I am by nature a foodie and as foodies go, we all have our foodie idols … One of my foodie idols is Chef Peter Tempelhoff – not only is he a great chef but also not too shabby on the eye – oh, who am I kidding everyone … he is hot! And if you come to my office you will see an A3 poster of him hanging next to my desk … but to my utter dismay two of my wonderful colleagues Johann and Pieter gave Chef Tempelhoff a mustache and a tattoo 🙂 … Anyway, two weeks ago I attended the Table of Peace and Unity lunch on the slopes of our wonderful Table Mountain and Peter Tempelhoff was one of the chefs responsible for the starter [miso sesame cured salmon and ginger prawn spring roll with soja jalapeno dressing]. I don’t know if it was the dish or perhaps him walking past that inspired me to do something hot with salmon. So later in the week I visited my Chinese supermarket for some ingredients and over the weekend made this really delicious, salmon in a hot and sour Asian broth. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did! It’s so easy … so tasty and so fresh … and cheers to the hot chef who inspired me to make this dish!

Serves 4
Preparation and cooking time: 20 Minutes

Ingredients
150g x 4 Skinless salmon steaks
Salt and black pepper
Oil for frying
For broth
1L Chicken stock (I use stock cubes for this – that’s what they do in Asia :-))
2-3 Green chillies (…if you like things a little hotter, spice it up with one more … but not too many as it will overpower your dish )
+-20cm piece of lemongrass – crushed with the back of your knife and cut into pieces (if you cannot find it but you do stay in Cape Town – contact me, I have a huge bush in my garden!)
1 Garlic clove – finely sliced
1 Thumb size piece of fresh ginger – finely sliced
¼ Cup of soya sauce
4ml Sesame oil – just under a teaspoon (be very careful that you don’t overdo the sesame oil)
Juice of 2 limes (small) or 1 lemon
2 Spring onions – chopped diagonally into thin slices
Handful of fresh coriander – roughly shredded by hand
Bean sprouts to garnish and to add some crunch

Method
In a saucepan or pot add all the ingredients for the broth – except the spring onions, coriander and bean sprouts. Bring to the boil and simmer for about 5-10 minutes allowing all the flavours to infuse.
In a griddle pan heat the oil and fry the salmon until brown on both sides – +-2 minutes on each side should do. The salmon must still be rare inside – but you must be able to flake it with a fork. Season with salt and pepper.
To serve:
Pour some of the broth through a sieve into a 4 bowls, add some spring onion and coriander. Put the salmon in the middle of the bowls and add some bean sprouts to garnish. I love fresh ginger so I always add the ginger I used for the broth in my bowl.

Tuck in and enjoy!