Soy and Ginger Salmon with Edamame Rice

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp rice wine vinegar
• 20g fresh ginger, finely grated
• 2 garlic cloves, finely grated
• 4 tbsp soy sauce
• 2 tbsp runny honey
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 4 skin-on salmon fillets (approx. 150g each)
• 1 tbsp neutral oil
• 200g frozen edamame beans, podded
• 300g jasmine rice
• 4 spring onions, thinly sliced on an angle
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 2 tbsp rice wine vinegar
• 1 cucumber, halved lengthways and thinly sliced
• 1 tsp caster sugar
• 1 tbsp sesame seeds, toasted in a dry pan
• 1 red chilli, thinly sliced, to serve
• fresh coriander, leaves picked, to serve
• 1 lime, cut into wedges, to serve
• extra sesame seeds, toasted, to serve
• Pickled ginger, to serve
• Miso soup, to serve
• Kimchi, to serve

Method

1. Start the rice. Rinse the jasmine rice until the water runs nearly clear — this is the difference between fluffy grains and a sticky clump — then cook according to packet instructions.
2. While the rice cooks, make the cucumber pickle. Toss the sliced cucumber with the rice wine vinegar, caster sugar and a pinch of salt, then set aside for at least 10 minutes. The vinegar softens the cucumber and gives you the sharp, cold counterpoint to the rich salmon.
3. Mix the glaze. Whisk the soy sauce, grated ginger, grated garlic, honey, rice wine vinegar and sesame oil in a small bowl. The garlic and ginger go straight into the glaze raw — they'll cook fast in the pan, so watch it: garlic burns in seconds and turns the whole thing bitter.
4. Pat the salmon fillets very dry on both sides with kitchen paper. Wet fish steams; dry fish sears. Season generously with salt and pepper — properly, on the skin and the flesh, before it hits the pan.
5. Heat the neutral oil in a stainless or cast-iron frying pan over medium-high until it shimmers. Lay the salmon in skin-side down and press each fillet gently with a spatula for the first 20 seconds so the skin makes full contact. Cook undisturbed for 4–5 minutes — the skin should be deeply golden and crisp, and the flesh opaque two-thirds of the way up. If you're cooking all four in a small pan, do it in two batches: crowd the pan and the skin steams instead of crisping.
6. Flip the salmon and cook for 1 minute on the flesh side. Pour the glaze into the pan around the fillets — it'll hiss and bubble immediately. Tilt the pan and spoon the bubbling glaze over the salmon for 1–2 minutes until it turns glossy and lacquered and the fish is just cooked through. The garlic and ginger in the glaze should smell fragrant and sweet, not acrid — pull the pan off the heat the moment it threatens to catch.
7. In the last 3 minutes of the rice cooking, stir the frozen edamame straight into the pan to heat through until bright jade green and tender.
8. Drain the rice and edamame, return to the pan, and fold through the sesame oil, soy sauce and most of the spring onions. Taste and adjust — most of the salt comes from the soy, but a final pinch ties it together.
9. Toss the pickled cucumber with the toasted sesame seeds.
10. Plate up: a mound of edamame rice in each bowl, a glazed salmon fillet on top, and any remaining pan glaze spooned over. Pile the cucumber pickle alongside, scatter with coriander leaves, sliced red chilli, the remaining spring onions and extra toasted sesame, and tuck a lime wedge in beside each fillet for a squeeze of lime at the table. Serve the pickled ginger, miso soup and kimchi alongside.