally, the onigiri is filled with pickled ume fruit (umeboshi), salted salmon, katsuobushi, or any other salty or sour ingredient. But now most of the Onigiri can be wrapped with other special ingredients like salmon, ebi or etc.


For our Quick & Easy menu tonight, we will be having Salmon Onigiri. I use the pan-fry salmon flake to make three different version of Salmon Onigiri, 1st type is salmon flakes with black sesame seeds, 2nd is salmon flakes with seaweed flakes and 3rd type is salmon & cheese wrapped with rice. And making of Onigiri is so much easier with the help of the assorted Onigiri Moulds sold in the supermarket.

Ingredients: (make 6 Onigiri, 6cm by 5cm)
1 Cup of Short Grain/Calrose Rice
1 Piece of Salmon Fillet, about 250g
3-4 Slices of Ginger
1 Teaspoon Black Sesame Seeds, toasted
1 Teaspoon White Sesame Seeds, toasted
1 Slice of Sandwich Cheese, folded into quarter lengthwise
1 Small Sheet of seaweed, cut into 8cm by 1cm

Methods for Salmon & Black Sesame Onigiri:
1. Wash and rinse the rice with a few rounds of water until the water is clear, then soak it with about 20ml more of water for about 2 - 3 hrs then cook it in the rice cooker as per normal.
2. While cooking the rice, heat up a small non-stick saucepan and add in about 1/2 tablespoon of olive oil and saute the ginger slices till fragrant then add in the salmon skin side down.
3. Pan-fry it for about 2 minutes or till golden brown then flip it over and cook on the surface until it is cooked through, but do not overcooked it.
4. Add about 1/4 of the cooked salmon flakes in a big bowl, use the fork to flake it then add in 1 scoop of the cooked rice and about 1/2 teaspoon of the black sesame seeds.
5. Mixed them well then fill the rice in the Onigiri Mould and pressed the cover hard to get it moulded into shape.
6. Remove it from the mould and sprinkle some extra black sesame seeds on top. (You can make about two of this using the 6cm by 5cm mould)

Methods for Salmon & Seaweed Flakes Onigiri:
1. You can follow the same steps as the Salmon & Black Sesame Onigiri but do some changes on method 4.
2. Instead of adding 1/2 teaspoon of black sesame seeds to mixture with the salmon flakes, you can add in 1 teaspoons of the seaweeds flakes to make it green and pink.

Methods for Salmon & Cheese Onigiri:
1. You can follow the same steps as the Salmon & Black Sesame Onigiri from method 1 to 3.
2. Next instead of mixing the salmon with the rice, you filled almost 1/2 the Onigiri mould with cooked rice, then place 1 piece of cooked salmon(about 1.5cm cube) in the middle and top with 1 piece of the cheese cube.
3. Next cover the filling with another 1/2 of the cooked rice on top to fill the mould.
4. Put on the cover and pressed tie to get the shape, remove the Onigiri from the mould and wrap it with seaweed strip and sprinkle with some white sesame seeds on one side.
5. Heat the the same saucepan use to pan-fry the salmon with 1 teaspoon of olive and pan-fry both side of the Onigiri for about 1 minute each side so that the heat will melt the cheese inside.

Ingredients & Onigiri Moulds


Notes:
a) You can toast the sesame seeds in advance and keep it in an air-tight container for future use.
b) You can either serve the Onigiri cold or warm.
c) You can use whatever ingredients you have in your pantry, if you do not have black or white sesame seeds or even seaweed sheet, you can either omit or replace it with other ingredients.

Pan-fry Salmon & Apple Slices With Butter Sauce

Salmon is the common name for several species of Fish of the family Salmonidae. Several other fish in the family are called trout. Salmon is a popular food. Consuming salmon is considered to be reasonably healthy due to the fish's high protein, high Omega-3 fatty acids, and high vitamin D content.

Like many fruits, Apples contain Vitamin C as well as a host of other antioxidant compounds, which may reduce the risk of cancer by preventing DNA damage. The fiber content, while less than in most other fruits, helps regulate bowel movements and may thus reduce the risk of colon cancer. They may also help with heart disease, weight loss and controlling cholesterol, as they do not have any cholesterol, have fiber, which reduces cholesterol by preventing re-absorption, and are bulky for their caloric content like most fruits and vegetables. So "An apple a day keeps the doctor away."

This was a very interesting dish that my lady boss was telling us during one of the chit chat session. So base on what she had describe, I came out my own version of Pan-fry Salmon & Apples Slices With Butter Sauce. Other than the main course, I also added some side dish like stir-fry honey peas & carrot with garlic serve with rice.

This is indeed a very nice and easy to prepare hearty food for the whole family to have fish, fruit, vegetables and rice in a dish. If you are interested on how does the apples taste wise with salmon and butter, you must try this dish and you will sure to love it just like what we do. Reyon loves this dish especially the butter apples and juicy salmon..........

Ingredients For Salmon & Apple (serves 2)
1 Piece of Salmon Fillet, about 300g
2 Medium Red Apples, cored and cut into wedges
1 Medium Onion, cut into thin slices
4 Slices of Ginger, thinly shredded
10g - 15g of Salted Butter
1/4 Wedge Of Lemon, optional

Methods:
1. Wash and pat dry the salmon fillet, sprinkle with some pepper(optional) then coat with some corn flour before pan-fry to get the crispy outer coating and seal the freshness and juicy texture of the fillet.
2. Heat up the pan with 10g of butter, you can add 1/2 teaspoon of cooking oil to prevent the butter from getting burn.
3. Saute the onion and ginger for about 30 seconds then add in the salmon fillet and pan-fry on low heat until it's cooked through to your preference. (I prefer it to be just done so that the meat will be juicy and outer layer is crispy and fragrant, when you see golden colour on the skin layer it should be done but then it also depend on the thickness of the fillet.)
4. When the salmon is done remove it from the pan, and if there is not much oil left, you can add in more butter then put in the apple wedges and stir-fry for about 3-5 minutes till it's tender.
5. Remove it and serve together with the fish fillet and lemon.

Notes:
a) You can replace the salmon with cod fish if you prefer.
b) When saute the onion and ginger with the salmon, when you see the onion and ginger is almost golden in colour, dish it up and set aside so that u can served it on top of the rice.
c) You can either peel off the skin of the apple or u can cook it with the skin on depend on your liking. For me, I used 1 with skin and the other one without.

Ingredients For The Side Dish
6 - 8 Honey Peas
1 Medium/Small Carrot, cut into 0.5cm thick slices
3 Cloves Of Garlic, remove the skin
1/2 Tablespoon Cooking Wine (hua tiao jiu)

Methods:
1. Prepare and wash the vegetables then heat up the pan with some oil and saute the garlic till fragrant.
2. Add in the carrot slices and fry for about 1 minute then add in the peas and continue to stir-fry for another 1 minutes.
3. Season it with some cooking wine and pinch of salt.

Deep-Fry Salmon With Special Sauce

Replicate this Salmon Dish from Zur's from the M4M forum, where she used vinegar and light soy sauce to make the seasoning sauce for this dish. Before testing out the dish I am still worrying about the taste due to the use of vinegar. But to my surprise, the sweet and sour sauce was great with the combination of mirin and chillies flakes. Overall this is a very appetizing dish which consists sweet, sour and spicy taste in one. But since I don't have sweet sake at home, I replace it with a bit of sugar and also in some some cornstarch solution to thicken the sauce slightly.

Baked Salmon With Lemon Butter Sauce

Get the inspiration of this dish from one of my friend's blog where she often prepares salmon dishes for her kids. This simple and yet delicious dish is super easy to prepare; you just need to rinse and pat dry the fillet then lightly season it with some olive oil, salt and black pepper. After which sent it into the oven or toaster and bake till done then drizzle with some lemon butter sauce or wasabe.

Turkey Wrap & Salmon Delight

These few weeks I am running out of dinner ideas and at time I also don't know what to cook for for the family. Although I might have a lot of recipe books at home but sometime I am just too lazy or tired to whip up 2 - 3 courses meal. So yesterday night, I turn this breakfast dish into dinner and we had Turkey Wrap and Smoke Salmon with Scramble Egg.