Salmon w/ Black Sauce

1/4 cup of this (with a few other simple ingredients)

turned this....

into this....

my new favorite salmon dish.  There were a few other recipes I was going to share with you first but this salmon was so spectacular that I had to share it with you immediately.  I literally dreamt about this salmon last night because it satisfied my appetite perfectly.

I need to thank Katie over at chaos in the kitchen for this one.  Just like Katie, I also think salmon has too much of a fishy taste to fit my liking.  This is why I rarely cook salmon at home or order it at restaurants. I really want to like salmon a lot more, especially since it has health benefits and all, but the taste has yet to grow on me.  There is one salmon recipe from the food network I found a few years ago which I enjoy and will share at a later date. But this one! This one right here is the icing on the cake.  Mr. Foodie gave it two thumbs up as well, declaring how great it tasted and how fancy it looked.  Let's look at it again.
 

It is such a beautiful, vibrant and visually appealing dish.  That is what got me hooked on it after seeing it on Katie's blog and I usually gloss over salmon recipes. I definitely say serve this dish if you want to make an impression or give the illusion that you worked really hard on this meal.  And I say the illusion because it is a quick meal to prepare.  I served it along side brown rice and sauteed spinach and of course the brown rice was what took to most time to cook. 

Whatever your occasion, I do hope you try this and let me know what you think.  It will surely be added to the rotation in my kitchen. 

Salmon w/ Black Sauce
Printable Recipe
serves 4

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons ginger, minced
1 1/2 lb salmon, 4 fillets, lightly sprinkled with salt
1 jalapeno, sliced, ribs and seeds removed
1/4 cup low sodium soy sauce
1/4 cup kecap manis sedang *
2 green onions, sliced

In a medium saute pan, heat olive oil over medium heat.  Add onion, garlic and ginger to pan and cook until onion is soft, approximately 5 minutes.

Reduce heat to medium low. Add the salmon fillets to the pan. Cover and cook approximately 3 minutes, depending on thickness.

Turn the fillets over, cover and cook the other side, approximately 2 minutes.

When the salmon is almost done add the jalapeno pepper, soy sauce and kecap manis sedang and let cook together for a few minutes more. 

Remove the salmon to another plate.  Let the sauce boil slightly and cook for approximately 5 minutes, allowing the sauce to thicken.

Pour the sauce over the salmon. Top salmon with green onions.

* A note about kecap manis sedang. It is basically an Indonesian semi-sweet soy sauce which can be used as a marinade for steaks, poultry and seafood or as a bbq sauce since it is very thick.  This was my first time using it but will try it in other recipes. I bought mine at an ethnic grocery store for approximately $3.  I did not look at the regular grocery store although you may be able to find it there.

adapted from chaosinthekitchen.com