Salmon tikka bowls with a quick fennel seed and cabbage pickle

This recipe from Dr Rupy Aujla uses a single tray to make the most delicious and easy bowls, packed with vegetables, grains and high-protein oily fish. The brassica vegetables with spices, fruity Kashmiri chilli and sharp red cabbage pickle are a delicious combination of contrasting flavours that work harmoniously for your health and taste buds.

Salmon tikka bowls with a quick fennel seed and cabbage pickle. Credit: Andrew Burton / Ebury Press

• serves

  2

• prep

  10 minutes

• cook

  25 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

Ingredients

• 1½ tbsp tikka masala paste or mild curry paste
• 300 g salmon, skin on, cut into thick 4 cm chunks
• 300 g cauliflower, broken into 2 cm florets
• 1 tsp mustard seeds
• ½ tsp ground turmeric
• ½ tsp Kashmiri chilli or sweet paprika
• 3 tsp olive oil, plus extra to drizzle

For the fennel and cabbage pickle

• 100 g red cabbage, finely shredded with a mandolin
• 2 tsp fennel seeds
• 4 tsp red wine vinegar
• 4 tsp apple juice or 1 tsp sugar
• ½ tsp salt

To serve

• 150 g cooked short-grain brown rice, warmed
• 2 tbsp Greek yoghurt
• 100 g rocket leaves

Marinating time: 20 minutes (or overnight).

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C fan-forced.
2. Smother the salmon in the curry paste and cover with foil in a bowl. Leave to marinate in the fridge for 20 minutes (it’s even better overnight).
3. Add the cauliflower to a baking tray, sprinkle over the spices and drizzle over the olive oil and mix well. Then season well and bake for 15 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, for the pickle, add the cabbage, fennel seeds, vinegar, apple juice or sugar and salt to a mixing bowl and scrunch everything together with your hands for 30 seconds. Set aside.
5. Remove the tray from the oven, toss the cauliflower florets and turn up the heat to 220°C fan-forced. Nestle the salmon, skin-side up, between the cauliflower florets and bake for another 10–12 minutes until the salmon is cooked through and golden coloured with some charring.
6. Build your bowls with the warmed rice, fennel and cabbage pickle, dollops of yoghurt, salmon and cauliflower, and rocket leaves with a drizzle of oil.

 

Note

You can use an air fryer to cook the salmon instead in about half the time.

Extracted from The Doctor’s Kitchen: Healthy High Protein by Dr Rupy Aujla (Ebury Press, $49.99). Photography by Andrew Burton.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.