Crispy Salmon With Coconut Rice & Crackle Sauce

Ingredients

Instructions

1. Start the rice: rinse the rice in a fine-mesh strainer until the water runs clear. Drain well and put it in a medium saucepan with a tight-fitting lid.
2. Open the coconut milk and set aside a few tablespoons in a small bowl. Stir the rest into the rice with ¾ cup water and a big pinch of salt. Bring to a simmer over medium-high, then immediately turn the heat as low as it goes, cover, and set a timer for 16 minutes. When it goes off, take the pan off the heat and keep it covered until you serve.
3. While the rice cooks, thinly slice the cucumber crosswise (a mandoline is great here). Toss with salt to taste and keep it chilled.
4. Make the crackle sauce: chop or coarsely crush the peanuts. In a large nonstick skillet, combine the peanuts, olive oil and sesame seeds. Set over medium heat and cook, stirring often, until the peanuts are several shades darker and the sesame is toasted, 6 to 8 minutes. Stay close. Sesame seeds burn the moment you start trusting them.
5. Tip it into a small bowl. While it's still hot, grate the garlic and ginger right into the oil. Stir in the red pepper flakes, turmeric, honey and the reserved coconut milk, and season with salt. You're probably not using enough salt. Most of us aren't.
6. Cook the salmon: wipe out the skillet. Season the salmon all over with salt. Working in batches if needed, lay the fillets skin-side down in the cold skillet, then set it over medium heat. Cook, pressing gently on the tops now and then so the skin stays in contact, until the skin is golden and very crisp, 7 to 9 minutes. If it isn't crisp yet, keep going. Do not settle. You deserve crisp.
7. Flip and cook until the sides are mostly opaque, with a slight hint of translucence, 1 to 2 minutes more.
8. Fluff the rice and divide it among shallow bowls. Top each with a salmon fillet and a pile of cucumbers, and spoon the crackle sauce over everything.