The thought process behind the Salmon ramen noodle curry
I started back at work today (Tuesday 03 January 2017) after some time off over the CNY break. I had some fresh salmon in the refrigerator and at about lunch time I began the usual process of wondering what I might cook for dinner. A ramen noodle dish began to emerge.
I knew in the “shelf of shame” there was some coconut milk as well as some 3-minute noodles. In the refrigerator I had some asparagus and broccoli stalks for greens. To add some spice I had some pickled red and green chillies that I’d prepared on the weekend.
What could be easier than dicing the salmon with a sharp knife and making a simple meal for one.
The cooking process
I cooked the 3-minute ramen noodles by opening a packet into a bowl, emptying the flavour sachet and adding boiling water from a kettle. I stirred that around with a pair of chopsticks for a few minutes and then drained the ramen noodles.
I added the drained ramen noodles into an oiled (I use relatively cheap Coles brand olive oil) frying pan and turned up the heat constantly stirring so the noodles wouldn’t stick. After the noodles began to dry out a little and take on some colour, I added a small tin of coconut milk and kept stirring. My preferred stirring tool is a pair of chopsticks. They are perfect for stirring. I heard Matt Preston criticise wooden spoons recently in favour of silicon spatulas on the basis of hygiene. I hope he’s not critical of wooden chopsticks.
To the ramen noodles and coconut milk, I added the greens and the chillies and brought the liquid to a gentle simmer. Don’t bring it to a rolling (aka roiling) boil, you don’t want to split the coconut milk.
Once the liquid is simmering gently, added the diced salmon. Stir everything gently and keep simmering for about 5 minutes. By then the fish will be mostly cooked.
If you are carbohydrate loading, you could serve this on some red quinoa and brown rice but I think I carbohydrate peaked over the CNY break.
If you want, you can garnish with anything suitable. I used some spring onion I had in the refrigerator.
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Sounds like a good meal and love the nice color.
Thank you very much Karen. It was filling and hit the spot.
I hope you had an outstanding holiday season and happy new year!
Thank you very much and I hope 2017 is a good one for you too
LOL at the Shelf of Shame! I like the sound of that because I think we all have one no?
I keep my spam and tinned corned beef there 😂
That looks tasty. Why is coconut milk on the shelf of shame? I thought it was good for you.
The shelf of shame has grown physically so it can contain more things, but originally it helld my Spam, tinned corned beef, sweetened condensed milk, tinned smoked oysters, tinned sardines and anchovies in bottles. Now it contains other things but I still call it my shelf of shame.
Very hearty and filling with the coconut milk, Gaz. It turned out very good in the end and not overly soppy too. I’m partially lactose intolerant (on some days, some days I’m really good) so I don’t know how I’ll react to your meal if I tried it 😀
Haha, it is always a challenge to keep instant noodles from sticking in the frying pan 😀 Your posts reminds me…I have to get up and go make my lunch to take to work for the rest of the week, lol.
I think a lot of Orientals have some level of lactose intolerance. I know I suffer from time to time.
I really don’t like it when things stick to pans, it’s so much easier just to keep stirring.
Can you imagine life without wooden chopsticks? I’d be lost.
I hope you make something yummy for lunches this week.
I actually like to use chopsticks to stir things that I cook in a pot and in a wok push things around. Chopsticks aren’t only good to use for eating but certainly for cooking too 😀
Nah, I’m just making my usual chicken sandwiches lunches. This week it is chicken with garlic aioli sauce. I need to be more creative with my lunches, lol.
Chicken and garlic aioli sandwiches are great. If I’m at a work meeting and there is catering, I will often go for the chicken and mayonnaise sandwiches as well as the ones no one else seems to like, viz., tuna sandwiches.