Weeknight Dinner with Salmon
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Weeknight Dinner with Salmon – Don’t Miss This Simple (and Healthy!) Recipe

Cooks in 30 minutes

When it comes to everyday eating, we gravitate towards a balanced meal that is easy, healthy, balanced, and satisfying. This is why all of our meals have healthy protein included. However, weeknight cooking is a bit challenging as we both work until five, and after a long, busy day at work, we don’t like to spend hours in the kitchen. So this Weeknight Salmon Dinner is famous at our home, and it’s on repeat.

Despite being Bengali, I never liked fish that much. But, I love fishes that come from the Atlantic Ocean. Bonus – they are local! Ducktrap is a local company from Maine, and they are known for their fantastic seafood collection. We love their lox, and it is part of our breakfast routine daily! Ducktrap is launching lightly smoked salmon at Aldi. Atlantic salmon fillets are salt-brined and lightly smoked with local Maine hardwoods and fruitwoods.

We came up with an Indian-ish recipe that accentuates the smoky flavor. The best part, the recipe comes in under 30 minutes. As the fish is naturally smoked and lightly salted – you will NOT find this recipe bland. We have paired this with a simple creamy cucumber sauce which is spiced with fresh green chiles. Yes, it’s HOT! We love to eat this with cilantro rice and a simple tomato-cucumber – green chile salad.

We have taken the concept of blackened fish and made it Indian-ish. Also, I am sharing a quick hack for cilantro rice. Purists, please look another way as I will share my mum’s cilantro rice from scratch in another post.

Weeknight dinner sorted! Let cook.

Weeknight Dinner with Salmon, Yogurt Sauce, Cilantro Rice, Cucumber-Tomato Salad
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Weeknight Dinner with Salmon, Yogurt Sauce, Cilantro Rice, Cucumber-Tomato Salad

Servings

4

servings
Prep time

10

minutes
Cooking time

30

minutes

Weeknight Salmon Dinner

Ingredients

  • Salmon

  • 2 packets Ducktrap Maine Smoked Salmon

  • Lemon juice from one lemon

  • Salt and black pepper to taste

  • 1 teaspoon cumin

  • 1 teaspoon garam masala

  • 1 teaspoon garlic powder

  • 1 teaspoon onion powder

  • 1 teaspoon chile powder (Cayenne pepper works too!)

  • 1 – 2 tablespoon butter to shallow fry

  • Cilantro Rice

  • 1 tablespoon unsalted butter

  • ¼ cup cilantro, stems and leaves separated, both finely chopped 

  • 1 cup cooked basmati

  • salt to taste

  • Juice of 1/2 lime, plus more to taste

  • Cucumber Yogurt Dip

  • 1 cup yogurt

  • ¼ cup sour cream

  • 1 cucumber, grated finely

  • ½ green chiles, seeded (for heat), super finely chopped or grated

  • Salt to taste

  • Cucumber Tomato Onion Salad

  • 2 cucumber, cut into small cubes

  • ½ onion, cut into small cubes

  • 1 cup cherry tomato, each cut into 8 pieces

  • ½ green chile, finely chopped

  • juice of a lemon

  • salt to taste

  • 1 tablespoons cilantro, finely chopped

Directions

  • Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
  • After cutting the fishes into 2.5 inches square pieces, coat them well with lemon juice, salt and pepper in a bowl. Let it rest up to 30 minutes.
  • While salmon is getting quickly marinated, prepare the spice mixture. In a bowl, add cumin, garam masala, onion powder, garlic powder, chile powder. Mix it well. You can add salt here if you wish.
  • Take the fish out from the lemon juice. Coat it well with spice mixture.
  • Heat a large cast iron skillet over medium-high heat for 3 or 4 minutes. Add the butter, when it shimmers, place the fillets, coated side down, in the pan. Cook about 1 minute, or until the spice mixture forms a nicely browned crust.
  • Turn the fillets and cook about a minute more, then transfer to the oven. Cook about 4 minutes for rare salmon, 5 to 6 minutes for medium rare and 8 minutes for well done.
  • Garnish with cilantro and serve with lemon juice.
  • Cilantro Rice
  • Heat a non-stick skillet over medium heat. Add butter and when it shimmers, add rice, cilantro, salt. Cook it until it everything is throughly mixed. Squeeze lime juice all over and take it aside. (This is not the traditional way of making this but during weeknight this works the fastest! I will share my mum’s detailed recipe in another post)
  • Cucumber Yogurt Dip
  • In a bowl, add cucumber, yogurt, sour cream, green chiles, salt. Mix it well. Keep it chilled until serving. You will use a little, save the rest for sandwiches or other dinner
  • Salad
  • In a bowl add cucumber, tomato, onion, cilantro, green chile. Mix it well. Season it with salt and lemon juice. Keep it chilled until serving.
  • Serving Suggestion
  • In a plate, smear 2 tablespoons of the sauce. Add cooked salmon on top and squeeze lemon juice and garnish with cilantro. Serve Rice, Fries (if you are making!), Salad with it.

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