This is a take on traditional seasoned rice that uses the Jamaican way of cooking known as “brown down”. With this technique, you fry your main ingredient – in this case the fish – in caramel to give it a lovely taste and colour. It’s a good one-pot dish that’s filling, robust and delicious.
Serves 4
500g (10½oz) white long-grain rice
3 tbsp sunflower oil
2 tbsp granulated sugar
4 salmon fillets, with skin, about 150g (5½oz) each
Juice of 2 limes
700ml (1¼ pints) water
4 spring onions, green parts only, finely sliced
¼ hot, red chilli (ideally Scotch bonnet), deseeded and finely chopped
½ tbsp thyme leaves
Salt and black pepper
Lime wedges, to serve
Method
Put the rice into a sieve and rinse in cold water until the water runs clear, then drain.
Put the oil into a large saucepan with a tight-fitting lid and sprinkle in the sugar. Gently heat, until the sugar has dissolved in the oil and is starting to brown. You can gently pull the tip of a wooden spoon across the base of the pan to encourage the dissolving, but do not stir.
When it is ready, increase the heat to medium, add the salmon, skin-side up, cover and cook for 3 minutes. Turn the fish over – carefully, as the caramel will be spluttering. Add the lime juice and quickly stir it into the caramel mixture, then immediately cover. Cook the salmon for another 2 minutes.
Check that the salmon is cooked then remove it from the pan. Add the rice to the caramel, stir it around and then add the water, spring onion greens, chilli and thyme. Season with a large pinch of salt and a very good grinding of pepper. Cover and cook over a low heat for 10-15 minutes.
Turn the heat off and leave to stand, covered, for another 10 minutes. Fluff the rice up with a fork and transfer to a large serving dish. Lay the salmon fillets on top and serve with lime wedges.
