Salmon curry – the perfect mid-week meal

You know when someone gives you a recipe and then you wonder how you lived without it? Well this is one of those. I have my girlfriend Nat to thank for passing on this recipe to me. She got it from another girlfriend, who adapted it from a Bill Granger recipe, from Feed Me Now (this book is fantastic for mid-week meal ideas – many are GF or can easily be adapted to be GF). This recipe has come in handy so many times. It’s really delicious, but surprisingly quick to prepare. Perfect for during the week, but it’s also glam enough to serve at a fancy pants dinner party.

It’s helps to have beautiful salmon, like the side pictured above, which was from the Sydney Fish Markets.

Recipe

This quantity should serve around 4 people. I say around as I’m not sure – it’s only been the two of us eating this so far. My kids won’t touch it yet. Even the slightest hint of a peppercorn and they shriek “too spicy too spicy”. One day the chilli gene will kick in. So if you want it to be kid friendly, just add the cayenne pepper or chilli after they’ve been served.

One of the reason this dish is a great mid-week one, is the fact you can make the sauce well ahead of eating time, and let it sit until you’re ready for action. When your troops are gathered around, you can add the salmon and a few minutes later dinner is ready.

Ingredients

1 red onion (I like red for the flavour)
1 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp turmeric
1 x 400g tin tomatoes
250ml chicken stock (Massel brand is good)
1 tsp cayenne pepper (adjust to your taste. You could also add fresh chill if you prefer)
A few curry leaves
Juice of 1 lime
1 tsp brown sugar
4 pieces Tasmanian salmon, cubed

What to do

Make the sauce: chop up the onion quite finely. Get a biggish fry pan out and stir fry the onion until soft. Then add the cumin, coriander and turmeric. Cook it all up for a few minutes – don’t let it burn. Should smell good. Add the tomatoes, chicken stock, cayenne pepper and curry leaves, and then add a lid (or foil) and cook to reduce it down and thicken it up a bit. Add the lime juice and sugar and cook for another few minutes. You can take it off the heat and let it sit now if you need to.

Get ready for the fish: add the cubed salmon and cook in the sauce to your liking. I don’t like mine too rare so I give it at least 5 minutes.

Serve with rice (brown for moi) and fresh coriander. Or mash – that works nicely as well.