Chilli Crisp Salmon with Avocado Rice

Ingredients

• 4 salmon fillets
• 2 tbsp chilli crisp
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 lime, zested and juiced
• 250g jasmine rice, rinsed
• 2 ripe avocados, diced
• 4 spring onions, finely sliced
• 15g coriander, roughly chopped
• 2 tbsp sesame seeds, toasted
• 0.5 cucumber, finely sliced
• 1 lime, cut into wedges
• salt and black pepper to taste
• Pickled radishes, to serve
• Edamame, to serve
• Miso soup, to serve

Method

1. Rinse the jasmine rice under cold water until it runs clear — this washes off the surface starch that turns rice gluey. Cook it in well-salted water until tender, then leave it covered off the heat for 5 minutes to steam dry so the grains stay separate.
2. Mix the chilli crisp with the soy sauce and half the lime juice in a small bowl. Spoon about two-thirds over the salmon fillets and leave them to sit, skin-side up, while the rice finishes — keep the rest back for the pan sauce.
3. Drop the edamame into a pan of boiling water for 3 minutes, then drain and set aside.
4. Pat the salmon skin bone-dry with kitchen paper — water means steam, and steam means no crisp skin. Season the fillets generously with salt and black pepper on both sides.
5. Heat a stainless or cast-iron pan over medium-high until it's properly hot. Lay the salmon skin-side down and don't crowd the pan — cook in two batches if your pan is small, or the fillets will steam instead of sear. Press gently for the first 30 seconds so the skin makes full contact, then leave it alone for 4 to 5 minutes until the skin is deep gold and crisp. Flip and cook 2 to 3 minutes more, until the flesh is just opaque at the centre and still juicy.
6. Lift the salmon out and rest it on a plate. Tip the reserved chilli crisp mixture into the hot pan, swirl for 20 seconds to loosen the stuck-on bits and turn it glossy, then take it off the heat — this is your sauce, not a paste.
7. Fluff the rice with a fork and fold through the lime zest, the remaining lime juice, the edamame, most of the spring onions, the coriander leaves and the toasted sesame seeds. Taste and season — most of the salt comes from the soy on the salmon, but the rice needs its own pinch to wake it up. Taste again, adjust now, not at the table.
8. Gently fold the diced avocado through at the very end so it stays in soft chunks rather than mashing into the rice.
9. Spoon the avocado rice into bowls, lay a salmon fillet on top skin-side up, then spoon the warm chilli crisp pan sauce over each fillet. Scatter over the cucumber slices and the remaining spring onions, tuck the pickled radishes alongside, and finish with a lime wedge on each bowl for a final squeeze at the table.