Salmon Pepper Rice (Pepper Lunch Style)

I love Pepper Lunch. My family also loves eating at Pepper Lunch, and it was one of the most visited restaurant for our family years ago (now we don’t really go to the mall except for grocery shopping which I always do alone, so we rarely visit this restaurant anymore). My favorite is always beef or chicken pepper rice, but my family usually prefers salmon pepper rice.

Since I just bought my first cast iron hotplate, the first thing that I wanted to try was making salmon pepper rice. It was quite easy actually and it taste really delicious. Yes, it was a bit troublesome since I had to make the two types of sauce first, cooked the vegetables and the rice, but we loved the end result so much that I ended up making this twice for dinner and lunch the next day.

I made the sauce in big batches (for about  portions) and I loved both of them. My favorite was the honey sauce so I made this more than the garlic soy sauce (but my family loved the garlic soy sauce better). I just had to keep in bottles and refrigerate for next time. I just loved that the honey soy sauce that I made was not as sweet as the one we had in the restaurant and it complemented the other sauce really well.

To complete the dish, I separated the salmon from the skin and deep fried the skin until crispy which was one of the highlight of the dish.

Ingredients:

1. salmon fillet
2. cooked rice
3. cooked sweet corn
4. optional: baby green beans cooked in boiling water for 5 minutes
5. salted butter
6. ground black pepper
7. minced green onions

For the sauce:

Honey Soy Sauce (Amakuchi):

1. 2 tbsp cooking oil
2. 1 yellow onion, diced
3. 5 garlic, minced
4. 1/2 cup light soy sauce
5. 1/2 cup honey
6. slurry: 2 tsp tapioca starch + 1/2 cup of water mixed until there are no lumps

Garlic Soy Sauce (Karakuchi):

1. 5 garlic, minced
2. 1/2 cup light soy sauce
3. 1/8 tsp ground black pepper
4. slurry: 1 tsp tapioca starch + 1/4 cup of water mixed until there are no lumps

To make crispy salmon skin:

1. salmon skin
2. salt and pepper
3. 1 egg, beaten
4. crispy fry mix flour in packets (or use tapioca starch)

Method:

To make crispy salmon skin:

1. To separate salmon from the skin: pour hot boiling water on top of the salmon skin, then carefully peel the skin. Cut into smaller rectangle shapes and cut the salmon flesh into big cubes
2. Lightly season the skins with salt and pepper, then dip in beaten egg and coat with flour
3. Deep fry until golden brown on both sides

To make Honey Soy Sauce (Amakuchi):

1. Heat a sauce pan with cooking oil, then add onion and garlic. Stir fry until fragrant and onions are soft
2. Add soy sauce and honey, bring to  a boil
3. Add slurry, continue cooking until it boils and the sauce thickens. Let cool slightly
4. Process the mixture in a blender until smooth and set aside

To make Garlic Soy Sauce (Karakuchi):

1. Into a saucepan, add garlic, soy sauce, and black pepper. Bring to a boil and simmer for 3 minutes
2.  Add slurry and continue cooking until it boils. Turn off the heat and set aside

To make salmon pepper rice:

1. Arrange rice in the middle of the hotplate, with sweet corn on top
2. Lightly brush the surface around the rice with oil
3. In medium heat, start heating the plate until it gets really really hot
4. Add cubes salmon and green beans on the sides
5. Drizzle 2 tsp of each sauce on top the rice and the fish
6. Sprinkle green onion on top of the rice, then place 1 tbsp of butter on top
7. Add black pepper on top of the rice and salmon
8. Turn off the heat, serve hot with crispy salmon skin on the side
9. Quickly mix everything on the plate to continue cooking the salmon and enjoy the dish. Our favorite is the rice at the bottom which has become crispy after cooking