Salmon with Steamed Vegetables in a Japanese Soy and Lime Dressing (includes Thermomix method)

An easy way to pimp up an ordinary meal into something a little more spectacular...

Why not give a simple mid-week meal a shake up with a zingy oriental dressing and a few simple garnishes to completely transform the flavours?

It couldn't be simpler. An extra five minutes of preparation is all you need to transform plain old salmon and steamed vegetables with rice (or even cauliflower rice or courgette ribbons/zoodles if you want it 'skinny'!) into something packed full of flavour. You can easily switch salmon for chicken fillets, and use your favourite vegetables, or whatever you have to hand. This would also work beautifully with fresh tuna steaks, seared quickly, and sliced, served rare (sashimi grade) to pink on top of the vegetables.

Serves four people, easily halved. 342 calories per portion for the salmon, dressing etc. and vegetables if you're counting (if vegetables as suggested in ingredients), plus 211 calories per portion for 60g uncooked rice / 70 calories for cauliflower rice / 36 calories for courgette ribbons/noodles.



Ingredients

• 1 small side fillet of salmon (skin on, pin-boned, around 550-600g) or 4 skinless, boneless salmon fillet steaks (about 120g each) [883 calories]
• 240g of rice (maximum 300g, or 200g cauliflower florets per person, for cauliflower rice - see here, or 200g courgette / zucchini ribbons / noodles) [See above for rice etc. calories]
• Vegetables for four (e.g. 250g broccoli, cut into small florets [83], 200g fine green beans [58] and 150g mange-tout [57])
• Salt
• Optional lemon

For the dressing

• 2 tablespoons rice-wine vinegar (30ml - check ingredients if cooking gluten free, or use apple cider vinegar) [9]
• 2 teaspoons sugar (golden caster, or use honey etc. if you prefer) [32]
• 1 tbsp grated root ginger (optional) [10]
• 1 teaspoon wasabi powder [10]
• 1 x 15ml tbsp tamari (or light soy) sauce [12]
• 1 x 15ml tbsp toasted sesame oil [120]
• 1 x 15ml tbsp lime juice [10]

To garnish

• 8 small red radishes (approx. 100g) [14]
• 4 spring onions (scallions) [12]
• 2 tsp black (or white) sesame seeds [58]

Optional

• Shichimi Togarashi, to sprinkle over at the end if you want a kick to it (Japanese 7 spice, or a small pinch of cayenne pepper will do)
• Extra toasted sesame oil to drizzle over the top

Method
See below for Thermomix method in italics


Essentially, this is just salmon, rice and vegetables - it's the dressing and garnishes that turn it into something pretty special, so you can cook your salmon, rice and vegetables however you prefer - if you would rather grill or pan fry your salmon, and griddle or boil your vegetables while you microwave your cauliflower rice, or serve on top of noodles (or courgetti!), before you drizzle over the dressing and garnishes then go for it! You don't have to go by the methods below, but I've given a method for those who would like one.

Pre-heat the oven to gas mark 3, put plenty of foil onto a baking tray, put your salmon on top, season, and optionally lay lemon slices over it. Loosely tent the foil over the top and seal it, and bake for half an hour (or until cooked to your liking). If you have steaks, you can either bake in the oven all together in foil, like the side of salmon, grill (broil) or poach them, or steam them when you cook the rice and vegetables.(You can even cook them more quickly in the oven, if in foil, at gas mark 7, for 8 to 12 minutes, but be careful not to overcook.). If any white enzymes escape from the salmon, you can just gently brush them off before serving (purely cosmetic).

If you're cooking grain rice, it's easiest to make this dish using a pan with steamer trays above it. If you're cooking brown or white rice, put into the pan, and cook according to manufacturers guidelines (so around 15 minutes for white rice, and 35-40 for brown).

If you're cooking cauliflower rice, see here for ways to cook it.

To steam your vegetables, cut them into even sized pieces, and lay them on your top steamer tray with gaps to let the steam through and set aside (keep mange tout to one side, as they only need 3 or 4 minutes, and add them near the end). If you're steaming your salmon, lay it on your lowest steaming tray, skin side down, again with plenty of gaps between the steaks.

Put the salmon on top of the rice to steam for approximately 12 minutes, lid on (this will depend on the thickness of your steaks), and then the vegetables a couple of minutes later for the last 10 minutes (adding the mange tout if using, for around the last 3 minutes).

Meanwhile, make the dressing by combining all the ingredients in a jar and shaking, or whisking in a small bowl, until the sugar has dissolved and the dressing is emulsified.

Toast the sesame seeds by frying them for a couple of minutes in a dry pan, until fragrant (white ones will turn golden, but be careful not to burn black ones!), and set aside.

Finely slice the radishes and spring onions and set aside for the garnish.

When ready, divide the rice between four plates (unless you want to put on one large plate for people to help themselves to), top with the vegetables and salmon (I like to break the salmon into large chunks and serve piled up on the vegetables), scatter with the radish slices and spring onions, spoon the dressing over the top and sprinkle with the toasted sesame seeds.

If you want a bit of a kick, shake over some schichimi togarashi (or a pinch of cayenne pepper, or chilli powder or chilli flakes), and for extra indulgence drizzle with a trickle of extra toasted sesame oil... enjoy!


Thermomix method
If you have a side of salmon rather than salmon steaks, you can bake it in the oven while you cook the rice and vegetables in the thermomix. Pre-heat the oven to gas mark 3, put plenty of foil onto a baking tray, put your salmon on top, season, and optionally lay lemon slices over it. Loosely tent the foil over the top and seal it, and bake for half an hour (or until cooked to your liking). If you have steaks, you can steam them in the bottom of the Varoma as follows in an all-in-one meal. If any white enzymes escape from the salmon, you can just gently brush them off before serving (purely cosmetic).

Put 1 litre / 1000g (cold) water into the jug for TM31, or 1,200g water for TM5. Put the internal steaming basket in, set the scales back to zero, and weigh in 240g rice (if you're making this with cauliflower rice for any of the portions, reduce the rice accordingly and see here), add salt (1 tsp, or to taste), put lid on and wash rice 20 seconds / Speed 5.

If you're using salmon steaks you can put them in the bottom of the Varoma (oil lightly first), season, and optionally put a couple of lemon slices on each one. Make sure you leave plenty of gaps for the steam to get through to cook the vegetables.

Place the vegetables on the varoma tray (if not cooking the salmon in the varoma you can put some of the harder veg in the bottom) aside from mange tout, if using (add in the last 3-4 minutes). You can prepare and chop the vegetables, and add them hardest first after starting off the TM with the rice in it, if you like.

Put the Varoma (and lid) on top of the TM and cook for 20 minutes / Varoma temperature / Speed 3.

Meanwhile, make the dressing by combining all the ingredients in a jar and shaking, or whisking in a bowl, until the sugar has dissolved.

Toast the sesame seeds by frying them for a couple of minutes in a dry pan, until fragrant, and set aside.

Finely slice the radishes and spring onions and set aside to garnish.

When ready, divide the rice between four plates (unless you want to put on one large plate for people to help themselves to), top with the vegetables and salmon (I like to break the salmon into large chunks and pile it on the top of the vegetables), scatter with the radish slices and spring onions, pour the dressing over the top and sprinkle with the toasted sesame seeds.

If you want a bit of a kick, shake over some schichimi togarashi, and for extra indulgence drizzle with a trickle of extra toasted sesame oil... enjoy!