Soy-Glazed Salmon with Bok Choy & Rice

Ingredients

• 2 salmon fillets, skin-on, about 150g each
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tbsp rice vinegar
• 1 x 250g pouch microwave jasmine rice
• 2 spring onions, sliced
• 1 red chilli, thinly sliced
• 3 tbsp soy sauce
• 2 tbsp honey
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 2 bok choy, halved lengthways
• 1 tbsp sesame seeds, toasted
• Pickled cucumber, to serve
• Fresh coriander, to serve

Method

1. Whisk the soy sauce, honey, rice vinegar, minced garlic and sesame oil together in a small bowl until the honey loosens into the liquid. The rice vinegar is your acid here — it cuts the honey's sweetness and stops the glaze tasting one-note. Set aside.
2. Pat the salmon fillets dry with kitchen paper — water means steam, and steam means no crisp skin. Season the skin and flesh generously with salt and pepper.
3. Heat the vegetable oil in a stainless or cast-iron frying pan over medium-high heat until it shimmers. Lay the salmon skin-side down and press gently with a fish slice for the first 10 seconds so the skin stays flat against the pan. Leave it alone for 4–5 minutes — don't fidget, don't peek. The skin releases cleanly when it's ready, not before.
4. Meanwhile, bring a pan of well-salted water to the boil — it should taste like the sea. Blanch the bok choy halves for 2 minutes until the stems are tender but still have bite, then drain well, cut-side up, so they don't sit in their own water.
5. Flip the salmon. Pour the glaze around the fillets — it will hiss and bubble immediately. The garlic is in the glaze, so keep it moving: tilt the pan and spoon the bubbling sauce over the fish for 2–3 minutes until it turns glossy and lacquered. Watch the garlic — once the glaze darkens past mahogany it'll turn bitter, so pull the pan if it's racing.
6. Lift the salmon out onto a warm plate. Let the glaze bubble in the pan for another 20–30 seconds until it coats the back of a spoon — that's your pan sauce. Taste it: most of the salt comes from the soy, but a final pinch and a crack of pepper ties it together.
7. Ping the rice according to the packet instructions.
8. Pile the rice into warm bowls, lean the bok choy alongside and rest the salmon on top. Spoon the pan glaze over the fish, then scatter with the sliced spring onions, toasted sesame seeds and red chilli.