There is a lot going on in this compact dish. The chewy black rice cake, fresh salmon patty, crisp salmon skin, and velvety egg yolk are complemented by the acidity and mild heat of the green peppercorn drizzle. Wonderful.
In a medium saucepan, mix together the black rice, water, and salt.
Bring rice to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer, cover, and cook until all the water is absorbed, about 40 minutes.
Turn off heat and allow to cool, keeping the cover on.
Refrigerate when cool. Can be cooked the day before.
Finely dice the fennel bulbs.
Sauté slowly over a low heat until they start to caramelize (turn a golden colour). Be careful not to burn them.
Lightly whisk the egg.
Mix the caramelized fennel and egg into the cooked black rice.
Rub some oil on your hands and form the rice into patties, pressing them together firmly.
Cover and refrigerate until required.
Fry in oil until crispy, about 3 - 4 minutes per side.
Salmon patties
Wash the sweet potato and bake, skin on, for 1 hour.
Dice the red pepper into very small pieces. Dice a small onion into very small pieces. Add finely diced garlic.
Fry onion, pepper, and garlic in olive oil until softened. Let cool.
Peel the skin from the sweet potato and add the flesh to a bowl.
Remove the skin from the salmon and set the skin aside.
Dice the fresh salmon into 5mm chunks.
Dice the smoked salmon into 5mm pieces.
Lightly whisk the egg.
Add half the diced fresh salmon to the bowl with the sweet potato.
Use a potato masher to mash the sweet potato and salmon together.
Add to the bowl the fresh salmon chunks, the diced smoked salmon, lemon juice and zest, mayonnaise, egg, panko crumbs, parsley, sautéed onion and red pepper, fish sauce (or salt), and ground black pepper.
Mix together until all ingredients are evenly distributed.
Form into patties the same size as the black rice cakes, dust with polenta, cover and refrigerate until required.
Once the oil is hot, add the salmon patties to the pan, in batches, and cook for 3-4 minutes on each side until browned.
Green peppercorn drizzle
Combine all ingredients in a shaker and shake until combined and emulsified. Refrigerate.
Immediately transfer to iced water to stop the cooking.
When ready to serve, reheat in hot (80 degC) water.
Salmon skin
Cut the salmon skin from the fillet into 10mm strips.
Sprinkle with salt.
Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium high heat.
Add the salmon skin, skin side down.
Fry until crispy, then turn over and fry the fleshy side.
Drain on paper towels.
To Serve
Put a salmon cake on top of a black rice cake. Put a poached egg on top of the salmon cake. Add some crispy salmon skin. Drizzle with the green peppercorn drizzle.
Notes
Serve with a green salad. The green peppercorn drizzle can also serve as a salad dressing.