Seattle Asian Salmon Bowl from Skinnytaste.com

Hi All ~

I know I've promised a lot of recipes on my Instagram page, Kitchen512, and I swear that they'll be posted here soon. For now, though, here's the recipe for a Seattle Asian Salmon Bowl! I stole this recipe from skinnytaste.com, and it was absolutely delicious.

Here, I cut the recipe down into a fourth of what was listed, because I only wanted to make one salmon bowl for myself:

Ingredients:
For The Salmon Bowl:

• 1-2 stalks of green onion, thinly sliced

• 1/4 English Cucumber, sliced (save the rest for a healthy snack, like cucumber coins!)

• 1/4 tbsp toasted sesame seeds

• 1/4 of an avocado, diced (save the rest for an avocado toast in the morning)

• 1/2 a cup of white or brown rice

• 1/4 of a cup of sprouts (like daikon) or daikon root, which gives it a little crunch

• 1 strip nori, shredded or a sprinkle of furikake

• 4 ounces wild salmon, skinned

• olive oil spray  

• salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

For the Soy-Wasabi Vinaigrette:

• 1/2 tbsp less sodium soy sauce (or GF Tamari)

• 1/2 tsp wasabi in tube
• 1/2 tbsp mirin

• 1/2 tbsp rice wine vinegar

• 1/4 tbsp sesame oil

Tools Needed:

• a small frying pan
• a spatula
• a bowl to mix the vinaigrette
• a fork or whisk
• a cutting board
• a sharp knife
• a pot or rice cooker for the rice

As you can see, college students don't have a lot of these ingredients on hand - however, many of them can be bought at your local grocery store. I actually used instacart.com to order some of the more obscure ingredients from Uwajimaya, the local asian food market! If you use the link above, you get $10 off and free shipping on your first order!

The English Cucumber can easily be substituted for regular cucumber, and if you have furikake, you can leave out the toasted sesame seeds and shredded nori. Also, I accidentally bought the daikon root instead of daikon sprouts, but it worked out well because it added a nice crunch and flavor! You can save the rest of the root and make takuon as well.

Directions:

1. Combine the vinaigrette ingredients in a bowl and whisk to mix. Set Aside. Make the rice in your rice cooker or a pot. You can find how to make rice in a pot here.
2. Skin the salmon if it's not already skinned. To do this, grab the slimmest end of the fish, and slide a sharp knife under the edge of the skin. Keep holding the end of the fish, and slowly work your knife underneath it until it comes off.
3. Season salmon with a pinch of salt and fresh pepper. 
4. Heat a frying pan or sauté pan over medium-high heat. Spray the pan lightly with oil spray. If you don't have oil spray (I didn't), either wipe the pan down with olive oil or just drip a little in and swirl it around.
5. when the pan is hot, sear salmon, around 2 - 4 minutes per side (depending on the thickness of the fish). Don't overcook it; salmon can actually be eaten raw, as in sushi, but overcooking it will leave you with a dry, crumbly mess. To check whether or not it's cooked, take a fork and pry apart the center of the fish. If it's opaque, it's done.
6. Put your rice in a bowl, and top it with the avocado, green onions, cucumbers, sesame seeds, and sprouts. Place the salmon on top, drizzle with the vinaigrette, and sprinkle with the furikake or shredded nori.

The finished product!

The salmon should always be made fresh - it loses its crispiness if you put it in the fridge. You can keep raw salmon in the fridge for up to 3 days, but you should cook it as soon as possible. If you can't, stick it in the freezer, and defrost it in the fridge a day before you're ready to make it!

As always, if you make this dish let me know how it turns out! You can comment on this post, or tag or hashtag me at kitchen512 on Instagram or Twitter.

Happy Eating!

-Tiffany