A fresh, vibrant salad topped with a gorgeous caramelised salmon dripping with an Asian glaze and drizzled with sesame dressing. This Asian Salmon Salad will knock your socks off. No more boring salads!
Too. Hot. It’s just TOO HOT to cook! Apparently Sydney is “suffering” through a record breaking heat wave. Climate change. Tut, tut.
So tonight (Sunday), as I’m writing up this post and America is gearing up for the single biggest football game of the year (Super Bowl Sunday!), there are two things going through my head:
- Hoping my BBQ won’t self destruct in this extreme heat when I’m grilling burgers for dinner; and
- Wondering how in the heck I am going to go from this 40C/100F heat to the freezing cold snow fields in Japan? ⛷⛷⛷
Yup! I’m off to Japan this week! It’s been too long since I’ve been to visit my relatives, get my Japanese food fix /ski fix, shopping galore / visit my relatives (oops, better fix my priorities 😉). Stay tuned for live updates of my travels on Instagram!
(Yes, the thought of who might win the game is notably absent from the thoughts in my head. Bring on the food. I’ll cater. You watch!)
Oh. And yes, thoughts about this Asian Salmon Salad are noticeably absent too. Hmm. Well! There’s a glimpse into my mind and how it wanders!!
Actually, I made this salad on Saturday. It wasn’t as much of a stinker (Aussie slang interpretation:stinking hot day!) but it was still hot enough for me to avoid stove time.
Thus this Asian Salmon Salad was born. I deliberately cut the salmon into cubes so they cook faster – and also more surface area = high ratio of caramelisation and glaze to flesh. If you’ve got the stove on for more than 3 minutes, I’m putting you in the naughty corner because your salmon will be overcooked. 😞
As you can see in the photo above, the salmon is cooked in a sticky Asian sauce. It cooks down into a syrupy consistency really quickly – literally less than 30 seconds – and the idea behind this recipe is that the glaze forms part of the dressing for the salad. The salmon is gorgeous hot, warm or at room temperature. Personally I even love it cold. In fact, I had it cold straight from the fridge today (see Dozer gagging for the last piece of salmon at the bottom of the post!).
This salmon would be absolutely divine served on rice to soak up all that gorgeous sauce. But I really did enjoy it as a salad. The glaze combined with my super simple but everyone-loves-it Asian Sesame Dressing drizzled over whatever greens you have, then topped with that glazed salmon makes an epic salad that should take you just on 15 minutes to make. Or less if you have the Asian Sesame Dressing already in your fridge ready to go. And why wouldn’t you when it keeps for weeks and weeks and it’s so good you can use it for marinating and dressing almost any salad / steamed vegetables!
I’m happy to be adding another giant salad to my recipe collection! Especially one that’s made with a protein other than chicken or prawns / shrimp. Something a little different, ridiculously delicious, loaded with all the good stuff. 😉 – Nagi x
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Asian Salmon Salad
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Ingredients
Sauce
- ▢ 1 tbsp soy sauce , low sodium / ordinary (Note 1)
- ▢ 2 tbsp EACH hoisin sauce, rice vinegar, honey (Note 2)
- ▢ 1 tbsp sriracha , or other hot sauce (can omit)
- ▢ 2 tbsp water
- ▢ 1 garlic clove , minced
Salmon & Salad
- ▢ 250 – 300 g / 8 – 10 oz salmon , skin off
- ▢ 2 tsp oil (vegetable, canola, peanut oil)
- ▢ 5 cups lettuce , bite size pieces (I used cos lettuce)
- ▢ 15 cherry tomatoes , halved
- ▢ 1/2 avocado , sliced
- ▢ 1 cucumber , halved, deseeded and sliced (Note 3)
Asian Sesame Dressing
- ▢ 1 tbsp soy sauce (Note 1)
- ▢ 1 tsp sesame oil
- ▢ 1½ tbsp white vinegar
- ▢ 1 tbsp olive oil (Note 4)
- ▢ 1 tsp sugar (any type) or 1½ tsp honey
Optional Garnishes
- ▢ 1/2 tsp sesame seeds
- ▢ 1/2 scallion / shallot , finely sliced
Instructions
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Cut salmon into 2.5cm / 1″ cubes.
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Mix Sauce in a medium bowl. Add salmon, set aside for 3 minutes.
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Mix Dressing ingredients in a jar. Shake very well (jar is best).
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Divide Salad ingredients between 2 bowls.
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Heat oil in a non stick medium skillet over medium high heat. Remove salmon from Sauce, shaking off excess. Reserve Sauce.
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Place salmon in skillet. Cook for 2 minutes, turning to caramelise as many of the sides as you can (all sides is not practical, too much turning). (Note 5)
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Pour Sauce into skillet. Cook for 30 seconds or until the Sauce reduces to a syrup (see video for how it bubbles).
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Remove from stove. Immediately transfer salmon onto Salad. Leave to rest / cool for a few minutes. Then spoon the glaze over the salmon. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and shallots/scallions, if using.
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Drizzle salad with Dressing. Serve immediately.
Recipe Notes:
1. I used low sodium all purpose soy sauce. Ordinary soy sauce (i.e. not low sodium) and light soy sauce is fine but will be slightly saltier – but not too salty. I don’t recommend making it with dark soy sauce, it will dominate the flavour of the sauce. Also, do not substitute with sweet soy sauce / kecap manis or fish sauce.
2. The Hoisin can be substituted with Oyster Sauce, the honey can be substituted with 1 packed tbsp brown sugar, the rice wine vinegar can be substituted with apple cider vinegar. If you change everything, it will taste different but it will still be delicious!
3. To deseed cucumbers, cut in half vertically then use a spoon to scrape out the watery seeds (eat it!). Then slice. Deseeding is optional.
4. Extra virgin olive oil is ok as long as the olive flavour isn’t too intense.
5. The salmon will cook very quickly so place the salmon in the skillet in an order you remember (e.g. clockwise). Then by the time you put the last salmon in, start turning the first salmon you put in. Keep turning salmon for the whole 2 minutes.
6. The dressing used in this recipe is a slight adaptation of this Asian Sesame Dressing. One of my all time favorites, I make a big batch and keep it in the fridge for weeks. So if you make it or happen to already have some, use that dressing! It just has slightly more sesame oil.
7. Nutrition per serving. The total calories per serve can be reduced with the following adjustments: omit avocado (saves 102 calories), omit sesame oil from dressing (20 cal). Still absolutely delicious and reduces to 435 calories per serving.
Nutrition Information:
WATCH HOW TO MAKE IT
Asian Salmon Salad recipe video! Lovely eye candy moment watching the salmon simmering in that glaze….
LIFE OF DOZER
If you eat on the couch instead of the table, this is what you have to deal with. 🙄
Should I give him the last piece of salmon? Should I….???
