Spicy Sticky Salmon Bowl is nutritious, filling, beautiful to look at & worth the bit of effort to make. Salmon cubes are tossed in a Korean ginger sauce & cooked until they’re sticky. The black rice, also called forbidden rice, takes a bit of forward planning but well worth it as it looks beautiful & also more nutritious than its white counterpart. But, if time is an issue, feel free to use jasmine rice which is ready in only 20 minutes, it’ll still be tasty. Crunchy veg – red cabbage, carrots, cucumbers & a creamy avocado wasabi dressing. Don’t be put off by the laundry list of ingredients, it all does come together quickly, apart from the rice cooking, but I promise you, it is worth it.
SPICY STICKY SALMON BOWL
You’ll need to allow about 2 hours for the rice: 60 minutes for rice to soak. And then 45 minutes for it to cook plus 15 minutes for it to sit. If you can’t find black rice (also called forbidden rice), use jasmine rice or sticky rice – much faster but not quite as dramatic looking. Also, black rice does contain more nutrients than its white counterpart.
Ingredients
RICE BOWL
- 1 cup black rice forbidden rice
- 1 3/4 cups (425ml) water
- Pinch of salt
AVOCADO SAUCE
- 1 large ripe avocado
- 3 tablespoon mayonnaise
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- A pinch of sea salt and freshly ground pepper
- 1 to 2 teaspoons wasabi paste optional (but very good)
- 2 tablespoons cold water
SPICY STICKY SALMON
- 1 lb salmon with skin removed about 1 1/2 lbs with skin on
- 3 tablespoons honey
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons finely grated ginger
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 2 tablespoons gochujang Korean chili paste
- 2 teaspoons Korean crushed red peppers or to taste or use crushed red pepper (chili flakes)
- 2 teaspoons toasted sesame seeds
- 1 tablespoon canola oil
- 3 Persian cucumbers, sliced
- 1 1/2 cups grated or spiralized carrot
- 1 1/2 cups shredded red cabbage
- 1/2 small red onion, thinly sliced
- 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil
- Pinch of sea salt
Instructions
To make the rice:
- Rinse the rise thoroughly in a fine mesh strainer until the water runs clear. Soak the rice in cool water, ensuring it's covered for 45 minutes; drain. Bring 1 3/4 cups of water to a boil in a medium saucepan. Add the rice and salt and stir. Reduce the heat to low. Cook, covered, without removing the lid, for 45 minutes. Remove from the heat and let stand for 15 minutes. Fluff rice with a fork.
To make the sauce:
- Place all ingredients in the bowl of a food processor. Blitz until smooth. Scrape into a bowl. Cover and chill until ready to use.
To make the salmon:
- Remove and discard the skin; cube the salmon. In a medium bowl, combine the remaining ingredients except the oil. Add the salmon and toss to combine.
- Heat the oil in a large frying pan over medium-high. Add the salmon. Cook, carefully turning the salmon occasionally, for 5 minutes or until the salmon is cooked and sticky.
- Spoon the rice into bowls. Arrange cucumber, carrot, cabbage and red onion in 4 bowls and drizzle with a little rice vinegar, sesame oil and salt. Top the rice with salmon and drizzle over any sauce from the pan. Drizzle the avocado sauce over everything. Sprinkle the salmon with sesame seeds. Serves 4.