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Photograph of Brendan Pang's Coconut Salmon Curry

Brendan Pang’s Coconut Salmon Curry

Cubes of perfectly cooked fresh salmon are cooked in a rich and thick, yet healthy, coconut curry sauce, using just a few simple ingredients and a handful of fresh coriander. If you want supper on the table in 30 minutes, then this recipe is for you; you’ll be amazed how quickly it comes together. Serve it simply with some rice on the side and, if you like, some steamed green vegetables or a salad.

Serves 2

Course Main Course
Keyword coconut curry, Salmon
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes

Ingredients

Curry paste:

  • 8g/2 plump cloves of garlic, peeled
  • 25g/1 thumb size piece of stem ginger, no need to peel, roughly chopped
  • 15g fresh coriander, including stalks
  • 35g/1 banana shallot, peeled and quartered, or use onion
  • 2 teaspoons turmeric powder
  • 2 teaspoons cumin powder
  • ¼ teaspoon red chilli flakes
  • ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
  • ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 4 – 6 tablespoons water

Salmon and curry sauce:

  • 1 teaspoon mustard seeds (Or add 1 teaspoon grainy mustard into the curry paste above.)
  • 1 tablespoon ghee or unsalted butter.
  • 1 x 400ml can of coconut milk
  • 1 tablespoon light soy sauce or normal soy sauce
  • juice from 1 lime, around 2 tablespoons.
  • ½ tablespoon sugar
  • 550g salmon fillet no skin, cut into large cubes
  • extra salt, to taste

Toppings:

  • chilli oil
  • fresh herbs
  • fried shallots

Instructions

  1. Collect together your equipment (see Recipe Notes below) and ingredients. 

  2. Curry paste: prepare the vegetables for the paste as listed in the ingredients list and then throw everything into a food processor with 4 tablespoons water. Blitz until you have a smooth paste, adding more water as necessary.

  3. Salmon and curry sauce: place a pan or wok over a medium heat and add the mustard seeds. Cook until they pop, 30 seconds – 1 minute.

  4. Add the butter and curry paste and continue to cook for a couple of minutes, stirring continuously.

  5. Stir in the coconut milk and cook for a further 5 minutes, stirring from time to time.

  6. Season with the soy sauce, lime or lemon juice and sugar, to taste.

  7. Add the skinned fish cubes and poach on a medium heat for 3 – 4 minutes, until just cooked.

  8. Serve with rice and your chosen toppings. I kept it simple here but you could add some chilli oil and fried shallots, as well as some herbs.

Recipe Notes

More details on ingredients and instructions:

Please see the ingredient list and the instructions in the post above, for further information.

 

Equipment:

  • kitchen scales and measuring spoons
  • chopping board and knife
  • food processor
  • cast iron pan/saucepan

 

Coconut Milk

Try and buy good quality coconut milk from your Asian shop. Cheap coconut milks are often diluted and thickened, and in so doing, a lot of flavour is lost.

 

Where is this recipe from?

I came across this wonderful recipe on Brendan Pang’s insta. Brendan is a Chinese Mauritian cookbook author who has competed twice on MasterChef Australia, in 2018 and 2020. He also has over 1 million followers on insta. He describes his recipes as ‘easy Asian home cooking.’ Easy and quick they are, but they are also authentic, bursting with flavour and incredibly, they use readily available ingredients. To see more of his recipes and learn about him and the books he has already published, please see here. For his insta site, please see here. If you don’t follow him already, I strongly urge you to do so. He’s amazing.