Vietnamese caramel salmon with bok choy

This is a brilliantly simple south-east Asian recipe, which is traditionally cooked in a clay pot and served, still sizzling, straight to the table. In Vietnam this is often made with catfish but it’s quite delicious with salmon.

Credit: Donal's Meals in Minutes

• serves

  4

• prep

  10 minutes

• cook

  15 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

The sticky and sweet caramel sauce is infused with wonderful aromas from the ginger and coriander. Serve the salmon as it is here or with warm rice and a generous spoonful of the aromatic sauce.

Ingredients

• 75 g caster sugar
• 1½ tbsp (30 ml) soy sauce
• Squeeze of lime juice
• 4 skinless salmon fillets
• 3 large garlic cloves, thinly sliced
• Thumb-sized piece of fresh ginger, peeled and julienned
• Small bunch of spring onions, half thinly sliced on the diagonal, half cut into thin strips and chilled in iced water
• 1 red chilli, thinly sliced
• 4 baby bok choy or choi sum, halved lengthways
• Handful of coriander leaves, to serve
• 1½ tbsp toasted sesame seeds, to serve

Instructions

1. Place a wok over a medium–high heat. Add the sugar and 50 ml of water and cook for 5 minutes, swirling the pan occasionally until you are left with a dark caramel. Add the soy sauce and lime juice and bubble together.
2. Add the salmon fillets, garlic, ginger, the diagonally sliced spring onions and chilli, turning to coat everything completely in the mixture.
3. Pour in another 50 ml of water and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and cook for 3 minutes then add the bok choy and cook for a further 3–4 minutes until the salmon is cooked all the way through.
4. Remove from the heat and garnish with the coriander leaves, spring onion strips and toasted sesame seeds.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.

The sticky and sweet caramel sauce is infused with wonderful aromas from the ginger and coriander. Serve the salmon as it is here or with warm rice and a generous spoonful of the aromatic sauce.