Chinese New Year recipe: Salmon Crudo Salad with Mandarin and Watercress

Xin Nian Kuai Le! 🧧I’m Mel, founder and Executive Chef at All Things Delicious. I hope you are having a lovely time celebrating the Year of the Rabbit with your near and dear ones.

Now I’m pretty sure that with the countless house visits this year, you have quite the collection (read: small hill full) of mandarin oranges. And you might be scratching your head🤔 wondering what to do with the surplus of oranges. I will be sharing with you an easy recipe that’ll turn them into an amazing appetizer!!

Now, what is crudo? Crudo is the Italian and Spanish word for “raw”. A dish referred to as Crudo normally consists of sliced and uncooked raw fish or seafood served with a kind of dressing or sauce. I’m drooling already!

The great thing about this recipe is that it is so easy to make and everything can be prepared ahead of time, especially with the 6TH SENSE JumboFlexi French Door Bottom Freezer (5WQ24NIJAS)

The 6th Sense feature of the Whirlpool fridge allows me to preserve fresh food longer naturally and with its jumbo capacity, I can maximise the storage utility without having to worry about a lack of space to store my prepped food! The 6th Sense technology also prevents freezer burns which is really important to me as I tend to freeze a lot of food like prepped meals, stocks, etc. And I especially hate freezer burn ice cream! So none of that will ever happen with the Whirlpool freezer!

Assembly of this salad takes minutes which is perfect for all you host/hostesses with the mostest!

I love watercress for its bright green colour and its perky, peppery flavour without any bitterness. And they are so affordable and easily available in wet markets or grocery stores. And you can easily substitute this with any other salad leaves of your choice like frisée or rocket.

Sure, you can cut the sashimi salmon into cubes or chunks but I like to make elegant, thin slices of raw fish for this appetizer. Hopefully, my guests will be impressed but I think I’m more impressed by the Fast Freeze drawer in my Whirlpool fridge. Freezing the salmon piece for just an hour allows me to easily slice the sashimi into restaurant-style, thin slices.

To accompany this salad, I made a simple dressing using light soya sauce, fresh ginger, sesame oil, sugar and juices from leftover mandarin oranges and a calamansi lime. I use the help of my super-sleek Whirlpool induction hob (ACM712/IX 2 Zones Induction Hob), to reduce my dressing until syrupy before adding in the sesame oil. With a touch of my finger, I can control my Whirlpool induction stove’s heat level fuss-free!

When you are ready to make the salad, just take the ingredients from the fridge and bring them all together. You can either put everything into a large bowl or plate them individually for your dinner guests. Whichever way, know that this salad is going to be a stunner!

And there you go! Grab a fork and knife, making sure that you get all of the amazing stuff. Give this recipe a go and I wish you a prosperous New Year!!

Salmon Crudo Salad with Mandarin & Watercress

This recipe serves 6

Ingredients

240g of sashimi-grade salmon
2 mandarin oranges, peeled and segmented
1 bunch of fresh watercress

Dressing

Juice of 4 mandarin oranges, about 160g
40g calamansi lime juice
1 tsp light soya sauce
2 tbsp sesame oil 2 tsp sugar
⅛ tsp of grated ginger

Garnish

½ white onion, sliced and tossed in juice of one calamansi lime
½ spring onion, thinly sliced
6 tsp tobiko roe
Edible flower petals (optional)

Directions

About an hour before serving, place the salmon sashimi in the freezer. Steps 2-8 can be done a day ahead.
Untie the watercress. Wash the watercress under cold water to remove any dirt. Pluck the leaves and discard the thick stems (or use it for your vegetable soup or stock). Using a salad spinner, dry the watercress shoots gently, ensuring the leaves are nice and dry.
In a large container, place a kitchen towel at the bottom and add the watercress. Place another kitchen towel over the leaves, cover the container and chill in the refrigerator.
For the dressing, squeeze mandarin orange juice and calamansi lime juice into a small saucepan.
Grate in a little ginger and add in light soy sauce and sugar.
Put the saucepan on the stove on medium-high heat. Mix everything well together until a light, syrupy consistency.
Once the sauce has thickened, remove the saucepan from the heat and whisk in the sesame oil. Set it aside to cool down and then refrigerate.
To prepare the garnish, slice the onions and add them to a small bowl. Squeeze in the juice of one calamansi lime. Toss well and refrigerate.
After one hour, remove the salmon from the freezer and using a sharp knife, cut it into thin slices.
Peel 2-3 mandarin oranges and gently segment them into individual pieces. Cut each segment into half.
To assemble, have all your ingredients ready on your table.
Start by placing some watercress onto each plate, followed by the salmon slices, mandarin segments, onion slices and tobiko roe. Season each plate with a pinch of salt. Drizzle about two teaspoons of dressing per plate.
Finish with some edible flower petals and slices of spring onions.

Enjoy!

Xoxo

Mel ATD x Whirlpool