Rice or Noodles this fortnight! My first thought with this theme was to have a second crack at a paella. But we are in the midst of moving house and everything is packed up including the paella pan. Best to keep things simple, especially when you have limited tools. While I was boxing up my cook books for the move I found a Wagamama cook book, which I originally brought this cookbook for a FFOF*. I haven’t even opened it since, so it seems only fair that it get a run now. I settled on a simple Salmon recipe and after a trip to Footscray and Conways I was ready to go.

“Soy-Braised Salmon Noodles” as found in the Wagamama Ways with Noodles, cookbook

Serves 2

100g flat Chinese noodles

5 dried Shiitake Mushrooms

1 tablespoon Vegetable Oil

1 Onion, finely chopped

1 Carrot, peeled and finely sliced

2 Garlic Cloves, crushed

3cm piece of Ginger root, grated

200g Salmon, skin-off, cut into 3cm cubes

2 tablespoons of Soy Sauce

100ml Chicken Stock

2 teaspoons Cornflour, dissolved in 2 tablespoons of Water

Salt and White Pepper

Cook the noodles according to the instructions on the packet, drain and refresh under cold water. Soak the mushrooms in 125mls of boiling water.

Heat the oil in a hot wok and stir fry the onion, carrot, garlic, ginger and salmon for 1 minutes. Add the soy sauce, cover, turn the heat down and simmer for 2 minutes.

Drain the mushrooms, reserving the liquid. Remove and discard the tough stalks and finely slice. Add the chicken stock to the wok with the mushrooms, reserved liquid and dissolved cornflour. Bring to the boil add the noodles, tossing to combine and take care not to break up the salmon too much. Taste and season with salt and pepper and serve.

The verdict…super simple to prepare and very flavoursome. I chose fresh flat Chinese egg noodles, from my local Asian grocer. I ended up cooking them in small batches as so as not to end up with noodle clumps. The first batch I made turned out like dumplings as I didn’t separate them enough. Lucky there were two portions in the pack that I bought! The salmon turned out just beautiful and really took on all those wonderful garlic, ginger and soy flavours. At the very end I dressed it up in the bowl with some sesame seeds and chilli flakes. I’ll keep this recipe in mind for an after work dinner, it’s pretty yum.

* The FFOF was spawned from the RMIT Fuck Off Feasts (FOF). A couple of the Melbourne Flickr kids who also love a bit of cooking action decided to kick off regular Flickr Fuck Off Feasts… Ahh how good they were!