On returning home from our Japanese holiday I was keen to play with some Japanese ingredients and to develop some new recipes. Wasabi was on my list.
I decided to team it with salmon. A small piece of salmon is frequently served as part of a Japanese breakfast, along with rice, various pickles, and miso soup.
My very easy salmon dish looks very Christmassy with its garnish of finely chopped red pepper, green parsley and toasted black sesame seeds. When I tried it out on some friends everyone loved it so I thought I would share the recipe. It is very flexible and can easily be multiplied or downsized according to whether you are on your own, there’s two of you, or if you are feeding a crowd.
Salmon with a Japanese Twist
You will need one salmon fillet per person. Arrange them on baking paper in an ovenproof dish; rub a smidgen of vegetable oil onto each fillet and season with salt. Then bake them at 200 degrees C until the salmon is just done. The time will vary according to the number of fillets you are baking and how large they are. Three fillets took about 10 minutes.
The spicy wasabi topping:
Mix a dollop of Japanese kewpie mayonnaise into some thick Greek yoghurt. Add a squeeze of wasabi paste. Start with just a little wasabi then add more to taste . A heavy handed approach here would make your mouth burn but too little is insipid.
Arrange the baked salmon on a platter and spread each piece with a thick layer of the yoghurt/mayonnaise/wasabi mixture.
Then sprinkle very generously with a mixture of finely chopped red pepper, chopped parsley and toasted sesame seeds (I used black sesame seeds as they provide a stronger contrast but white would also be fine)
Accompaniment
Make a large green salad with lettuce, sliced avocado and cucumber and add some slices of pickled Japanese ginger. Dribble over some French dressing.
Put any leftover salmon in the fridge. It will still taste good the following day.
You shouldn’t have any trouble finding the Japanese ingredients needed for this dish. They are available in the International section of most supermarkets or Asian Food Stores.
For more recipes go to Lyn’s Food Blog
By Lyn Potter. Read more here.