A Different Spin on Salmon. Wow, Is It Good!
I had a taste for salmon. But I didn’t have a taste for baked, grilled, or pan sautéed salmon. I couldn’t put my finger on exactly what I wanted. Then it struck me that I’d recently made chicken karaage, a Japanese fried chicken recipe, and thought the same basic technique would work well for salmon, seeing as how salmon is a fatty fish.
It’s simple. Cut the salmon into large chunks – 2 inch cubes. I cut them this large because I didn’t want them to overcook. I went with a Thai inspired marinade – soy sauce, fish sauce, green curry paste *, grated fresh ginger and a little sugar. Mix it with the salmon and let it sit for 30 minutes.
Toss the pieces of salmon in a mixture of half flour and half potato starch *. Then it was simply a matter of using the double fry technique in order for the pieces of salmon to be delicately crisp, but not overcooked. Heat oil to 350°, fry the salmon in batches for 1 1/2 minutes. Increase the heat of the oil to 400° and fry the salmon again for only 45 seconds per batch.
I’ve become much more comfortable deep frying foods since I started doing it in either a wok or a deep Dutch oven. There is virtually no mess. It’s nothing compared to pan frying a steak, pork chop, or chicken cutlet. I’m left with my whole stove greased up, along with the surrounding cabinets and floor when I pan fry. Deep frying is clean and easy. Hardly any splatter at all. As long as your cooking vessel is deep enough, you’re good.
Before I started cooking the salmon, I quickly put together a dipping sauce of finely chopped salted peanuts, full fat Greek yogurt, sriracha sauce, and a little salt.
When the salmon was done, I sprinkled on lime zest and cilantro leaves. Now, here’s the interesting outcome. My salmon filet was nice and thick at one end, but tapered off and got thin at the opposite end. I was concerned about the thinnest pieces becoming dry and overcooked. It ended up being a delicious mix. The thick pieces were juicy and perfectly cooked, while the thinner ones were super crispy and didn’t taste overcooked at all. We thought both sizes were equally good.
We’ve been talking about how good this was for days now. It sounds trite, but such a simple technique produces an end result that’s truly mouth wateringly delicious. And we had leftovers that I briefly reheated in my countertop oven on the air fry setting. I swear they tasted as good as if I’d just made them. Besides the peanut yogurt sauce, I also made a very simple and quick standard dipping sauce of soy sauce, fish sauce, lime juice, sugar, Thai chili, and sliced scallion. It was fun having both sauces, but if I were only going to make one, it would most definitely be the peanut yogurt sauce. Really outstanding all the way around.
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Fried Salmon with Peanut Yogurt Sauce
6
servingsChunks of salmon are marinated with green curry paste, soy sauce, fish sauce, fresh ginger and sugar. They are then dredged in flour and potato starch, fried twice, and served with a yogurt dipping sauce which contains a lot of finely chopped peanuts. So good!
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Ingredients
- Salmon
2 pounds thick salmon filet, skinned, and cut into 2 inch chunks
1 1/2 tablespoons finely grated fresh ginger
1 1/2 tablespoons soy sauce - Kikkoman
1 tablespoon fish sauce
1 tablespoon green curry paste *
1 teaspoon granulated sugar
1/2 cup unbleached all purpose flour
1/2 cup potato starch *
1 quart neutral vegetable oil
Fine sea salt
2 teaspoons finely grated lime zest
2 tablespoons chopped cilantro leaves
- PeanutYogurt Sauce
1/2 cup salted roasted peanuts
1 cup plain, full fat Greek yogurt
2 teaspoons sriracha sauce
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
Directions
- Salmon
- In a small bowl, stir together the ginger, soy sauce, fish sauce, green curry paste, and sugar. Put the pieces of fish in a large bowl and gently stir in the soy mixture. Set aside at room temperature for 30 minutes.
- In a Dutch oven or wok, heat the oil to 350°. While the oil is heating, stir together the flour and potato starch. Spread it out on half of a sheet pan. Dredge the pieces of salmon in the flour mixture and set them on the other half of the sheet pan.
- When the oil has reached 350°, add pieces of salmon and cook for 1 1/2 minutes. Remove with a strainer and place on a plate. Repeat with the remaining salmon, until it is all cooked, maintaining the heat between 300° and 325°. Turn up the temperature and heat the oil to 400°. Fry in batches for only 45 seconds each. Place on a paper towel lined plate and immediately sprinkle with fine sea salt. Scatter on the lime zest and chopped cilantro leaves. Serve with the peanut yogurt sauce and Enjoy!
- Peanut Yogurt Sauce
- Place the peanuts in the bowl of a small food processor and pulse until finely ground, with some larger pieces still remaining. In a small bowl, stir together the yogurt, peanuts (holding back a few for garnish), sriracha sauce, and salt. Chill until right before serving. If it should get too thick, you can thin it with a little milk.