I just tried this out last night and it turned out pretty yummy. I know Ramadan is not your ideal fish month but you can easily get salmon steaks (two to a pack) from Gourmet for LE 53–and with a bag of lentils you pretty much have a super shi shi dinner (a dish like this is served at the Cairo Capital Club in Garden City). The recipe has three parts to it: salmon, lentils and an optional lemon butter sauce–but it is, relatively, simple.
Ingredients:
2 salmon steaks, skin removed
Olive oil
Lemon – (the little bottles of lemon juice are nice because you will need a considerable amount of lemon and the squeezing can get annoying)
Salt and pepper
¼ bag of dark brown lentils, rinsed
1 stick of butter (100 grams)
1 onion
3 cloves of garlic
Spices to taste – thyme, fenugreek, cloves (2 maximum), dill, and one bay leaf)
1 chicken stock cube
1 spoon maple syrup
½ mini carton of cream
About 2 hours!
Directions:
- Unpack the salmon and remove the skin – sprinkle with salt and pepper and place in a casserole dish.
- Make a combination of olive oil, maple syrup and lemon and coat the salmon in the mixture.
- Cover with foil and refrigerate for 30 minutes while you preheat the oven to 170 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Put the lentils in a heavy bottomed stock pot and cover with water.
- Add in fenugreek, bay leaf, two cloves, one chicken stock cube and leave to boil.
- Once boiling, lower the flame and simmer for 30 minutes.
- Put ½ a stick of butter in a food processor with one chopped onion, a generous amount of thyme and dill, salt and pepper to taste, and three cloves of garlic.
- Once 30 minutes have passed, remove the salmon from the fridge and place in the oven for 45 minutes (or until salmon flakes easily).
- After 30 minutes of boiling the lentils, drain but reserve 1 cup of cooking water. Remove bay leaf and cloves.
- Put lentils into a sauce pan with the onion butter to coat and cook a little more.
- Take 1/3 of lentils and put them with ½ cup of the lentil cooking water in a blender to puree.
- Mix pureed lentils back in with non pureed lentils (this adds a nice texture to your ‘bed of lentils’).
- Prepare your serving dish with a bed of lentils (or prepare your dinner plates with a bed of lentils).
- Remove salmon from oven when done and place a salmon steak on the bed of lentils.
- Optional – Make a lemon butter sauce out of white wine vinegar (or white wine – you will boil until it is reduced and the alcohol is removed), lemon juice and a cube of chicken stock. Once reduced, add in the other half of the stick of butter and the half a mini carton of cream. Boil till desired consistency.
- Pour your lemon butter sauce over the salmon and serve!
