Traditional Chinese food actually seldom has fresh salads. I grew up loving my vegetables cooked. Dear hubs however could demolish piles of salad greens (he’s half herbivore). Nonetheless I’ve been recently intrigued at how well Asian flavors lift salads and I’ve been enjoying the creativity of developing this kind of salad.
I love adding salmon to salad but I particularly like how these salmon bites are not scattered or smashed into the greens. I deliberately kept the salmon as discrete bites so as to allow kid#1 who hates fish to be able to pick out the fish and have the salad.
I kept the dressing minimal – the gochugaru is strong and spicy and the light and crisp salad leaves carry the heavy fish well. Hubs wiped out this salad decisively!
Gochugaru Salmon Bite Salad
Ingredients
- Salmon bites
- 400-500g of salmon fillets cur into 1 inch cubes
- 2 tsp of korean chili powder (gochugaru)
- 2 tsp sesame oil
- 2 tbsp light soy sauce
- 1 tbsp sugar free honey
- 1 tbsp peanut or other oil
- 1 head of romaine lettuce
- 10 cherry tomatoes, halved
- shavings of parmesan cheese
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds
- 1 tbsp chopped spring onions
Salad:
Directions
- Mix the chili powder, sesame oil, light soy sauce and honey together and marinate the cubes of fish. Chill in refrigerator for at least 1/2 hour.
- Heat up the peanut oil in a skillet. Pan fry the salmon pieces (shake off the excess marinade before placing the salmon pieces in the pan). Sear each side about 2 minutes each till lightly caramelized. Set aside.
- Cut the salad leaves into bite sized pieces.
- Toss the salad, tomatoes, cheese together with the olive oil. Top with pieces of salmon and scatter the sesame seeds and spring onions on top. Serve immediately.
Still Feeling Peckish 