This recipe comes from Red Hot Kitchen, by Diana Kuan, published in 2019. I also own her cookbook The Chinese Takeout Cookbook, published in 2012.
The Red Hot Kitchen is all about Asian chili sauces – some hot, some not. There are 9 different chapters, each focusing on a different sauce. I’ve previously made Fish Tacos with Yuzu Kosho Slaw, and from the Takeout book, Sweet Chili Shrimp. Both were excellent.
This quick and simple salmon recipe is from the chapter on Sweet Chili Sauce. The one I buy is Mae Ploy, but of course Ms. Kuan has a recipe to make it from scratch, which I haven’t made yet.
I used more ginger in this recipe because I felt like it. I was also tempted to add sambal oelek to the sauce, for more of a spicy sweet ginger sauce. But I’ll see how this goes, first.
Roasted Sweet Chili and Ginger Salmon
1/2 cup sweet chili sauce
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons lime juice
1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger (I used more)
4 – 6 ounce filets of salmon
2 teaspoons white sesame seeds
2 scallions, thinly sliced
Lime wedges, optional
In a large bowl, whisk together the sweet chili sauce, soy sauce, lime juice, and ginger. Add the salmon and turn to coat with the sauce. Cover and marinate in the fridge for 1 hour.
As you can tell, I used only 2 salmon filets, and saved half of the sauce/marinade for serving.
Preheat the oven to 400°F. Line a roasting pan or baking sheet with parchment paper.
Place the salmon filets skin side up on the parchment and brush the tops with extra marinade. Sprinkle the sesame seeds on top. (I sprinkled the sesame seeds after the salmon was cooked, not on the skin.)
Roast until the flesh looks opaque and flakes off easily with a fork, 10 – 12 minutes.
Carefully transfer the salmon to plates and garnish with the scallions. (And sesame seeds.)
I served the salmon with white rice and asparagus, plus the leftover marinade.
The sauce was great! And it isn’t overly sweet.