Blackened Salmon with Tomato Salsa

Ingredients

• 4 salmon fillets, about 140g each, skin on
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 0.5 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 2 x 250g pre-cooked basmati rice pouches
• 200 g cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1 avocado, diced
• 2 limes, 1 juiced, 1 to serve
• 3 spring onions, thinly sliced
• 15 g fresh coriander, roughly chopped
• 1 tbsp pickled jalapeños, optional
• Warm tortillas, to serve
• Soured cream, to serve

Method

1. Mix the smoked paprika, cumin, garlic powder and cayenne with a generous pinch of salt and black pepper. This is a dry rub, so the spices bloom directly on the fish as it hits the hot oil — raw spices taste dusty, bloomed spices taste of themselves. Watch the garlic powder once it's in the pan: it goes from fragrant to bitter fast, so the moment you smell it turning, the salmon needs to be flipping.
2. Pat the salmon fillets bone dry with kitchen paper — water means steam, and steam means no crust. Season the flesh side with salt, then press the spice rub firmly onto the flesh so it forms a proper coating.
3. Halve the cherry tomatoes and tip them into a bowl with the lime juice, half the coriander and a pinch of salt. Stir and leave to sit while you cook the salmon — the salt draws juice from the tomatoes and the lime juice loosens it all into a proper salsa. Taste it now: it should be bright and savoury. Adjust with more salt or a squeeze more lime if it falls flat.
4. Heat the olive oil in a heavy stainless or cast-iron pan over high heat until it shimmers and just begins to smoke. Place the salmon spice-side down and don't crowd the pan — if your pan is small, do two at a time. Crowded fish steams instead of searing, and you'll lose the crust.
5. Cook for 3–4 minutes without moving, until the spices are deeply charred and the flesh has turned opaque a third of the way up the sides. Flip and cook skin-side down for 1–2 minutes until the skin crisps and the centre is just blushing pink — pull it now, the heat carries on after it leaves the pan. Lift onto a warm plate to rest.
6. Heat the rice pouches according to the pack instructions, then fork through with the diced avocado and most of the spring onions. Taste and season — pouch rice is under-seasoned by default, so a pinch of salt wakes it up.
7. Spoon the rice onto plates and lay the salmon on top, charred side up. Pile the tomato salsa alongside, scatter the remaining spring onions and reserved coriander over, drop on the pickled jalapeños if you're using them, and squeeze a lime wedge over each plate just before it goes to the table.