- Nigella Lawson’s salmon and rice bowl is an easy, cozy meal with big flavor.
- Lawson’s tips for perfect rice include rinsing and finishing with a tea towel for fluffiness.
- Fans love this recipe, and it’s easy to adjust with ingredients you have on hand.
Nigella Lawson is known for creating unpretentious yet incredibly delicious comfort food. And it doesn’t get any simpler or cozier than her Salmon and Sushi Rice bowls that one fan calls a “favorite.” The bowls come together with just two main ingredients, plus a welcome drizzle of spice.
The London-born chef says she doesn’t cook sushi rice often, but it’s the perfect choice for these bowls because of its “comforting stickiness and the way it offers itself up so sweetly to sharpness and heat.” If you have difficulty cooking rice, as so many of us do, Lawson says a rice cooker is the way to go but assures that it’s easy enough to make on the stovetop.
For perfectly fluffy grains, follow her tips, which include rinsing the uncooked rice thoroughly to remove excess starch that can make it mushy, opting for a saucepan with an airtight lid and placing a tea towel under the lid after it’s finished cooking—a technique that helps trap steam and absorb excess condensation.
As for the salmon, it’s just as simple to make. Lawson sears skinless salmon fillets over a flat griddle or frying pan for about four or five minutes per side, until they just begin to turn an opaque color and are mostly cooked through. She then places the fillets in a piece of foil and tightly seals the edges. This keeps the salmon warm but also allows the fish to continue to cook from the residual heat, ensuring an even cook and moist results.
Lawson scoops generous mounds of rice into bowls, allowing her guests to flake their own fish, then garnishes them with her homemade sweet and sour sauce that brings the otherwise subtle flavors of the dish to life.
While you could use store-bought sauce if you don’t have the necessary ingredients on hand to create your own, it’s really quite straightforward to make. Lawson makes hers by whisking together minced garlic and ginger, chopped red chiles and a few splashes of fish sauce, sake, mirin and fresh lime juice.
It’s a dish that’s effortless to make, yet so striking and complex in taste and texture that you’ll find yourself proud to serve it to your dinner guests, who are sure to be equally impressed—especially if you serve it with premium sake.
Lawson’s socials and website are brimming with mouthwatering recipes just like these salmon and rice bowls, and we’re always keeping an eye on them so we can keep you up to date on those that can’t be missed. And you can bet we’re thrilled to see the beloved British chef step into Prue Leith’s place as the next co-host of The Great British Bake Off alongside Paul Hollywood—we just need to brush up our skills so we can bake along next season.
