2-Meal Prep: Sambal Salmon with Sesame Ginger Salad

Hands up if you love sambal! I mean seriously, if you’re Asian how can you not love sambal right? We literally grew up with it. Sambal is staple food in Asian cooking. We cook with them as much as we dip them. So this week, I decided to explore a little bit with this condiment and have it with one of my favourite source of protein that is salmon.

I actually made the chilli paste in this recipe from scratch – which is a recipe from my uncle. In the most basic way, this chilli paste I used in this recipe is made up of dried chillies, ginger, garlic, lemongrass and water blended up all together. I will do a walkthrough video of this soon but for now you can also use those store bought chilli paste – however take note that this may change the nutritional content.

Try to consume two servings of oily fish a week and hopefully this recipe can give you some ideas on how to spice the salmon up – pun intended. 🙂

Alrighty! Grab your recipe book, pen this down, get the ingredients, and get preppin’. Don’t forget to tell me how it is either on the comments section below, on YouTube, or on Instagram at @asianmealprep. Would love to see your creations!

Sambal Salmon with Sesame Ginger Salad

Makes – 2 meals
Time needed – 30 minutes
Cost – ~S$8.30 per serve

Here’s what you need:

• 300g salmon fillet
• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil (divided to 1/2 tbsp each)
• 3 handful baby spinach leaves
• 1 red capsicum, chopped to small pieces
• A bunch of coriander leaves
• Sesame seeds

Sauce ingredients

• 3 tbsp homemade chilli paste (blended dried chillies)
• 1 tbsp honey
• 1 tbsp vinegar
• 1 drop sesame oil
• 1 tsp liquid aminos (soy sauce substitute)

Salad dressing ingredients

• 2 tbsp sesame oil
• 1 tbsp fresh squeezed lemon juice
• 1 tbsp honey
• 2 tsp liquid aminos (soy sauce substitute)
• 2cm ginger, chopped
• 1 small clove of garlic, chopped

Here’s how you do it:

1. Combine sauce ingredients and salad dressing ingredients in two separate bowls and set aside.
2. Heat a non-stick pan, add 1/2 tbsp of oil and cook the sambal sauce ingredients for 30 seconds. Remove from heat and set aside.
3. On a separate pan, add the remaining 1/2 tbsp of oil on medium high.
4. Place the salmon and let it cook for 3-4 mins per side. Remove from heat.
5. It’s time to build your meals. In two separate containers, place spinach and chopped capsicum. Put the salad dressing into separate containers and the salmon too.
6. Garnish the salad with chopped sesame and coriander leaves.
7. On the day of meal, heat up the salmon in the microwave.

How much this costs:

*Keep in mind that this numbers are a rough guide. It depends on where you buy it and when. You can definitely save more money if you purchase in wet markets etc. At the end of the day it’s possible to eat healthy without breaking the bank. Also, ~ denotes the items that should already be in your pantry for a long time or it’s a very small amount.

• 300g salmon fillet $10.00
• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil (divided to 1/2 tbsp each) $0.20
• 3 handful baby spinach leaves $4.00
• 1 red capsicum, chopped to small pieces $1.00
• A bunch of coriander leaves $0.20
• Sesame seeds ~

Sauce ingredients

• 3 tbsp homemade chilli paste (blended dried chillies) $0.50
• 1 tbsp honey $0.20
• 1 tbsp vinegar $0.20
• 1 drop sesame oil ~
• 1 tsp liquid aminos (soy sauce substitute) $0.20

Salad dressing ingredients

• 2 tbsp sesame oil $0.20
• 1 tbsp fresh squeezed lemon juice $0.20
• 1 tbsp honey $0.20
• 2 tsp liquid aminos (soy sauce substitute) $0.40
• 2cm ginger, chopped ~
• 1 small clove of garlic, chopped ~

Total price = ~S$16.60
Price per serve = ~ S$8.30

Nutrition Information

The nutrition information below is based on the ingredients I’ve used above. It may not be an accurate representation of your meal.

Calories 669 Protein 32.8g Carbs 25.5g Sugar 21.6g Fibre 2.4g Fats 48.1g Saturated Fats 8.8g