Tag: homecooking

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Food Recipes

Pan-fried Salmon with Zucchini Noodles

Salmon is my favourite fish. It’s full of good fats and a great source of protein. It is also one of those ingredients that can be prepared in a million different ways, be it raw, steamed, baked, pan-fried etc. No matter the preparation, it’s pretty much going to be a great dish.

Today I decided to pan-fry a fillet and while figuring out what base to put it on, I came by some zucchinis and had a flash of inspiration. What could be better than a bed of zucchini noodles?

Ingredients

  • Salmon fillet
  • Zucchini
  • Salt
  • Pepper
  • Flour

Sauce

  • Creamy peanut butter x 1 tbsp
  • Tabasco Sauce x 1 tsp
  • Salt

 

PREPARATION:

Salmon

1) Pat dry the salmon on both sides. The dryer the better.

2) Season salmon with salt and pepper

3) Sprinkle a pinch of flour on the skin. This allows the salmon skin to dry up even more. After all, the dryer the better. 🙂

4) Heat some olive oil in a skillet on high heat

5) Place salmon in skillet skin side down, and bring down to medium heat. Pan-frying salmon needs to be a gradual rise in temperature so that the fillet is nicely cooked throughout, yet the skin is just nice and crispy. If the heat is too strong the skin burns up very quickly and will be flaky.

6) Lightly press it to the pan for 30 – 60s, paying extra attention to the centre. Salmon very lightly curls up in the heat so you need to ensure that you get even crisping of the skin.

7) Skin side of salmon should pan fry for about 4-5 mins, depending on thickness.

An indicator that the skin side is done is that the fish will lift off the pan extremely easily without any force. I also usually take an estimate by looking at the sides of the salmon. As long as both the sides are fully cooked, it is about time to flip it.

8) Flip salmon over and continue to cook the flesh side for another 2-3 mins.

9) Take off pan and leave to rest

Zucchini Noodles (Zoodles)

1) Making the zoodles depends on personal preference. You can use a julienne peeler, or if you like thicker cut noodles, you can use a potato peeler and then slide them up. Just remember to remove both tips first.

2) In the same skillet that you were pan-frying the salmon, turn the heat back up and add the zoodles to the pan. There is no need to add anymore oil, as using the residual oil in the pan after the salmon will add more taste to the zoodles.

3) Stir fry for 3-5 mins, until tender.

4) If you are doing a serving of one, you can do this in the same skillet while the salmon is pan-frying.

To serve

1) To make the sauce for the zoodles, whisk all the sauce ingredients in a bowl together with some oil from the skillet.

2) Add the zoodles into the sauce and mix well

3) Serve salmon on top of the zoodles

 

Enjoy!

 

Categories
Recipes

Spicy Korean Chicken Stew

 

In my opinion, this is a simple meal that is sure to impress. The cooking time is relatively short and there is quite a lot of flexibility in the dish and you can safely change ingredients around or use different chicken parts. The gochujang provides most of the flavour in the dish so there is less messing around with the flavouring.

I’ve cooked this dish with full chicken wings (chopped into 3 parts), thighs, drumlets, mid-wings etc and they’ve all turned out great. The only thing you’d need to pay attention to is time, as mid-wings cook very quickly and will dis-integrate if they are cooked for too long. If you are using a mix of mid-wings & drumlets, they’ve got to go into the pot at slightly different times. This ensures you don’t get a pile of bones with no meat on it when those mid-wings break apart. Alternatively, you can use the whole chicken, chopped into medium sized pieces or thigh meat.

Ingredients:

  • 1 kg chicken (chopped into mid-sized pieces)
  • 5 mid sized carrots
  • 5 mid sized potatoes
  • 2 large yellow onions
  • 6 Fresh garlic cloves (peeled)
  • 1.5L Water

Marinate:

  • Korean spicy paste (gochujang)
  • Chili powder
  • Light soy sauce
  • 3-4 garlic cloves, sliced

Method:

  1. Marinate the chicken in 3 tbps of light soy sauce, 3 tbps of gochujang and chili powder. Leave to rest for at least one hour.
  2. Cut potatoes, carrots & onions into roughly the same size as the chicken pieces.
  3. Heat up a little oil in a pot and stir fry all the potatoes, carrots, onions & garlic for a few minutes. This releases the flavours before stewing and it enhances the intensity of the stew. Remove.
  4. Pan fry the chicken in the same pot. Ensure to let the chicken brown for a while.
  5. Add potatoes, carrots & onions back into the pot and mix it with the chicken.
  6. Add water and bring to boil.
  7. Bring to a simmer let it simmer for 60 mins, or until chicken is soft.
  8. Taste along the way and add more gochujang as necessary.
  9. Garnish with scallions.