Sabyasachi Gorai's Grilled Rawas With Kale Salad

Bursting with textures and flavours, the star of this dish is beautifully grilled fillets of Indian salmon.

Chef Sabyasachi Gorai's Grilled Rawas With Kale Salad also features an unusual mix of greens -- walnuts, kale, juicy tomatoes and anchovies.

Drizzle some lemon juice over it, and voila! you have a healthy gourmet meal you would want to not only eat every day but also cook for friends and family to show off.

Is one of your guests vegetarian? He won't go hungry. Please see the options in the notes below.

Photograph: California Walnuts

Grilled Rawas With Kale Salad

Serves: 4

Ingredients

150 gm kale, stalks removed, roughly chopped
3 limes
2 anchovies from a can
2 tbsp walnut oil, available online or substitute with roasted sesame oil or extra virgin olive oil
4 tsp soy sauce
4 tsp or less maple syrup
1 tsp smoked paprika, available online
4 rawas or Indian salmon fillets
120 gm walnuts, toasted and roughly chopped
150 gm cherry tomatoes, halved
40 gm fresh Parmesan, grated
1 tsp salt

For serving

Mayonnaise mustard sauce or tartare sauce

Method

Place the kale in a large mixing bowl.
Squeeze the juice of 1 lime over it and sprinkle the salt.
Toss together to coat the leaves, and then leave aside to rest.
Muddle or mash the anchovies in a pestle and mortar with the walnut oil.
Set aside.
Whisk together soy sauce, maple syrup, smoked paprika.
Place the salmon fillets, skin side up, on a baking tray lined with foil and brush with the soy mixture.
Cut the remaining two limes in half and place them next to the salmon fillets.
Grill with skin side up for 3-4 minutes, then flip the fillets and grill for further 3-4 minutes, or until mildly golden brown.
While the salmon is grilling, toss the walnuts, tomatoes, and Parmesan together and add to the dressed kale.
Stir the walnut oil-anchovy dressing through the salad.
Divide the kale salad between four plates and place a grilled salmon fillet on the bed of salad on each plate and a grilled lemon half.
Serve hot with a mayonnaise mustard or tartare sauce, available in gourmet grocery stores.

Note: For additional spice or flavour add a little Tabasco or chilly powder to the rawas marinate and a tsp or less garlic paste to the salad dressing.

For an even healthier version of this entree, reduce the maple syrup or opt to swap for a reduced quanity of honey or a jaggery molasses.

Soy is usually high in salt. For a low-sodium marinate for the rawas, use low-sodium soy or coconut aminos, now made in India, which is an umami sauce that has usually about 1/3 the quantity of salt that soy has. Skip the salt in the recipe. And swap the higher-sodium Parmesan for a few tsp ricotta or grated Emmental.

If you are serving Grilled Rawas With Kale Salad for guests and one person is vegetarian or vegan, marinate 250 gm of extra-firm cubes of better quality silken tofu with the same marinate and grill and serve as an entree on the salad. But for the bed of salad skip the anchovies in the dressing and use miso paste or capers. For vegans, also substitute the grated cheese for vegan cheese.

Chef Sabyasachi Gorai is a consultant chef and mentor.