The brightness of the pickled vegetables with the herbaceous shiso and gentle heat from the gochujang sauce combine with the silken charred tataki salmon belly to create quite an unusual taste and texture adventure. The sort of adventure that really compels you to go in for more.
The key to this dish is the variety of flavour and texture. It is best enjoyed by combining a little of each ingredient into each mouthful so that you get some brightness, herb, heat, and velvety mouthfeel from the fatty salmon.
Salmon Tataki
Salmon tataki is sashimi-grade salmon with its surface seared with a blow torch. This adds additional dimensions of flavour, including some smokiness and notes resulting from the Maillard reaction.
This technique is not uncommon in sushi restaurants. It is easy to do, needing just a blow torch and heat resistant tray. I recommend slicing the salmon first, then keeping all the slices together in the original shape, use the blow torch until the surface just starts to char. Flip over with a wide spatula and do the other side.
Gochujang Sauce
This sauce is a traditional and very versatile Korean sauce. I wish to thank Jeanine and Jack of loveandlemons.com for awakening me to this sweet, hot, savoury, and funky deliciousness. Look out for an upcoming tempura mussels recipe featuring this delicious sauce.
I have been using gochujang more and more in my recipe explorations. It is a thick and spicy-sweet crimson paste made from red chile pepper flakes, glutinous rice, and fermented soybeans; hence its sweet, mildly spicy and slightly funky character.
Pickled Vegetables
While the components of this dish can undoubtedly work in other contexts, they are very much intended to work together in this dish. The pickled vegetables bring brightness and crunch to perfectly complement the silken salmon belly. And not just brightness and crunch. The pickled fennel contributes complementary anise notes, while the pickled jalapenos deliver their characteristic freshness and mild heat.
Of course, experiment with different pickled vegetable combinations and preparations, including your personal favourites! The pickled cherry tomatoes and asparagus featured in this cauliflower purée and teriyaki salmon dish would undoubtedly work well.
What is Shiso?
Shiso is a Japanese herb. Similar to a cross between mint and basil, variations are widely used throughout East Asia. While increasingly available outside of Asia, a mix of diced basil and mint would be a very worthy substitute in this dish.
Salmon Tataki With Gochujang Sauce and Pickles
Ingredients
Pickled Red Onion and Fennel
- 2 small red onions
- 1 piece fennel
- 10 green onions
- 2 cloves garlic
- 200 ml water
- 200 ml rice vinegar
- 50 g raw sugar
- 10 g salt
- 1 piece kombu optional
- 1 Tbsp black peppercorns
- 1 Tbsp mustard seeds optional
- 1 star anise
Gochujang Sauce
- 3 Tbsp gochujang
- 1.5 Tbsp rice vinegar
- 1.5 tbsp roasted sesame oil
- 1.5 Tbsp maple syrup
Salmon Tataki
- 600 g salmon fillet skin off
Other
- Pickled Jalapeños
- Pickled ginger
- Shiso leaves or mix of diced mint and basil
Instructions
Pickled Red Onion and Fennel
- Peel and very finely dice the red onions.
- Remove the outer layers of the fennel. Halve then very finely dice.
- Wash and trim the green onions so that they are the same length as your pickling jars are wide.
- Smash and peel the cloves of garlic.
- To a saucepan, add the water, vinegar, sugar, salt, 1 clove of garlic, and the piece of kombu (if using).
- Put over a low heat and stir occasionally until the sugar and salt have dissolved.
- Remove from the heat.
- In a suitable jar put the mustard seeds and black peppercorns, a star anise, and the other crushed clove of garlic.
- Put the onions and fennel into the jar.
- Pour over enough pickling liquid to cover the vegetables.
- Allow to cool, then place in the refrigerator until needed (at least 30 minutes).
Gochujang Sauce
- Whisk the ingredients together.
- Add a little water if necessary to get the right consistency.
Salmon Tataki
- Cut the salmon into pieces of around 60x30x10 mm. Of course there will be lots of variation, but approximately that size.
- Bring together the slices again and use a butane torch to char the top and sides. Best to do this per person, i.e. 200g at a time.
Plating
- We have beautiful ingredients to work with here. Fill the space on a plate to make the most of that beauty. There are no rules.
Green Lentil Curry with Black Rice
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