If there's one piece of advice I can give you when cooking with "Asian flavours" it's to keep things simple. The big mistake is thinking that Asian cooking is all about adding flavours, when in reality it's more about technique than any specific "Asian" ingredient.
In this simple dish of salmon with coconut milk, glass noodles and herbs, don't let those headline ingredients distract you. The key to making it taste good is balancing the sweetness of the coconut milk and sugar, the saltiness of the fish sauce, and sourness of the lime juice.Â
Making sure the texture of the salmon and noodles is right comes next, and last in your thinking should be the aromatic garlic, chilli and herbs. They'll be a very pleasant addition, of course, but focus on the basics of seasoning and texture first.Â
You have to lay the foundations of a good dish before you start picking out the curtains. That's so often the problem with new ingredients or cuisines – we concentrate so hard on making them differently to how we would normally cook that we lose track of what makes us good cooks to start with.
SALMON WITH COCONUT MILK, GLASS NOODLES AND HERBS
Serves 4
This brilliant one-pot dish really couldn't get any easier. Just throw everything in together and it's all done in a matter of minutes.
• 400ml can coconut milk
• 2 tbsp fish sauce
• 2 tsp sugar
• juice of 1 lime
• 1 small brown onion, finely sliced
• 3 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 large red chilli, sliced
• 4 small salmon fillets (around 150g each), skin removed
• 200g dried mung bean vermicelli (glass noodles)
• ½ cup each of loosely packed basil, mint and coriander
Place the coconut milk, fish sauce, sugar, lime juice, onion, garlic and chilli in a lidded frying pan and bring to a simmer with a ½ cup of water.
Add the salmon fillets and reduce the heat to low. Cover with the lid and poach for 5 minutes, then add the glass noodles around the salmon and replace the cover to allow the noodles to absorb the liquid. Cook for a further 5 minutes. Stir through most of the herbs and serve immediately with the remaining herbs scattered on top.
LYCHEES AND LEMON MINT ICE
Serves 4
It's always a shame to throw away the lychee-infused syrup from a tin of lychees. Here's a way to put it to good use.
Lychees and lemon mint ice. Photo: William Meppem
• 560g can lychees, drained, liquid reserved (about 300ml)
• 80g (⅓ cup) caster sugar
• 1 lemon, rind peeled off in strips, pith removed, juiced
• 1 small bunch mint, reserving smaller leaves for garnishÂ
Combine the reserved lychee liquid, sugar, lemon rind, mint and 300ml of water in a non-reactive saucepan and bring to a simmer. Turn off the heat and stir in the lemon juice. Allow to cool completely in the saucepan, then strain the mixture through a sieve into a freezer-proof container or tray, discarding solids.
Place the container into the freezer for 2 hours. Then, using a fork, scrape the surface into flakes. Return to the freezer and repeat process every two hours until the granita is firm. Divide the lychees and granita between 4 plates, garnish with mint leaves and serve immediately.
Adam's tip The same technique for the lychee and lemon mint ice can be used for the reserved syrup from other tinned fruits. Just dilute it, infuse it with a few other flavours, strain and freeze. A much tastier and less wasteful option than tipping it down the sink.