Grilled Salmon Kyoto

I got sore throat on the plane back to KL - bummer. And I have just got tonsilitis last month too! I think it was dehydration (been imbibing alcohol in the cabin and then falling asleep thereafter without drinking water - a no-no but what the heck, it was Saturday) on top of the lack of sleep (been sleeping about 4 hours a day for past week).

I need 8 hours of sleep as a minimum every day. Anything less than 8 hours, I get cranky, zits and sore throat.

Being at home always makes me crave "light" foods like porridge, vegs and fish. And mind you, cooking is like a healing balm for me. This explains why this post first before the one on Japan.

Bought some salmon steaks yesterday and since I was sick, I cooked it the usual simple way : rubbed some chopped garlic and ground sea salt, grilled the salmon before squirting some lemon juice over before serving.

Barry took me to the doctor's yesterday and the meds helped. Today, I felt better after sleeping the whole morning away and resting in the afternoon. And that means, cooking the same thing differently! I still have salmon and I do not like to keep seafood for more than 24 hours in my fridge. Seafood must be eaten fresh.

I browsed online and Grilled Salmon Kyoto piqued my interest - because I have salmon and also, I have just visited Kyoto. I can't relate this recipe to Kyoto though but it sounded good enough for our dinner. (I had my favourite porridge and stirfried vegs early in order to take meds - so, won't eat much when Barry is home).

This Grilled Salmon Kyoto recipe can be found in a few websites - I will just quote Allrecipes' recipe.

Below is my version for 1 salmon steak :

INGREDIENTS
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp orange juice
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp tomato ketchup
1 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp Dijon mustard
2 tbsp green onion, chopped
2 large cloves garlic, chopped
a pinch of ginger powder (my fresh ginger dried up in my absence)
2 tbsp Choya Ume liquer (which I bought last August)

1 salmon steak (1 inch thick)

DIRECTIONS
Mix all ingredients except salmon. Marinade salmon with the combined ingredients for at least 30 mins. In my case, I left it to marinade for 3 hours in the fridge, covered.

Remove salmon from marinade. Pour marinade into a small saucepan. Bring to a boil, and cook for 1 minute.

Lightly oil the grill grate. (I used the top shelf of oven to grill with the heating elements on top switched on and lined the bottom with aluminium foil. Temp. 250 degs C). Cook on grill for 8 minutes per inch, or until fish flakes easily with a fork. Turn salmon once. (So, 4 minutes per side). It's best not to overcook but I cooked mine a bit longer as I do have a preference for the slightly burnt taste - LOL!

Serve with the extra marinade which was cooked (MUST!) on the side. The salmon was really soft from the marinade - very flavourful. I liked it a lot. And Barry loved it too, especially the marinade.