Salmon Sashimi Salad

We were invited to join our friend R's family for Christmas lunch last year and I made a simple raw salmon salad with Japanese dressing as entree. It has been a staple at the Tummies' ever since and I am sure I will be making this more often now that the weather is getting warmer.

Free free to use a combination of sashimi grade fish such as king fish, snapper and tuna. Serve it as an entree or with some cooked Japanese rice.

If you are a fan of raw fish, you might want to check out my hwedupbap (Korean raw fish on rice) or maguro no tataki don (chopped tuna rice bowl).

serves 4 as an entree

you'll need;

2 pieces of sashimi grade salmon, thinly sliced (reserved skin)

2 Lebanese cucumber, peeled lengthwise with a vegetable peeler

2 spring onions, chopped

1 red chili, seeds removed and finely diced

2 shallots, finely sliced

1 tbs of toasted sesame seeds

for the dressing;

2 tbs of light soy

2 tbs of mirin

1 tbs of lime juice

1 tsp of sesame oil

Peel the cucumbers into thin ribbons using a vegetable peeler. Place ribbons  on a large platter.

Pin bone the salmon and slice into 2 mm slices, place salmon on top of the cucumber ribbons.

Prepare the spring onions, chili and shallots, scatter the topping over the salmon.

Pan fry reserved salmon skin with a little oil until golden and crispy, allow to cool before breaking or chopping into chunks.

Scatter chopped salmon skin, toaster sesame seeds over and drizzle with dressing, mix everything well and enjoy!

Hwedupbap 회덥밥, Korean raw fish on rice

As predicted the hot weather continues to torture the beautiful souls of Melbourne and the mercury reached 34.5 degrees C at 3.30pm. I did my shopping very early today, did some washing and headed for my local park. I picked up Small M from his school on my way and we had a little picnic under the big shady tree. We read our books and he fell asleep after talking about his school and my blog (he is a loyal follower of my blog) til M came to take him home. I decided I won't be complaining today after such a wonderful day, more importantly I have got everything in the fridge ready for tonight's dinner, the only thing required for cooking is the rice which will be taken care of by our robot look- alike rice cooker. Hwedupbap (meaning raw fish on rice) is a close cousin of bibimbap and if you are both a bibimbap and sushi lover this one is definately for you!!! There is no recipe as such; you just need to gather the freshest fish and vegetable you can lay your hands on, chuck everything in a bowl, drizzle with Korean spicy sauce and you are in business :) (of course the fish and vegetables need to be cleaned and cut nicely first) If you prefer the Japanese version (Chirashi) just omit the gojujang and drizzle some soy, rice vinegar and Japanese mayo instead. I think that's our dinner tomorrow night :)

P.S one of the tummy is away for work so if you are reading this I'll make it again when you get home!!

served 2 as a one dish meal;

250g of sashimi grade sword fish, thinly sliced

250g of sashimi grade ocean trout, thinly sliced

1 lebanese cucumber, sliced

5 sesame leaves, roughly sliced

2 carrot, peeled, thinly sliced

1/4 of daikon, thinly sliced

lettuce, roughly chopped

50g of snow pea sprout

2 cups of cooked Korean or Japanese rice, cooled

sesame seeds, toasted

black sesame seeds, toasted

finely shredded nori seaweed

dash of sesame oil

spicy Korean chili sauce 1

Prepared vegetables and herbs

Place cooled rice in a large bowl, drizzle with some sesame oil and both types of sesame seeds.

Arrange lettuce and shredded carrots neatly.

Follow by the rest of the vegetables.

Arrange the star of the dish neatly in the middle.

Finally drizzle both types of sesame seeds, spicy sauce and shredded nori over.

Now completely destroy all the prettiness and enjoy it with a cold beer or two. Korean crisis, what crisis???

Gung Chae Nam Pla กุ้งแชน้ำปล่า Thai Marinated Raw Prawns

If you are a fan of raw fish, this one is for you!!! A very simple dish that one can whip up in minutes and what a better way to taste the fresh prawns?? The first time I had this was using freshly caught prawns in Sukhothai, heaven!!! You'll need to get the freshest prawns you can lay your hands on and never use frozen peeled prawns as they have no taste at all. I served this with duck salad and son in-law eggs and plenty of steam rice.

P.S great dish as it is to have with some nice chilled beer!!

serves 4 as part of a Thai meal

you'll need;

500g of fresh prawns, peeled and butterflied

4 cloves of garlic, chopped

3 bird chilies, chopped

1 shallot, chopped (I ran out :( )

shredded mint

dash of fish sauce

juice of half a lime

Arrange butterflied prawns neatly on a plate

Drizzle fish sauce and lime juice, sprinkle chopped chilies and garlic over it and leave it in the fridge for 10 minutes

sprinkle mint over just before serving.