This dish is inspired by the rice. We went to our favourite western food restaurant and they have this dish which was simply called butter rice. Now I had many butter rice in my time but their’s was definitely different. When the dish came to our table, it looked sorta….tacky (for lack of a better word), but the aroma of butter was AMAZING. You could smell it a mile away.
So I wanted to try and recreate that rice dish but pairing it with something else because the restaurant had it with like a grilled chicken piece with what tastes like barbecue sauce or some sweet and sour sauce. I thought having it with fish instead would be nicer.
Now you can have it with any kinds of fish of course, but lately I seem to enjoy the taste of seared salmon….and I am not a huge fan of salmon (GASP)! I chopped the mushrooms to fine pieces manually rather than use a blender because I didn’t want the mushrooms to be pulverized, I still want a bit of texture but without the big chunky pieces. I also chopped the pepper very finely but you can have it slightly chunkier, my kids would pick them out one by one if it were any bigger.
Did the rice come out like the restaurant’s? Not really, it was much darker at the restaurant, I think they would’ve added more mushrooms like portobello’s to give the rice that dark brownish colour. I’m pretty sure they didn’t use soy sauce or those caramel colouring like that. I didn’t detect any squid ink taste either. The butter smell didn’t really come through, I wonder if that had to do with the kind of butter I’m using or dare I even say they might be using margarine for all you know. I can definitely improve on the rice but hubster said it was good nonetheless.
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BUTTER FRIED RICE AND PAN-SEARED SALMON
Ingredients;
4 cups of cooked rice (left overnight in the fridge)
Half a big red pepper, chopped finely
Half a big onion, chopped finely
3 cloves of garlic, chopped finely
1 cup of chopped brown mushrooms, chop with knife
2 tablespoons of olive oil
2 heaping tablespoons of butter
Chopped parsley
Salt
Black pepper
Salmon fillet
Lemon wedge
Steps;
1. Heat a deep wok or frying pan with the olive oil in high heat. Add the butter.
2. When the butter is halfway melted, add the chopped onions. I feel it you add the onions after the butter has completely melted, it has a tendency to burn.
3. Cook the onions half way and add garlic and pepper.
4. Stir for 5 seconds, add chopped mushrooms and rice.
5. Coat the rice with the butter and vegetable mix. Toss till the grains separate.
6. Add salt and black pepper to taste.
7. Off the heat and add chopped parsley.
8. Heat another flat frying pan with olive oil.
9. Pat the salmon fillet dry, make sure it’s really dry especially around the skin.
10. Season with salt and pepper.
11. Place the salmon skin side down on the oil. Let it sear for 3 mins to get t crispy.
12. Sear each side of the salmon. 1 minute each. My fillet was fairly small, if you have a large and thick piece of salmon, you might need longer cooking time.
13. Serve the rice with the seared salmon on top and a lemon wedge on the side.
Enjoy!
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