Finding Home With Salmon: A Smashing Salmon Recipe That Feels Like Home

While having dinner last night at a fancy restaurant where they had served steamed seabass with Okra, I shared a Salmon recipe which has cauliflowers and potatoes in it with my friend. She seemed as surprised as I was when I first heard about it. That made me realise that anything that is common for one can be a novelty for the other. Refer to the recipe at the end of the write-up, try it and thank me later.

Before that though, I want to tell a story about how I have finally found home with Salmon.

Before relocating to London, I was fed all kinds of fish in my bong household in Delhi. Mum, aunts and in-laws included were acutely aware of my love for a good fish. I would patiently sit and sieve the fine bones of Ilish for an hour without even whimpering once and was always up to try new stuff. People enjoyed keeping a fishy meal ready for me be it a routine one or on a special occasion.

I did start cooking fish myself. The mere process of smearing the fillet of fish with salt and turmeric and frying it in hot mustard oil was meditative to me. I learnt to make many Bengali fish recipes with great enthusiasm. Particularly Muri Ghonto (a dish cooked with fish head and flavoured rice) and the Kashmiri fish preparation, which is served cold with steaming white rice on the day of Shivratri. Because of the geographical location, we mostly had freshwater fish that were easily available to us.

So, when I relocated to London and I started missing the fish I grew up on, I started my love affair with Salmon.

I took baby steps and would make a simple baked Salmon with garlic, salt and pepper. I would bake it in an oven to save time. When feeling particularly Julia Child-esque, I would wear my cooking apron and fry it in a nonstick pan with butter, taking in all the good aroma. I have stuck to simple techniques and have managed to produce appreciable results (read non-fussy me). Recently though, in this write-up on Cup of Jo, I found out there are N number of techniques to perfect your Salmon, and I am so enticed to try them someday.

I also had a phase of cooking Salmon in a thick ginger and honey sauce after reading about it in a chapter from the book “On Being 40ish”. Still in that phase on and off, no pun intended.

Once while travelling with a cousin, she showed me how to crisp the Salmon skin and enjoy it as a healthy snack. On the same trip, we visited the Bergen fish market and bought cured Salmon just to snack on with our nightcap. That was probably the best cured Salmon that I have had till now. Oh, the memories that we gather while having good food and a good time!

On one such bright sunny Sunday at home, I wanted to destress myself by cooking something that would be comforting, when I remembered how my friend Sutapa was going all Bong with her Salmon lately.

Here is the recipe, though I might have put a little bit of my own spin on it.

Salmon With Cauliflower Florets And Potatoes (Alu Phulkopir Maacher Jhol)

• Take Salmon fillets, smear them with salt and a little turmeric and lightly fry them in hot mustard oil in a nonstick pan. Keep them aside.
• In the same pan, put some mustard oil, once hot sprinkle nigella seeds and see them splutter.
• Then put cubed potatoes and fry for 2-3 minutes, then add cut cauliflower florets, sprinkle salt and turmeric and fry for 2-3 minutes.
• Add ginger paste, slit green chillies, finely chopped tomatoes, and cumin powder. Red chilli powder is optional.
• Cover and cook, you may have to keep adding/sprinkling water in between and cook it till it’s done.
• In the end, add fried salmon fillets and warm water, bring it to a boil and check the fish for doneness. Sprinkle garam masala, a teaspoon of sugar and a spoonful of ghee. Taste and adjust spices and salt.
• You may add finely cut coriander leaves in the end too.
• Have this with steamed rice.

I have not specified the measurements above, as I realise I am becoming my mum or grandma who used to eyeball all food measurements. (With the slow hum of “It’s the Circle of Life” playing in the background, I am finally home)!

Bon Appétit!

If you too have some interesting Salmon recipes, why don’t you share them with us in the comment section below!