Fried Fish with Spinach, Corn & Cashewnut Rice

Meals shouldn't be boring. What you eat should be tasty yet balanced with lots of textures and flavours. Our plate of food today has a mildly spiced Salmon fillet that's shallow fried and a light yet nutritious spinach, corn and cashewnut rice. This rice goes well with different curries and also tastes great on its own. Hungry? Let's get cooking!


For the fish, here's what you need :

Ingredients
2 fairly thick/long pieces of salmon with skin. (fresh preferred)
1 teaspoon turmeric powder
1 teaspoon red chili powder
1 big clove of  garlic chopped finely
1/4 teaspoon scraped ginger
1 sprig of coriander leaves chopped finely
2 Mint leaves chopped finely
1 lemon
Salt to taste
Rice flour
1 teaspoon Oil (sunflower/peanut/olive)

Method

Wash the fish pieces and massage them with the turmeric and red chili powder.

Then add the rest of the ingredients (except the lemon) and massage the fish well.

Keep the fish aside for a minimum of an hour and a maximum of 12 hours.

When it's time to fry, heat a non-stick pan on high.

After it's hot, lower the heat and add oil.

In a flat plate, add some rice flour and dab the fish with this flour.

Once the oil is hot, add the fish in the pan.

Allow the fish to cook on one side before you flip it.

Once ready, squeeze lemon juice on them and serve.


Now, let's get on with the rice.

Ingredients -

1 cup Rice washed and soaked in water for half an hour and then drained. I use Basmati.
5-6 cashews broken into pieces
1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 bay leaf
1 clove
3 peppercorns
1 green chili finely chopped
One small bunch of spinach washed and drained
2 small cups of sweet corn
1 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon grated ginger
1 clove of garlic finely chopped
One big shallot ( 2 small shallots) finely chopped
Ghee/ oil
Salt to taste

Method

In a big vessel, heat oil/ghee.

Add the cumin seeds, bay leaf, clove, peppercorns. Fry well.

Next add the finely chopped shallot, ginger, garlic and green chili.

Fry well till the raw smell of the garlic goes away and the shallots turn a nice brown shade.

Add the cashew-nuts and sweet corn . Keep stir frying.

Next, add the rice and stir fry for 8-10 minutes.

Add the spinach and mix it with the rice, gently.

Finally, add two (cup) measures of water.

Add some salt (you can always add the rest later if you need it)

Cover and allow the rice to cook on low heat.

I generally keep my rice for 20 minutes.

Take off heat when done.

Let it rest for 5 minutes.

Take off the cover and with a fork gently fluff the rice.

Serve!