Been trying out different Malaysian toppings on oven baked salmon recently. Wanting to sample local flavors on salmon as its not a common fish used for example on sambal fish. But since Sambal is used on so many fishes in Malaysia, I'm curious to taste it's flavors on salmon.
This time I did a Lemongrass base Sambal that's usually used for 'ikan sumbat' - a fish dish that's stuffed with sambal and then typically grilled.
With that as the inspiration, I made the sambal with chilies, shallots, garlic, turmeric, lemongrass, and tamarind juice. Cooked it in oil until the oil seperates then season it with salt and sugar to balance the tart flavor from the tamarind, and the sambal is done!
Next, season the salmon with salt, then spread the sambal on the skin side and into the oven it goes to roast at 180 degress Celsius for 8 minutes.
It turned out super delicious! The flavor pairings of the tangy sweet sambal and fatty salmon went so well together 🔥
