Neil Perry

Marinated Salmon Salad

Preparation info

    • Difficulty

      Medium

Appears in

top 1000Balance and Harmony: Asian Food

Balance and Harmony

By Neil Perry

Published 2008

  • About

With its crispy charred outside and melting interior, you’re sure to love the salmon in this dish as much as I do. Like all the salads in this chapter, this is great as part of a shared table. The texture of ground roast rice on these Thai salads is quite addictive and, if you add lime and chilli, you will be in heaven. This is also a cracker if you deep-fry the fish and break it up and toss together with the salad.

Ingredients

  • 250 g (9 oz) salmon fillet
  • 3 tablespoons fish sauce
  • a pinch of sea salt
  • a pinch of caster (superfine) sugar
  • 3 red shallots, finely sliced
  • 2 tablespoons peanuts, roasted and crushed
  • 1 handful of mixed mint and coriander (cilantro) leaves
  • 1 clove garlic, finely sliced and deep-fried until golden
  • 1½ tablespoons salmon roe
  • a pinch of ground roast rice

    Method

    Mix together the fish sauce, sea salt and sugar, add the salmon and make sure it’s coated well, then refrigerate for about 30 minutes. Transfer the fish to a wire rack positioned over a bowl or tray and refrigerate, uncovered, for several hours, or overnight. This will allow the fish to dry out slightly. Remove the salmon from the fridge about 30 minutes before cooking.

    Barbecue the fish over high heat for about 2 minutes on each side, or until the outside is charred but the inside is still rare, and rest for 5 minutes. Coarsely flake the fish.

    Mix together the shallots, peanuts, herbs and garlic in a bowl, then gently fold in the fish. For the dressing, whisk together the sugars, lime juice, fish sauce and the chilli powder and drizzle over the salad. Sprinkle with the salmon roe and ground roast rice to serve.