Red Salmon Curry
I love some good crispy skinned salmon, but never make it at home because I cannot stand the way it leaves my house smelling. This year I’m loving creating healthy recipes high in protein, veggies and omega 3’s. I make the curry paste for this red salmon curry in my Nutribullet and it’s similar to chu chi which is my favourite thai curry. You can leave the salmon whole or dice it, switch it up for prawns, change up the veg, and it makes enough for 2 people plus leftovers or a really good dinner party dish.
Ingredients
For the paste:
- 15g dried red chillies (soaked, deeseded, strained), preferably long chillies but I could only purchase short dried chillies from the Australian major supermarkets. I recommend wearing gloves to peel chillies or you can burn your fingers
- Medium knob ginger (approx 6cm long), peeled and roughly chopped
- 3 stalks (approx 40g) lemongrass, outer layer removed, roughly chopped
- 5 cloves garlic
- 1 large shallot, peeled and quartered
- 2 tsp shrimp paste
- 7 kaffir lime leaves
- ½ cup water
For the curry:
- 1 x 270ml tin coconut cream (optional: reserve a couple tbsp, to serve)
- 1 x 400ml tin coconut milk
- 2 tbsp palm sugar, finely grated (or for lower sugar, 1 tbsp stevia (I use Natvia powder))
- 4 tbsp fish sauce
- 700-800g salmon, diced
- 200g cherry tomatoes
- 1 bunch asparagus, cut in 4cm lengths
- Juice of 1 lime
To serve:
- Jasmine rice
- 1 bunch coriander, leaves picked
- Lime wedges
- Optional: Coconut cream, yoghurt, or kefir
Serves 4
Method
- Get your rice cooking before starting on the curry.
- Add curry paste ingredients to a blender (I use a nutribullet and it works perfectly and is less dishes) and purée until very smooth.
- To a large, wide pan (ideally wide enough to cook all the salmon fillets in one layer) over medium heat, add coconut cream and ‘crack’ (heat until the liquid has simmered out and separated from the fat. It will be bubbling and thickened, with the texture of yoghurt).
- Fry the paste with 1 tsp salt, stirring often, until fragrant (5-10 minutes).
- Add coconut milk, palm sugar/stevia, fish sauce and cherry cherry tomatoes and simmer until tomatoes are beginning to soften.
- Gently stir in salmon and asparagus, loosen the sauce with some water or stock if it’s too thick and simmer on low for until fish is just cooked (5-8 minutes, depending on the thickness of the fillets).
- Squeeze over juice of one lime and taste, season and balance if necessary (add more palm sugar/stevia for sweetness, and/or fish sauce for saltiness. You can add more lime in this step but I prefer to serve with lime wedges to squeeze over the top).
- Serve with jasmine rice and lime, topped with coriander leaves, and (optional) a drizzle of coconut cream, yoghurt (thinned down with some water), or kefir.