Salmon Curry

I bought salmon fillet for dinner and wanted a change from my usual broiled salmon. The rest of the meal was simple; roasted sweet potatoes and steamed broccoli with mustard vinaigrette. I found a recipe for a very quick and easy curry in a cookbook called Feast of India by Rani and made some changes to suit my taste. Since I have many of the spices used in Indian cuisine I just had to pull them out of the kitchen cabinet. The salmon was delicious. Rice would have been a more traditional accompaniment but those roasted sweet potatoes were terrific. If you don't have all of the spices called for just use what you have. The salmon will still taste great. If you have some chutney, this is the time to get it from the back of the fridge and put it on the table.

lb. salmon fillet

salt to taste

2 tbl. vegetable oil

1 small onion, peeled and diced

3 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed

1 1" pice fresh gingerroot, peeled and chopped fine

1/2 tsp. poppy seeds

black pepper, to taste

1 tsp. ground coriander

1 tsp. ground cumin

1/2 tsp. ground dried red chilies

1 large tomato, chopped

juice of 1 small lemon

1/4 cup chopped cilantro leaves

Heat the oil in a large skillet. Add the onion, garlic, and ginger and cook over medium heat until the onion is browned. Mix in the poppy seeds and ground pepper, stirring for a minute. Add the coriander, cumin and ground chili and cook for 3 minutes, stirring frequently. Add the tomato and stir. Add the salmon fillet and lemon juice, gently mixing the masala sauce over the salmon. Cover and simmer for 15-20 minutes or until the fish is done.

Garnish with cilantro leaves.

Serves 3

NOTE: Rani uses salmon steaks. She puts the salmon steaks on a plate and sprinkles them with lemon juice, turmeric and salt and allows them to marinate for 15 minutes, while making the masala sauce. She adds the marinated salmon and lemon juice after the tomato goes into the masala. I didn't think that a 15 minute marinade would add extra flavor so I eliminated that step. If using steaks, cook the fish for 10-15 minutes.