Black Pepper Salmon with Baby Gai Lan (Chinese Broccoli)

I almost never cook salmon at home. We would usually have our salmons at restaurants and I especially love the ones served in Japanese restaurants where they are grilled to perfection! For one thing, salmon is very expensive, though now it is not as costly as several years ago. Secondly, this fish is always frozen as they are all imported. This fillet block that I bought from Tesco is the closest that I can find. Anymore fresher than this, I got to visit certain morning market, even then, it is not always available. 

I cooked this salmon fillet in a Chinese black pepper sauce stir-fry. It is really good eaten while it is still hot. I guess, any fish tastes good when eaten hot! Fish tends to be fishy when the dish gets cold.

This is a really easy dish to prepare. You may use any vegetables, if you do not like Gai Lan. Substitute with red, yellow and green pepper together with some red onions and some strips of fresh red chili. Gai Lan has a slight bitter vegetable taste to it, so it may not appeal to some of us. 

I'm submitting this salmon dish to "Culinary Smackdown January 2011 - Battle Salmon" over at Brenda's Canadian Kitchen, who is hosting this month's challenge. 

Black Pepper Salmon with Baby Gai Lan (Chinese Broccoli)

300gm salmon fillet, cut to cubes
300gm baby gai lan
1 small carrot, cut to julienne strips
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 slices ginger, cut to julienne strips
coarse black pepper
2 tbsp black pepper sauce
salt
cooking oil
1-2 tbsp water
1 tbsp chinese cooking wine

1. Marinate salmon fillet with some salt and a generous sprinkling of coarse black pepper. Keep aside for about 15-20 minutes.
2. Heat some oil and fry salmon until light brown and cooked. Dish out and keep aside.
3. In a clean wok or saucepan, heat about 1 tbsp oil. Saute minced garlic and ginger strips until light brown and fragrant. Add in the black pepper sauce, stirring for about a minute over medium-low heat. Add in 1 tablespoon water. 
4. Turn heat to high and stir in the baby gai lan and carrots together. Add a pinch of salt to taste. Keep on stirring until gai lan is wilted and almost done.
5. Add in the salmon and stir to combine. Drizzle the Chinese cooking wine and dish out to a serving plate, serve while still hot. Enjoy!