Fried rice and how to cook salmon perfectly

It was father’s day here on Sunday. I was woken when I heard the kids rustling about, getting their hidden gifts out, and discussing if it was still too early to wake us up or not. I love fathers and mothers day. I love seeing what the kids choose to spend their money on and they are always so proud of what they have chosen.

As well as bought gifts, they always have cards and craft as well.

My son bought a medal that said ‘Australia’s no. 1 DAD’. He was so proud of his gift. He said, ‘it’s a real gold medal, it cost me $5 but it was worth it!’. My son is nearly 11 years old, but in that moment, he seemed like a 5 year old boy. No attitude, just love and pride for his dad. It also reminded me of those Peppa Pig episodes when they go to Mr Fox’s shop to buy something and Mr Fox says it’s real gold plastic! lol.

After an overwhelming week last week, it’s been nice to have things back to normal this week!

Cooking salmon perfectly

I’ve got many friends who don’t cook fish because they don’t know how to cook it. Tonight I cooked salmon, and I thought I would share how easy it is!

Firstly, heat your pan with a little bit of oil. I start skin side down, to get it browned. I don’t cook my skin too much, as no one really eats the skin, so I don’t bother, Around 4 mins is plenty to get it browned lightly. Of course, cook it longer if you want a crispy skin.

Flip the fillets over, and cover the pan with a lid, reducing heat slightly. Steam the salmon for another 4 mins. Remove the lid for 2-3 minutes and switch the heat off completely. I leave the pieces a couple more minutes in the pan to finish cooking through. You can separate the fillets to check if it’s cooked to your liking. I like mine just cooked, not too dry.

In this photo the pieces actually look a bit over cooked, but they were really beautiful, and not at all dry!

Quick and simple fried rice

I also made fried rice tonight, using some leftover basmati rice from another night’s dinner. I prepared all the veggies and sauce earlier and my 6 year old cooked it!

All the ingredients collected together. First I chopped whatever was in the fridge.

In one bowl I have
half a chopped brown onion
two carrots diced
corn kernels from half a cob of corn

I have nearly 4cups of cooked rice in the red bowl

On the plate I have 3 eggs that I mixed together, cooked then sliced up

I have a bowl of chopped red capsicum and snow peas

For the sauce, I used
2 tbs soy sauce
2 tbs sweet chilli sauce
1 tbs kepap manis (sweet soy sauce)
1/2 tbs fish sauce.

Heat a tbs of sesame oil in a wok. Add the onion, carrots and corn and sauté until cooked.

Add the rice and mix through the veggies. The trick to a good fried rice is having premade your rice and cooled it in the fridge. That’s why this kind of dish is a great Friday night or weekend meal, using leftover rice and whatever veggies you have in your fridge. I have used basmati rice here, but you could use brown rice or whichever rice you prefer.

Add in the egg and capsicum and snow peas

Followed by the sauce. Mix everything together, to distribute the sauce evenly around the dish.

Ready to eat!

Here we have our dinner – kids set the table so it’s all a bit of a mess! Salmon, fried rice, steamed green beans, steamed corn, green salad, chopped salad veg (cucumber, carrot and capsicum). Plus some flowers that are actually weeds that Miss E picked today 🙂

Of course you could vary this recipe to suit what you have on hand. Instead of the kepap manis and fish sauce, if you prefer you could use oyster sauce. You could add different vegetables to suit your own tastes and ingredients on hand. I have made a chicken version of this by cooked small strips of chicken at the start, set them aside and add back into the dish just before you add your sauce. Same thing for adding prawns/shrimp. Enjoy!