Repeat Recipe: Low Cal Coconut Salmon

Repeat Recipe: Low Cal Coconut Salmon.. A month or two back I used coconut milk in my cooking for the first time . It was SO dang Dahlicious but it was also really rich, so I decided I'd wait a while before making it again. Finally last night seemed like as good a night as any to embark on the sweet savory journey that is cooking with coconut milk.

I had grabbed the essentials at the grocery store on Sunday but opted for a few adjustments:

1) Light Coconut Milk instead of full fat.... I thought it would help it from being quite as heavy and just figured it would be good to try. Low and behold it was not.
2) Fresh ginger root & green onions instead of cilantro and water chestnuts.. only problem here is that I clearly don't know how you are supposed to keep green onions fresh between Sunday and Wednesday so they were dried up and unusable by the time dinner came around

Even though a few of my changes were not quite ideal, the meal was still great and I would recommend making it if you are looking to infuse some coconut flavor into your salmon, without the calories or heavy soup like broth that the full fat coconut milk provided.

Here's how I did this rendition:

In a large pan I added about half a cup of chicken broth and 2 smashed garlic cloves and brought that to a light simmer. (I used the chicken broth last time to thin it out and so this time using the light coconut milk I probably could have foregone the chicken broth). Once that was nice a bubbly I added the can of light coconut milk along with a slice of lime rind, a bunch of sliced fresh ginger, a sprinkle of red pepper flakes, a couple of drops of sesame oil, a palm full of toasted coconut and a bay leaf.

Once that all came to a light boil I added my salmon (which had been marinating in lemon juice, lime juice, and oil for about an hour). I placed the salmon skin side up in the pan, then covered it with a lid and turned the heat down to low - just a medium simmer. I let the salmon poach for about 12-14 minutes, then I peeled the skin off and served it up!

The broth wasn't really thick enough to be a sauce but a little of it spooned over top was nice for flavor.

I served the salmon with sauteed snap peas and some super yummy confetti rice from TJ's that is full of little nuggets of flavor (ie ginger, lemongrass, baby corn), and a sprinkle of toasted coconut flakes atop the salmon.

All in all in was Dahlish and much lighter and way fewer calories than using the full fat milk. I'm glad I have experimented with both now, so in the future I know which to use when I'm craving a heavier or lighter meal.

PS Here are the ingredients I used:
1 Can light coconut milk
1/2 cup chicken broth
2 garlic cloves
~5-6 slices of fresh ginger
1 lime
1 lemon
1 bay leaf
a few drops of sesame oil
red pepper flakes
fresh wild salmon filet (skin on)