Coconut and Curry Char with Greens over Basmati Rice

This was good. I know I say it a lot, but this main dish was really, really good. This will quickly enter the rotation of meals I make again despite my ever-present urge to always try making something new. In fact, you'll see that some of these flavors (i.e. coconut milk) will now be cropping up in a variety of recipes over the next couple of weeks. I'm inspired by this new, yummy ingredient and plan on trying it out in a variety of ways.

Please note that in my recipe below I do call for light coconut milk, however. It's difficult to find but I promise it's there. In my normal, every day supermarket it took a little bit of searching. In the international aisle there are about 5 places where coconut milk is offered, but only one had a light variety, so do not give up easily. I also located this light milk at Whole Foods without too much trouble.

Finally, I made homemade vegetable spring rolls to go with this entree (you can spot them at the edge of the picture, still on my plate) but unfortunately they simply did not turn out well. I could not find spring roll wrappers and the substitute I tried fell apart. And somehow, despite all of my low-salt ingredients, the end result came out too salty for my taste. In the end, these will not be written up today, but if you have a great recipe for spring rolls please share below. I will continue to practice and can hopefully bring you better news soon!

Time: 20 minutes
Difficulty: easy

Coconut and Curry Char with Greens
Note: You can easily use Salmon or Arctic Char in this recipe, but if you use Salmon make sure you are only purchasing the sustainable varieties.

Ingredients:
2 tsp peanut oil
3/4 cup onion, diced
2 tsp curry powder
1 cup low-fat or light coconut milk
2 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp lime juice
1 tbsp ginger, peeled and minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp fish sauce
8 oz clam juice
1 lb salmon, cut into 1" cubes
5 c. snow pea leaves (not actual snow peas!)

(this is adapted from a similar recipe from Cooking Light)

Heat a wok (or large pan if you are wok-less) over medium high heat. Add the peanut oil and heat the oil, swirling to coat the bottom of the pan. Toss in the onion and curry powder and stir. Saute for 4-5 minutes.

Add the coconut milk, sugar, lime juice, ginger, garlic, fish sauce, and clam juice. Stir until well mixed and then let the mixture come to a light boil. Reduce the heat and let coconut milk mixture simmer for 4 minutes. Add the fish and cook for another 4-5 minutes, stirring occasionally to make sure the fish cooks evenly. Add the snow peas and mix them into the mixture. Cover and cook another 4 minutes or until the fish is done and snow pea leaves are wilted. Remove from heat and serve over Basmati rice.

Note: While you can simply follow the instructions on the back of your Basmati rice container, feel free to also make the rice more interesting. Indian restaurants often caramelize a few onions and toss them in, which is a favorite of mine. After cooking the rice you can also add seeds or spices to your taste.