Salmon is generally not available in India, so the idea of Indian style grilled salmon came to me as something worth trying as I was trying to get our family to have more fish and they always said they didn't like the "fishy" smell/taste of fish.
I was curious as to what would happen if you added Indian spices to Salmon, it felt like it should work. I was initially worried that the Indian spice would overwhelm the delicate salmon flavors, much to my surprise, it worked very well.
As a family we got hooked on to Salmon as it was available in our local farmers market. Each Sunday in summer, we go to the farmers market and there's a fishmonger selling fresh salmon caught that morning. It is so fresh you can literally smell the ocean. At first I just prepared the salmon with olive oil, salt and pepper. The salmon was so fresh you didn't really need anything else. Late summer there was no more fresh Salmon so we had to get the store bought version and hence the need to spice things up!!
Salmon seems to go well with Indian spices as long as you don't overwhelm the Salmon with the spices.
Selecting fresh salmon is key to this recipe, opt for fresh salmon, the freshest you can find. If we can't get the Farmers market Salmon I usually get the Norwegian farm raised Salmon. For some reason Salmon seems to get to our local grocery faster from Norway than from Alaska!
Ingredients
1 Salmon (preferably tail piece medium thickness less than an inch)
Turmeric Powder - 1 tsp
Salt 3/4 tsp
Ground Black Pepper 1/2 tsp
Cilantro leaves - about a quarter cup
Garlic - 3 cloves
Ginger about a thumb sized piece
Curry Leaves - 3-6 leaves (you can find in the Indian store but if you don't have it you can skip)
Olive oil - 2-3 Tbsps
Fish Grill BBQ Basket (this is highly recommended to avoid the fish flaking and falling into the grill fire)
Wash and pat the salmon dry with paper towels and set aside. Chop the garlic and cilantro fine. Peel the ginger and grate into a paste. Tear up the curry leaves. Add all of the herbs, salt and into a flat bottomed saucepan large enough to hold the salmon steak. Add the Turmeric Powder, Salt and Pepper. Pour about 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil and stir the mixture well. Now add the Salmon steak, mixing it well gently with a wooden spatula (careful as the Salmon will tear if you use metal or mix too much), just enough to coat the Salmon on both sides.
Put the Salmon coated with the spices into a plastic ziploc bag, add 1-2 tablespoons of water to the bag so that any of the spices falling off the Salmon dissolves into the water forming a liquid marinade (don't add too much water otherwise all of the spices will come off the Salmon). Close the bag, mix gently so the spices mix with any water in the bag and coat the Salmon too. Leave the bag in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes.
Fire up the Grill at high heat, wait a few minutes for the grill to get really hot. Put the Salmon in the fish grill BBQ basket. Grill the Salmon starting Skin down first for 2-3 minutes and then flip over every 2-3 minutes (lower heat to medium after the first flip). Total grilling time about 12-15 minutes depending on the heat of the grill and thickness of the Salmon. If the Salmon is very thick i.e. close to an inch you may have to grill longer. Knowing when it is done is the trick here, you will see some white paste ooze out, the Salmon is probably not done if it is continuing to ooze. After about 10 minutes you can test it by using a fork to dig into the thick part of the Salmon, it should be flaky and the center should be opaque but moist and the same color as the surface - not translucent, if the middle is darker in color you may need to grill for a few more minutes.
When done, take the Salmon off the grill and BBQ basket, let it sit for 2-3 minutes and serve.
You can also grill this in your oven indoors (also if you don't have a fish grill basket). To do this put the Salmon on a roasting tray pan covered with foil on the bottom (for easy cleaning) put the Salmon on the foil skin side down. Roast in the middle section of the oven at 400 degrees for about 8 minutes. Again observe for the white paste oozing out, when it stops, test the Salmon's doneness by slicing. Switch the oven to Grill or Broil and grill for 1-2 minutes just to get the top crisp.
The key to great Salmon is to cook it just right, take it out while it is still moist as it will continue to cook when off the oven or grill. Stay close to the oven or grill or you will have burnt Salmon as it cooks very quickly.
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