Kalo jeera diye mach or Bengali-style salmon with black onion seeds

This is a really simple salmon recipe that my parents came up with aeons ago for cooking what was at the time a pretty unfamiliar British fish- so a true fusion dish! I'm sure it could be adapted for use with other oily fish, or indeed the more traditional Bengali rui mach. There isn't much jhol, or gravy, as such but what you do have is quite a delicately spiced dish which really compliments the rich flavour of salmon.

Recipe (enough for 2)

Around 300g of salmon, scaled and cut into large-ish chunks
A large thumb-sized piece of ginger, squashed to a paste
2 cloves of garlic, squashed to a paste
1 large dried bay leaf
1 whole green chilli, pricked a few times
Around 2 tsp black onion seeds (a.k.a. nigella, kalonji, or kalo jeera if you're Bengali)
Around 1.5 tsp turmeric
A small squirt of tomato purée
Around 1 tsp salt, or to taste
Around 1 tblsp plain oil
Couple of tbslp chopped fresh coriander leaves (optional)

Firstly marinate the fish in around 1 tsp of turmeric. Give it a good stir so it's all lightly coated, and leave it for around 30mins (or less if that's more convenient). In the meantime squish the the ginger and garlic, and mix into a paste. When you're ready to cook, heat the oil in a suitable pan (non-stick is pretty handy for this) and then put in the fish. Gently fry for a few minutes on each side to 'seal' it but not cook it fully. Take the fish out (leaving the oil in the pan) and put it the bay leaf, ginger and garlic, and chilli. Cook over a medium heat for a few minutes and then add the black onion seeds, and continue to cook. After another couple of minutes, put the fish back in, sprinkle over the rest of the turmeric, and add the tomato purée with a couple of tablespoons of water. Gently mix everything together, season to taste and place over a low heat until the fish is cooked through. This will probably take 5 to 10 minutes depending on the size of your fish pieces.

Once cooked, take off the heat and stir in the coriander if you're using it. Serve with plain boiled rice, and maybe some vegetables, while contemplating the the brilliance of kalo jeera.

Mini salmon scotch eggs

So the first person I saw making scotch eggs with salmon instead of meat was the latest Masterchef- The Professionals winner, Ash Mair. I really like the idea of scotch eggs- crunchy fried stuff and boiled eggs- what's not to like? And as I don't eat meat, a pescatarian alternative seemed ideal.

I actually first tried making these scotch eggs over the Christmas holidays, using smoked salmon. They were alright but somehow a bit bland and unremarkable, and the cooking process left the salmon with a bit of an odd (and not entirely pleasant) texture. I guess the application of heat to smoked salmon is not a particularly good idea in general.
Anyway last weekend, I thought I'd give things another go but this time with some cooked regular salmon. I sort of made up my own recipe, based on the flavours I thought would go together, and second time round there was definitely an improvement. I still wouldn't say these were fantastic though. I think they need a stronger herb flavour, and probably a thicker salmon coating to stop the fish overcooking. Anyway, here's the recipe I came up with, which is currently based on a bit of trial and error.

Recipe (for 12 mini scotch eggs)

12 quails eggs
3 cooked skinless and boneless salmon fillets (around 250g)
Generous knob of butter
4 spring onions, finely sliced
1 tsp fresh thyme leaves, finely chopped
1 tblsp mayonnaise
Around 1 tblsp plain flour
Around 3-4 heaped tablespoons of breadcrumbs
Salt and pepper for seasoning
Sunflower oil for frying

Put the eggs into boiling water for around two minutes, and then put them straight into some cold water. Carefully peel the eggs and set to one side. Melt the butter in a frying pan and gently sweat the spring onions until they've soften, add the thyme and cook for a couple more minutes. Leave the onions to cool a bit and then flake the fish, add the mayo, and mix everything together to form a thick-ish paste. Have a little taste at this stage, and add salt and pepper to taste.
The next step is to assemble the scotch eggs. First roll the peeled eggs in the flour so that they have a light coating. This helps the fish mixture to stick to the eggs. Put about 2 tsps of the salmon in the palm of you hand and push it out so it's flattened. Place an egg in the centre and gently shape the salmon mixture around it. Do this until you've covered all the eggs, and then roll in breadcrumbs. I found that there was enough oil and moisture in the fish coating to allow the breadcrumbs to stick, but you could beat a whole egg and dip the scotch eggs in before rolling in the crumbs if you wanted a thicker coating.
I then shallow fried the scotch eggs in a couple of centimetres of fairly hot oil until they were browned. You could also deep fry these, but as they are quite small this seemed unnecessary.


So the end product was nice and crispy, with a soft-ish egg in the centre. However, I think these eggs could be better. As I've mentioned before, I probably didn't use enough salmon for these, as the eggs would have benefited from a thicker layer of fish around them. I definitely need to cut the spring onion finer, or only use the white part (the dark green bits in the pictures above are the green parts poking through the breadcrumb). Maybe next time I'll try using raw instead of cooked salmon too. And perhaps a stronger herb like dill. If you've tried any of these ideas for successfully making salmon scotch eggs, I'd be delighted to hear from you.

Tandoori-style salmon

I'm not really sure why I've never made this before. I like salmon, I like salmon with lots of Indian spices, but somehow it has never occurred to me to try and make a tandoori-style version. Until last week! I've learnt my lesson after my previous ready made paste disappointment, and made my own marinade, which was actually perfectly straightforward. I marinated the fish for a couple of hours, and then cooked it under a hot grill. It wasn't exactly the heat levels of a tandoor, but I did end up with a few nice charred bits with the rest of the fish staying succulent.

Recipe (enough for 2 as a main meal):

4 salmon fillets with skin left on
2 spring onions
1 inch-ish, thumb-sized piece of ginger
3 fat cloves of garlic
2 small green chillis
4 tablespoons of full fat Greek yoghurt
Juice of half a large lemon
4 tsp garam masala
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground corriander
1.5 tsp tumeric
1 tsp paprika (or Kashmiri red chilli powder if you can find it)
0.5 tsp salt
A couple of grinds of black pepper
A few tsps of sunflower oil

Blitz up (or pound) the spring onion, ginger, garlic, and chilli into a paste and tip into a bowl with all the other ingredients except the oil. Mix it all well and pour over the salmon so that all its surfaces are covered. Leave to marinade in the fridge for around 4-5 hours, so basically if I want to have this for dinner I'd try to get it in the marinade by lunchtime. Take the salmon out of the fridge around 30mins before you want to actually cook it, so that it comes up to room temperature. Then heat up your grill, put the salmon fillets on a tray. Spread any remaining marinade in a thin layer over the fish, and lightly brush each fillet with a little oil and sprinkle a bit of extra salt over too. Cook the salmon for around 7-8mins on each side depending on how hot you can get your grill and how thick the pieces are. The fish should have a few dark charred bits, but be just cooked through in the centre.
And that's it really. I serve this with some plain rice, green vegetables, and maybe a raita of some sort. The acidity of the lemon and yoghurt contrasts with the richness of the salmon, and this is such a robust fish it's great with loads of spices. And if you can get all the preparation done in advance this really can be a super-simple and speedy dinner.

Salmon salad nicoise

I was intending to write this post a couple of weeks ago. I was wearing sandals, wandering around in a floaty skirt, and keen on moving on from hearty winter fare to something a little lighter for my dinners. However summer seems to finished now, and I am back to being wrapped in a scarf. Humph.
Anyway, this is one of my favourite quick summer meals. A traditional tuna nicoise salad combines tinned tuna with boiled potatoes, salad leaves, tomato, green beans, boiled egg, anchovies and olives. This version replaces the tinned fish with some freshly grilled salmon fillets, and I've previously used fresh tuna steaks too. I omitted the tomato (realised I didn't have any) and olives (thought the anchovy would add enough saltiness), and added in some finely sliced red onion (for a bit of extra sharpness). This is not one of those recipes that requires precise amounts of ingredients so the below are really only guidelines, and you can also add in the components that I left out if you like them.

Recipe (enough for two):
2 salmon fillets, grilled, skin removed
Around 12 small new potatoes, boiled
2 eggs, boiled until hard or soft, quartered
6 anchovy fillets
1 small red onion, finely sliced
2 generous handfuls of green beans, boiled or steamed until tender
1 bag of mixed salad leaves

Dressing:
Around 6tbsp olive oil
Around 2tbsp lemon juice
Salt and pepper to taste

So simply whisk together the dressing, assemble all the above ingredients, and pour over. I like to eat this while it's still warm with the dressing being absorbed by the potatoes, and their residual heat also slightly softening the onion. But it's perfectly nice at room temperature too. Ideally serve when it's a lovely summer day.