Description
This Vietnamese Salad with Crispy Garlic Rice and Salmon is a delicious, healthy low ingredient dish that’s perfect for easy, laid back summer entertaining. It’s easy to make and utterly satisfying. And you can have it on the table in 30 minutes!
It’s naturally gluten-free and the crispy garlic rice adds texture and a delicious savoury nutty crunch to this Vietnamese salad. And it is a great budget friendly way to enjoy salmon.
Ingredients
Units
For the Vietnamese salad
- 250g pre-cooked jasmine rice (I used the Tilda brand)
- 1 clove garlic
- 2 spring onions
- 400g salmon, skin removed
- 15g / 1/2 bag mint, leaves picked from stems
- 30g / 1 bag coriander
- 1/2 red onion
- 1 red chilli, seeded, membrane removed and finely chopped (use 1/2 to pickle the red onion and the other 1/2 in the dressing)
- 2 Tbsp neutral oil
- 1 lime (use 1/2 to pickle the red onion and the other 1/2 in the dressing)
- Salt & pepper to season
For the Nuoc Cham dressing
- 1/2 red chilli
- 1 clove of garlic, finely chopped
- 4 Tbsp water
- 2 Tbsp sugar
- 1/2 a lime / 1.5 Tbsp freshly squeezed lime or lemon juice
- 2 Tbsp fish sauce
Instructions
- I use pre-cooked rice, but if you want to make the rice from scratch, cook it as usual.
- Grate over one clove of garlic, toss with 1 tablespoon of a neutral oil – I used rapeseed oil and a pinch of salt.
- Toss through to coat the rice evenly, and then flatten onto a baking tray that fits your air fryer. Place the rice into your air fryer at 180 C for 20 minutes or in your oven at 200 C for 15-20 minutes; turning 2 to 3 times to ensure it crisps evenly.
- While the rice is crisping, peel and thinly slice half a red onion, and set aside.
- Remove the membrane and the seeds from the red chilli and dice finely.
- Combine half of the chopped chilli, sliced red onion, squeeze over the juice of half a lime, sprinkle over a little salt and set aside to pickle.
- To make the Nuoc Cham dressing, combine the other half of the chopped red chilli, 1 clove of finely chopped garlic, 4 tablespoons of water, 2 tablespoons of sugar, ½ a freshly squeezed lime and 2 tablespoons of fish sauce. Combine until the sugar has dissolved completely.
- To cook the salmon place onto a baking tray that fits in your air fryer and air fry for 7 minutes at 200 C, (no need to preheat) or in your oven at 200 C for 7 – 10 minutes until easily flaked and a little bit pink.
- Once the salmon is cooked, remove it from the air fryer and allow to cool slightly.
- Assemble the salad using the mint leaves, coarsely chopped coriander leaves, spring onions, pickled onion, and the crispy rice. Break the salmon into chunks and add to the salad, pour over the dressing and toss to coat evenly, taking care not to break the salmon chunks.
And that’s it – ready to serve.
Enjoy!
- Prep Time: 10 min
- Cook Time: 20 min
- Category: Mains, Fish Dishes