Grilled salmon teriyaki with stir-fried asparagus and shiitake mushrooms

The perfect side dish or topping for grilled or broiled salmon teriyaki, this asparagus and shiitake is lightly seasoned with salt and pepper and then tossed with reduced teriyaki sauce. Excluding the marinating time, the preparation time for the complete dish is five minutes; the cooking time is less than ten minutes. You can make this stir fry while the salmon grills. For best results, use baby asparagus so that you don’t have to break the stalks and discard the woody bottom portion. Marinade the salmon steaks in the teriyaki sauce for at least half an hour.

Grill the salmon steaks

Pour the teriyaki sauce into a small saucepan and cook over medium heat for five to eight minutes or until reduced by half. Stir in the honey. While the salmon grills and the sauce reduces, make the stir fry. Heat the cooking oil in a wok or frying pan. Add the asparagus, onion, and mushrooms. Season lightly with salt and pepper. Cook quickly, and over very high heat, tossing and stirring, for a minute or two no longer. Turn off the heat. Take two tablespoonfuls of the reduced teriyaki sauce and toss. To serve, spoon some rice on a plate. Arrange the grilled salmon steak on top of the rice. Top the salmon with the asparagus and shiitake stir fry. Spoon more teriyaki sauce over the stir fry. Serve at once.

Bangus (milkfish) kebobs

Lamb is the meat traditionally used for making kebob but, these days, especially with the popularity of vegetarian diets, anything can be skewered and cooked as a kebob. I grilled mine using bangus (milkfish) back fillets. I minced the fish flesh and the vegetables in a food processor and stirred in the seasonings and spices by hand. The kebabs were served with peanut sauce. Although these milkfish kebobs were substantial enough for a main dish, you can form the minced fish mixture into smaller patties and serve the kebobs as finger food. And if you want extra aromatic kebobs, use lemongrass stalks instead of bamboo skewers (see a related recipe).

With the motor of the food processor running, drop the shallots (or onion) into the funnel. The garlic follows, then the cilantro and, finally, the fish fillets. Process until you have a paste. You can also do this by hand using two cleavers. Just chop away until a paste is formed. Transfer the fish mixture to a bowl. Add the rest of the ingredients. Mix well. Take about two tablespoonfuls of the mixture. Flatten a bit. Place a bamboo skewer down the middle. Flatten and form the patty to about three inches long and a third of an inch thick. Repeat until all the fish mixture has been skewered.

Brush the grill with some vegetable oil. Grill the fish kebobs (I used a stovetop grill but live coals will make your kebobs taste and smell better) for about two minutes. The patty should be quite cooked and firm before the kebob is flipped. Otherwise, the patty will separate from the bamboo skewer. Wait until the edges of the patty turn white which is usually a sign that it is almost cooked. Flip over and grill for another minute.