Tandoori salmon on basmati rice with watermelon and fetta salad

 

This is a beautiful meal – colourful to the eyes, tastebuds and the nose. The tandoori flavour is offset wonderfully by the refreshing coolness of the watermelon salad, and the mingled aromas of the tandoori and the coriander-infused basmati rice are mouth-watering. Best of all, this is a stress-free meal to put together when you’re having guests to dinner. It doesn’t take long to prepare, and most of the legwork can be done ahead of time, leaving you free to socialise when company arrives. I coat the salmon in the tandoori mixture and prepare the salad beforehand and keep them in the fridge, so all I need to do once the guests arrive is put the salmon straight into the oven, toss the salad and prepare the rice (which only takes 90 seconds in the microwave).

Tandoori salmon

Ingredients

4 fresh salmon fillets

300 g Greek yoghurt

6 Tbs tandoori paste

Method

1. Preheat oven to 220°C and line a roasting pan with baking paper
2. Skin salmon fillets (see instructions and photos at the bottom of this post)
3. Combine yoghurt and tandoori paste in a bowl, then generously cover both side of the salmon fillets with the mixture
4. Lay salmon fillets in the roasting pan and place in oven for 15-20 minutes (until cooked to your liking)

Basmati rice

Ingredients

1 family size pack (450 g ) Sun Rice microwaveable basmati rice

3 Tbs snipped coriander

1½ Tbs lemon juice

  

Method

1. Microwave basmati rice according to directions 
2. Toss quickly with coriander and lemon juice. Serve while hot.

Watermelon and fetta salad

Ingredients

1 red onion, diced

2 Tbs chopped mint

2 cucumbers, seeded and thinly sliced

½ large watermelon, cut into large cubes

200 g fetta, cubed or crumbled

1 Tbs lemon juice

Method

1. Combine ingredients in a bowl, top with the lemon juice and toss together.

Tips

• If you’ve got plenty of time on your hands, you can make the basmati rice from scratch on your stovetop, but I prefer to use the microwaveable variety because I serve this meal when I’m time-poor or simply don’t want to have to worry. You can place a few saffron threads in the saucepan with the rice to give it a beautiful yellow hue.
• The salmon could instead be cooked in less than 10 minutes in a pan on the stovetop, but because the salmon fillets I buy are so thick, I find the oven is the best option, because the salmon can cook all the way through.
• How to skin salmon fillets: with a large butcher’s knife, make a deep incision into the thick end of the fillet (nearly to the skin), then turn the knife until it’s at less than a 45° angle with your bench top, and carefully saw along the length of the fillet, using the meat you cut at the thick end of the fillet as a handle. Discard skin. 

make a deep incision near the thick end of the fillet

carefully saw along the length of the fillet