Recipe - Quick Salmon Stir Fry with Baby Choy

Today's entry is a quick and easy stir fry, ideal for a mid-week dinner.  Stir-frying is a great technique for producing a healthy, tasty meal in a hurry.  This entire dish can be done in the time it takes to make the rice.

I was inspired this time by a sale on sockeye salmon at my local market.  There must have been a massive salmon season this year because they're practically giving it away.  I can't pass up a good deal and have been cooking salmon at least once a week all summer.  We do cedar plank salmon with a maple-brown sugar glaze, salmon tacos, etc.  In this dish, we are going to dust the salmon in tapioca starch and quickly fry it to keep it crisp and moist, without being greasy.  Read on for the details.

First, start your rice.  I'm not going to go into rice cookery here.  You can google it.

Then, procure a great piece of fresh fish, like this one:

Look at that yummy fatty part!

I like my salmon to have nice white stripes of fat running throughout.  That fat melts during cooking, resulting in a moist, flavorful finished product.  Of course, salmon has those little, annoying bones.  Pull those out with your wife's (or hubby's?) tweezers.  Please wash them both before, and after.

Get the bones out so no one chokes.

Next, remove the skin and cut the fish into large cubes.

Sashimi platter

You are now going to dust these fish chunks in tapioca starch.  You can use rice flour our potato starch as well.  Regular flour will create a thicker, soggy exterior, not the thin crispiness we are looking for.  I used Cock brand tapioca starch:

No comment.

Now get your other ingredients together.  I chose baby bok choy in this dish, but you could use any leafy green vegetable.

Anti-clockwise from lower right: garlic, baby choy,
hot pepper paste, carrots, onion, scallion tops,
ginger paste, garlic

The pepper paste is optional, but I love it.  You can buy it at Asian grocery stores.  You will also need some egg if you want to do fried rice (I did this time).

Now for the cooking!  Start by heating peanut or canola oil in your wok.  Get it really hot.  Drop in the dusted fish cubes and quickly fry them until they are crispy, making sure to turn them to cook evenly.  When that's done, set the fish aside and rinse the wok before adding a little more oil.  Again, heat is key here.  Once it's hot, add the garlic, ginger, pepper paste, onions, and carrots.  Stir fry those until the carrots are about done.  Squirt some dark soy and some fish sauce (also found at the local Asian market) into the wok as well.  We are using dark or "thick" soy here because it is less salty than the more common light or "thin" soy sauce, and will impart a rich color to our finished dish.

Next, turn the heat off and add the choy.  We don't want to kill the greens, and taking it off the heat will help.  Once the greens are wilted, toss the whole mess with the fish.  Now you can stir fry your rice, or just use steamed, and put it into your bowls.  Top with the stir fry and garnish with scallions.  Dig in!