Recipe: Red Curry Salmon

When I was staying in Palm Springs recently, I developed a craving for food with lots of personality and spice to counteract the many standard-issue steaks, hamburgers and pizzas I was consuming. Rather than go out and look for it, I kept to my own kitchen and made exciting dishes such as this salmon in Thai curry. It's very easy to make and you can find the ingredients just about anywhere. With drop-dead gorgeous flavour, it can be the centrepiece of a buffet (the recipe doubles well) or served at brunch or lunch with my crunchy iceberg lettuce salad that gives texture to the meal. The coconut sauce (here mixed together with some of the marinade) has a myriad of uses, including as the base of a great salmon- or tuna-salad sandwich.

Servings: 4 to 6

Ready Time: 2 1/2 hours, including marinating time

Marinade

2 tsp Thai red curry paste

1 tbsp fish sauce

1 tbsp grated ginger

2 tbsp lime juice

1/4 cup coconut milk

1 tsp sugar

2 tbsp vegetable oil

2 lb (1 kg) salmon fillet with the skin

Sauce

1/4 cup coconut milk

1/4 cup mayonnaise

1/4 cup chopped cilantro

1 tsp grated lime zest

1/4 tsp sugar

Salad

1/3 cup lime juice

2 tbsp fish sauce

1 tsp lime zest

2 tsp brown sugar

Pinch of dried red chilies

6 cups shredded iceberg lettuce

3 green onions, julienned

1 large carrot, julienned or grated

1/2 cup cilantro leaves

Method

To make the marinade, stir together red curry paste, fish sauce, ginger, lime juice, coconut milk and sugar. Stir in oil. Pour half of the marinade over the salmon in a shallow dish and refrigerate for 2 hours.

To make the sauce, stir together coconut milk, mayonnaise, cilantro, lime zest and sugar in a medium bowl. Add remaining half of the marinade mixture to the sauce. Reserve.

Preheat oven to 450 F.

For the salad dressing, mix lime juice with fish sauce, lime zest, brown sugar and red chilies. Reserve. Toss lettuce with green onions, carrots and cilantro.

Place salmon in a metal baking dish and bake for 12 minutes or until juices begin to turn white. Remove from oven.

Toss salad with dressing. Divide salmon into individual portions and drizzle it with sauce. Serve with salad on the side.