Poached Salmon made exotic with a simple, amazing Coconut Lime Sauce!! Tastes like a Thai coconut curry sauce – but it’s quick and easy. The trick is to caramelise garlic, ginger and lemongrass with a smidge of sugar before adding the coconut milk. It’s incredible what a difference it makes!
Poached Salmon
Poached fish has a bad reputation. The mere mention of it conjures up visions of pale, overcooked, flavourless fish swimming in murky water.
It’s time for a makeover.
Enter – THIS Poached Salmon swimming in an outrageously tasty caramelised Coconut Lime Sauce with lemongrass, ginger and chilli. Poached fish never tasted so good!! 😂
This poached salmon is lightly seared on the outside first then we finish cooking it by poaching in a simple Thai coconut curry sauce.
How to poach salmon
The “normal” way to poach salmon involves bringing a pot of water to the boil with some basic aromatics like lemon and sprigs of herbs, then the salmon is gently simmered until it’s cooked.
This isn’t my favourite way to cook salmon. I miss the flavour you get from searing.
So my method of making poached salmon involves lightly searing first THEN poaching in the same skillet.
Coconut Curry Sauce – real easy!
Looks like Thai Red Curry, tastes like Thai Red Curry…..
Sure, it doesn’t have quite the same depth of flavour – but it requires a fraction of the time and ingredients. I think even those with sophisticated South East Asian palettes will still be mighty impressed with the flavour of we manage to get in this so quickly and with so few ingredients!
Here’s what goes in the coconut curry sauce – and it’s all things you can pick up at supermarkets.
The one thing that some supermarkets may not carry is Chilli Garlic Sauce which, as the name suggests, is a spicy garlicky paste. But don’t worry if you can’t find it – just sub with any chilli paste, even if it’s not Asian (eg Franks), OR use a chilli sauce like Sriracha.
Caramelisation makes all the difference!
If you’re looking at the ingredients suspiciously, thinking surely she’s exaggerating, how on earth can so few ingredients make a coconut curry sauce that tastes like Thai Red Curry? I don’t blame you. I’ll be honest – I’ve tried a few simple Coconut sauces before and been disappointed.
So here are the 2 key things in this recipe that add depth of flavour into this otherwise simple sauce:
Sear the salmon first. Just lightly – to add colour and flavour to the salmon as well as leaving behind tasty brown bits in the skillet (it’s called fond!) that adds flavour into the sauce. This is a cooking fundamental – never waste those precious golden bits from searing things!
Caramelise the aromatics (garlic, ginger, lemongrass) with a touch of sugar. It’s amazing how much more flavour that adds to an otherwise simple sauce!
What to serve with poached salmon
There’s enough sauce to serve this over jasmine rice or any rice you prefer, or with noodles (pictured). I’ve used vermicelli noodles here because they’re quick to prepare – just soak in boiling water for a few minutes,
Add a side of steamed Asian greens and voila! A healthy, Omega 3 rich dinner on the table in 20 minutes!!! – Nagi x
PS If you’re wondering if salmon is good for you, the answer is yes, we should all eat more of it! It’s rich in protein and Omega 3 fatty acids which do all sorts of good things for you – brain, joints and heart. So don’t shy away from salmon because you think it’s too fatty or too high in calories – it’s good fat.
MORE QUICK & EASY SALMON RECIPES
Christmas Baked Salmon: Easy & Make-ahead – Dead-easy, eye-catching centrepiece!
Sesame Crusted Salmon (that crust!)
Honey Garlic Salmon (super quick)
Salmon Cakes (they’re baked!)
And if you love coconut milk sauces, you’ll love these!
An amazing easy Thai Coconut Noodle Soup
WATCH HOW TO MAKE IT
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Poached Salmon in Coconut Lime Sauce
Ingredients
- 4 salmon fillets , 180g/6oz each preferably skinless (Note 1)
- Salt and pepper
- 2 tbsp oil , separated
- 2 garlic cloves , finely grated
- 2 tsp ginger , finely grated
- 1 lemongrass , peeled, finely grated (Note 2)
- 1 tbsp brown sugar
- 1 tsp chilli garlic paste or other chilli paste, adjust to taste (Note 3)
- 400 g/14oz coconut milk (Note 2)
- 1 tbsp fish sauce (or soy sauce)
- 2 tsp lime zest (1 lime)
- Lime juice , to taste
Garnish/serving:
- Fresh coriander/cilantro leaves , finely chopped (recommended)
- Finely sliced large red chillies (optional)
- Vermicelli noodles OR , soaked per packet, or rice
- Steamed jasmine rice
- Steamed Asian greens
Instructions
- Sprinkle both sides of salmon with salt and pepper.
- Heat 1 tbsp oil in a non stick pan or well seasoned skillet over medium high heat. Add salmon, skin side up, and sear for just 1 1/2 minutes until golden. Turn salmon and cook the other side just for 1 minute, then remove onto a plate (should still be raw inside).
- Turn heat down to medium low and allow skillet to cool.
- Heat remaining 1 tbsp oil. Add garlic, ginger and lemongrass. Cook until garlic is light golden ~ 1 minute.
- Add sugar and cook for 20 seconds until it becomes a caramel (see video). Then stir in chilli paste.
- Add coconut milk and stir, scraping the bottom of the skillet to dissolve any bits stuck on the base into the sauce.
- Stir in fish sauce, increase heat to medium. Simmer for 2 minutes.
- Place salmon into the sauce, lower heat and simmer gently for 4 minutes, or until just cooked.
- Remove salmon, stir in lime zest and juice to taste. Adjust salt to taste with fish sauce.
- Serve salmon over noodles or rice. Spoon over sauce, garnish with coriander and chili if using.
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
LIFE OF DOZER
That time he got my sneakers wet so I took them off and made him carry them back to the car.
We eat salmon every week, so it’s great to have a few excellent ways to mix it up a bit!
This is one of the best meals I’ve ever cooked! Jam-packed with glorious flavors, and as always, made as easy as humanly possible without any compromise in flavor. Truly thankful to you, Nagi!
This is one of the best meals I’ve ever cooked! Jam-packed with glorious flavors, and as always, made as easy as humanly possible without any compromise in flavor. Nagi, you are a culinary genius!
This is a really good recipe but you should be prepared to substitute and experiment when you don’t have exactly what is listed. I used sweet chili sauce and chilli seeds as I didn’t have chilli paste, I used home grown pak choy- red variety, plus ready grated garlic and the also ginger, lots of home grown coriander and bottled smoked chipotle. When one doesn’t live in a place that has all ingredients in the recipe, one has to improvise. And that can be a very good thing. The results for me were just great. I aim to try this with prawns and chicken as I feel it would be just as good.
What can I say, you’ve done it again, this is delicious. Threw some bok choy in after taking it off the heat and let it wilt.
Absolutely divine. Paired with Vermicilli noodles and bok choy. Thank you nagi
Very yum sauce. Didn’t have salmon 😪 so added some frozen sirfry and shredded chicken and noddles. Need to read the ingredients next time but still delish
I will make again just make it for the simple tasty sauce .
Honestly Nagi you have revolutionised my cooking and my wife couldn’t be happier – your recipes are absolutely stunning and made especially easy for those of us living in Aus (as your ingredients are readily available here!)
Top marks yet again
MADE SALMON 2 WAYS TONIGHT
BOTH EXCELLENT RECIPES
PERFECT TIMING
CRISPY SKIN SALMON & THIS THAI VERSION OF
POACHED SALMON
HAD TO FIGHT PORTER THE PW DOG FOR THE CRISPY SKIN. HE’s 9 LIKE DOZER!!
THANKS NAGI
Wowza. All those glorious flavors. It will be in my recipe memory forever. Thank you Nagi. Ps. I served with jasmine rice and bok choy perfection on a plate and on my tongue
Delicious! It will definitely be a regular dinner option. Amazing something so delicious could be made so quickly.
Just made the coconut lime sauce but with sea bass absolutely delicious the only other change I made was just used 200ml of coconut milk. Definitely going to be a firm favourite in this house. Going to try the garlic butter recipe next time.
Hi Nagi, I love your boy.
This was such a great recipe! I made it tonight – I didn’t have fish sauce so I subbed in soy sauce, but it still turned out great. I served over rice and topped with edamame and spiralized cucumbers and carrots for a little crunch. Amazing recipe!!!
Super delicious! Wolfed it down! I did notice the second time when we pre prepped the ingredients (instead of using fresh) the flavours were much less intense. Wondering if you’ve ever frozen pre prepped or cooked sauce and suggestions around this?
Excellent recipe, very tasty. Made it as-is and it was delicious.
Delicious! We’ve had bad experiences in the past with lemon grass but we thought the amount here was perfect! It comes together really quickly, lovely weeknight meal 🙂
Hi Nagi, love this recipe So much! I’m doing it on the weekend but with big juicy prawns this time. Would I cook the prawns a little first (like the salmon) then remove & make the sauce & add them back in later?
The first time I tried this recipe I found it was lacking a lot of that Thai flavour.
The second time I made it instead of the chili paste I used 2 tsp red Thai chili in addition to the garlic, ginger and lemongrass paste (Nagi talks about doing this in another recipe and I loved it). I also sautéd the lemongrass pasts when I put the brown sugar in.
I added 4 kaffir lime leaves when I added the coconut milk.
With those changes I found this recipe to be top notch! It was incredibly delicious.
I served it with jasmine rice.
This is going on our menu every week. So good! Even my 1 year old ate it.
I have to comment again on how much I love this recipe. I make it with chicken and my 2year old twins wolf it down. They can’t get enough. A go to meal that everyone enjoys, which makes meal time harmonious, thanks Nagi