Thai Green Curry Two Ways: Salmon or Vegan

Thai Green Curry with Salmon

Thai Green Curry Two Ways
🐟 🌿 🍚

Pan-Seared King Salmon
or
Shiitakes, Baby Corn, and Bok Choy

Thai Green Curry with Shiitakes, Baby Corn, and Bok Choy

Thai green curry begins with fragrant curry paste and coconut milk. In this version, shiitake mushrooms, baby corn, and bok choy simmer in the aromatic sauce until the vegetables are tender.

For the salmon version, a pan-seared king salmon fillet rests on top instead of simmering in the curry, as the protein traditionally would. This keeps its golden, seasoned surface intact, with the sauce and vegetables beneath it. The same vegetables also make a satisfying vegan version, spooned over jasmine rice. It’s one curry dish prepared two ways, each with its own appeal.

Thai Green Curry Two Ways

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Crispy Salmon Skin Tacos

Crispy Salmon Skin Tacos

Crispy Salmon Skin Tacos
🌮 🐟 🌮
Cabbage, Red Onion, Avocado
Salsa Verde

Raw salmon dishes—such as salmon crudo, sashimi, or aguachile—are prepared without the skin, but don’t discard this flavorful and nutritious part of the fish. Crisp it until golden, tuck it into warm tortillas, and let the skin steal the show. The savory salmon skin is especially good against the cool cabbage, creamy avocado, and lively salsa verde, with every bite offering a delicious contrast of flavors and textures.

When removing the skin from the salmon for these raw preparations, leave some of the flesh attached. In the oven, the flesh browns as the skin turns crisp, creating substantial pieces that are especially good in these tacos.

And September is a wonderful time to catch the last of the season’s fresh corn. Serve the tacos with simply prepared corn on the cob while it is still sweet and plentiful.

Salmon Skin Tacos Recipe

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Sockeye Salmon with Hatch Chile Corn

Sockeye Salmon with Hatch Chile Corn

Sockeye Salmon with Hatch Chile Corn
🌶️ 🐟 🌽

Fresh corn and Hatch chiles are two of the best flavors of late summer, and they pair beautifully with wild sockeye salmon. Here, the corn is sautéed in butter with roasted chiles, tomatoes, garlic, and lime, then served alongside pan-seared salmon with divinely crispy skin.

If you’re not familiar with Hatch chiles, they’re grown in New Mexico’s Hatch Valley and are prized for their earthy, slightly sweet flavor and wonderful smoky character when roasted. Depending on the variety, they can range from mild and mellow to quite hot. I roast mine over the flame on my backyard grill until the skins are blackened and blistered; see my Hatch Chile Tuna Melt for the roasting method.

Sockeye Salmon with Hatch Chile Corn Recipe

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Salmon, Poisson Cru Style

Salmon, Poisson Cru Style

Salmon, Poisson Cru Style
Coconut Milk, Lime, Chili Oil
Radish, Cilantro
🐟 🥥 🌴

I had been meaning to share a version of Poisson Cru ever since my brother sent a photo of his boat while cruising in Tahiti. A friend of his there wrote to me afterward and said I had to try that island’s take on raw fish, especially since I’ve shared several crudo-style dishes here on Taste With The Eyes.

Poisson Cru—often considered the national dish of Tahiti—is beautifully simple. At its core, it’s raw fish, citrus, coconut milk, and some crisp vegetables. It’s often compared to ceviche, but the coconut milk shifts the balance, softening the acidity and giving the dish a smoother, more rounded finish.

Sand Pebble in Tahiti
Sand Pebble in Tahiti

Traditionally, it’s made with just-caught fish, most commonly tuna or other local reef fish. My version takes a different route.

Salmon are not found in the tropical waters of Tahiti. The water temperature is far too warm for them, so they’re not part of the local catch. But here, the Alaska salmon and coconut milk work beautifully in their own way. The sliced radish adds crunch along with a light peppery bite that cuts through the coconut milk, sesame chili oil brings nutty heat, while cilantro layers in a cool, herbal note.

Salmon, Poisson Cru Style Recipe

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Salmon Rice with Hijiki Seaweed

Salmon Rice with Hijiki Seaweed

Salmon Rice with Hijiki Seaweed
🐟 🍚 🌿

Hijiki is a dried Japanese sea vegetable that looks like thin, wiry black strands and is typically rehydrated before cooking. Once it softens, it takes on a tender, slightly chewy texture and a deep, savory flavor with subtle mineral notes from the sea.

Salmon Rice with Hijiki Seaweed

Here, it cooks right alongside short grain rice in a light dashi seasoned with sake, soy sauce, and a touch of sesame oil, infusing the grains with oceanic character. That makes it an especially natural partner for hot-smoked salmon. Set over the warm rice to gently heat through, the fish releases its seasoned oils—salt, a hint of brown sugar, and alderwood smoke—into the grains below.

Salmon Rice with Hijiki Seaweed

Finished with sliced scallions, fresh cilantro, thin rounds of Fresno chile, and lemon wedges for brightness, it’s deeply savory and completely crave-worthy.

Salmon Rice with Hijiki Seaweed Recipe

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