Van Olphen is an advocate of sustainable fishing and founder of the Fish Tales Dutch seafood brand. This recipe comes from his latest cookbook, Bart’s Fish Tales, which features more than 100 recipes from around the world as well as stories and photos of fishers and fishing communities.

Salmon Teriyaki

Main course — serves 4
Preparation — 10 minutes
Cooking — 15 minutes

Teriyaki is a traditional sweet Japanese sauce, based on a mixture of soy sauce, sugar and mirin (rice wine). The sauce is used to coat chicken, meat or fish for frying or grilling (broiling) and adds a delicious flavour as well as a lovely shiny glaze.

In Japanese, yaki means ‘cooked over direct heat’ (for example grilled/broiled or fried) and teri refers to a shine or lustre. When you fry salmon coated with teriyaki sauce, take care not to let the high sugar content burn the fish.

Ingredients

Teriyaki sauce
175ml / ¾ cup sake
3 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp honey
½ tbsp balsamic vinegar
25g sugar

Salad
3 tbsp white sesame seeds
16 radishes, cut into thin strips
4 spring onions (scallions), trimmed and cut into 4cm lengths
Juice of 1 lemon
Handful of coriander (cilantro) leaves, coarsely chopped

4 x 150-175g salmon fillets, skinned
Groundnut (peanut) oil, for frying
Salt and pepper

Method

To make the teriyaki sauce, put all the ingredients in a saucepan and stir over a low heat until the sugar has dissolved. Leave the sauce to bubble over the heat until it has reduced by two-thirds and thickened slightly.

To make the salad, toast the sesame seeds in a dry frying pan (skillet) for about 1 minute until the seeds are golden brown. Remove from the pan and set aside to cool.

Mix together the radishes, spring onions (scallions), lemon juice, coriander (cilantro) and 2 tablespoons of the sesame seeds in a bowl. Season with salt and pepper.

To cook the salmon, heat 2 tablespoons of groundnut (peanut) oil in a frying pan over a high heat. Add the salmon to the pan and fry for 1 minute. Turn the heat down to medium-high and, depending on the thickness of the fish, turn the fillets over after 2–3 minutes.

Brush the tops of the fillets with some of the teriyaki sauce. Turn the salmon over after 1 minute and fry the other side for another minute. Brush with teriyaki sauce, so both sides are covered. Turn the salmon over again and fry for another 30 seconds.

Divide the salad between four serving plates and place the salmon fillets on top. Sprinkle with the remaining sesame seeds.

Recipe and image from Bart’s Fish Tales, by Bart van Olphen, published by HarperCollins, RRP $49.99.