“Once you’ve tried this South Indian seasoning – blitzed coconut, chilli, mint, garlic and lime – you’ll be putting it on absolutely everything: white fish, chicken, paneer, roasted veg,” says Rukmini Iyer.
Here it seasons a salmon and cherry tomato tray bake, forming a crust for the salmon and a wonderful flavouring for the roasted tomatoes and onions.
Read: Smoked Salmon, Goats’ Cheese and Asparagus Tart
Prep: 10 minutes
Cook: 25 minutes
Serves: 2
Ingredients
- 4 tablespoons desiccated coconut
- 1 fresh red chilli
- handful mint leaves, plus extra to serve
- 2 cloves garlic
- juice of 2 limes
- 1 red onion, thinly sliced
- 250g vine cherry tomatoes, halved
- 2 sustainable salmon fillets
- 2 tablespoons neutral or olive oil
- 1 teaspoon sea salt flakes
Method
Preheat the oven to 180°C fan/200°C/gas 6.
Tip the coconut, chilli, mint leaves, garlic, lime juice, one tablespoon of the oil and the sea salt into a spice grinder or high-speed blender and blitz roughly until the chilli looks evenly incorporated through the coconut (you’ll have a reddish, greenish rubble).
Read: Teriyaki Salmon
Mix the sliced onion and cherry tomatoes in a medium roasting tin along with the remaining oil. Make space for the two salmon fillets, place them in the tin, skin side down, then pat a tablespoon of the coconut-chilli mixture evenly over each fillet. Scatter the remaining mixture over the onions and tomatoes.
Transfer to the oven to roast for 20–25 minutes until the salmon is cooked through. Scatter with mint leaves and serve hot, with rice alongside if you wish.
Notes: you can substitute the salmon for cod, haddock or another firm-fleshed white fish – it’ll take about the same time to cook. To carb it up in the same tin, start by roasting off cubed sweet potato with a little olive oil and salt in your roasting tin for 30 minutes, before continuing with the recipe as above.
India Express: Fresh And Delicious Recipes For Every Day by Rukmini Iyer is published by Square Peg, photography by David Loftus. Available now.
– With PA