Good morning beautiful friends!
Salmon is one of my favorite types of fish. Even though it is comparatively expensive to other fish I choose to cook with it more often because it tastes great when baked or grilled with select herb and spices. There are plenty of marinades you can use with salmon and it responds really well. The following recipe uses yogurt, lemon, chili powder and carom seeds. It is very convenient for a weeknight meal and also pretty enough to serve to guests for lunch or dinner with stir fried vegetables, and some bread or rice.
But, I must first apologize for neglecting my space for the last few weeks. Believe me, it was very much needed. My sister and her husband came all the way from India to visit us. I met them after 6 years. They are the only family I have in India after my parents’ death. Their son studies in a college here. Their daughter also flew down from Saskatoon with her sweet little dog, Pixie. So, our dog had company too. With long drives, lots of sightseeing, shopping, late night talking and everything in between … there wasn’t much time left for blogging. I enjoyed spending every second with my sister’s family and showing them our beautiful city and around! We tried making their stay enjoyable and comfortable. After they went back, we headed up on a vacation to San Francisco, just the three of us for a family vacation.
It was cold and windy in San Francisco
I had planned to do a post about our travel right after we came back, but it didn’t happen that way. I had a vertigo attack the next day. What happened was that when I was doing housework in the morning I began to lose balance. With great difficulty I climbed the stairs holding on to the railing and the wall to come to the bedroom. My husband wasn’t home so I called my daughter. I thought of resting but lying down made me more dizzy and nauseated. It was extremely upsetting when I could not close my eyes or look up or even move my head to right and left. Everything seemed spinning around me. I sat upright, held my head in both hands and fixed my gaze in one direction. Seeing my symptoms, my daughter asked if she should call 911, she just wanted to be sure it wasn’t an emergency.
I had dealt with vertigo before so I kind of knew I didn’t have to go to the hospital. But since I hadn’t had it in a long time and never after a flight, I wasn’t completely sure. I told her to wait. The symptoms tended to ease after I threw up a few times. Sitting in one position caused tension in my neck muscles. The dizziness feeling went away after several hours. I went to see the doctor the next day when I felt a little more stable and she confirmed it was vertigo. She also prescribed medication to ease symptoms if happens again. My blood pressure is usually normal but after that incident it rose up. I was told to measure it every day for 10 days and to see her (doctor) if it doesn’t come down. It’s been a week, I have this weird heaviness in my head and my blood pressure hasn’t been normal yet. This worries me. My mother had high blood pressure most of her life. Doctor said if my parents had it then my chances of having it increases.
With all that said, I lost motivation to write but this weekend my daughter’s words inspired me to some extent when she said mom you are making yourself sick by unnecessarily worrying. Just keep doing what you are doing. Continue eating healthy, increase your exercise, do meditation, you’ll be fine. My daughter is in 20’s and she acts like my mom. Actually, she is a great support to me emotionally. I realized she was right. I just have to ignore the negative thoughts from my head and think about all the good no matter what. So here I am back to normalcy.
While going to Victoria
Back to the grilled salmon.
Besides being tasty, salmon is a nice, fatty fish rich in omega 3 fatty acids. The yogurt marinade in this recipe keeps the salmon moist and succulent, and carom seeds add a distinctive finish. If salmon is not available at your place you can use any thick fish but I guess it’s the salmon that carries the marinade so well. You can completely prep the ingredients ahead of time and marinate fish overnight in a refrigerator to induce the flavor deep into the flesh. It is believed that fish should not be marinated for long but don’t worry the lactic acid in yogurt is very mild so it reacts in a gentle way. I have made this recipe on gill and in the oven as well. When baking in oven I sear the steaks in grill pan first 1 1/2 minute on each side just to get the grill marks and then finished cooking in oven. You can choose to cook fully in oven or on the grill.
I served this grilled salmon with stir fried beans and brown basmati rice.
An easy, excellent dinner of grilled salmon with yogurt marinade.
Ingredients
- 4 x 200 g salmon steaks
- 1/2 tsp carom seeds
- 1/3 cup Greek yogurt
- 1 (+) tsp red chili powder.
- 3 tbsp. lemon juice
- 1 tbsp. besan/ bengal gram flour (optional but recommended, it helps the marinade to stick)
- coarse salt,to taste
- 2 tsp minced garlic
Instructions
- Rinse the fish steaks and pat dry with paper towels. Place in the baking dish large enough to hold them all in one layer.
- In a bowl whisk yogurt, garlic, red chili powder, lemon juice, besan, and carom seeds.
- Then pat the yogurt mixture on each salmon steak. Turn the steaks over so they are coated on both sides. Cover with plastic wrap and marinate for 2 -6 hours in the refrigerator.
- Make sure to let the fish steaks come to room temperature before attempting to cook them.
- Oil the grates on a gas grill and heat to medium high.
- Grill the steaks directly over the heat (covered) until they have good grill marks, 2-4 minutes. Flip the steaks and grill until the second sides have good grill marks and the fish is done to your liking.
- When you are ready to cook preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Line a cooking tray with aluminum foil and spray with oil. Set aside.
- Heat a cast iron grill pan over moderately high heat. Lightly oil the pan. Grill salmon for 1-2 minutes on each side so that they have nice grill marks. (Use tongs, and a wide metal spatula to help lift and carefully turn the steaks).
- Place the partially cooked steaks on the prepared baking sheet and bake for 5-8 minutes or until salmon flakes easily with a fork.
- Sprinkle coarse salt and serve each salmon steak with stir fried vegetables, rice or bread.
Few photos of some places we visited when I was MIA
Having picnic with my sister’s family at butchart gardens in Victoria.
Grouse Mountain Vancouver
Butchart Gardens, Victoria
Fisherman’s wharf, San Francisco
This post is linked to Allergy Free Thursdays, Gluten Free Fridays.
Jaswinder
Hello,Balwinder. How r u? I am Neena’s bhabhi.I read it .I come to know about it .How r u now feeling.phone me when you get time my no is 7782372781
Balvinder
Oh Hi, sure I will call you in the evening.
Nicoletta @sugarlovespices
It was nice to see pictures of your family and your trip, but so sorry to hear about your vertigo attack. Your daughter words are very wise, hope you’re feeling better now. The salmon steaks look amazing, love the yogurt in the marinade!
Balvinder
thank you so much for your kind words Nicoletta. Appreciate it.
Angie@Angie's Recipes
What a beautiful family! Those grilled salmon steaks look really good.
Monica
Hi Balvinder – I hope you are feeling much better. I’m so glad your daughter is such a rock…great advice. She is obviously a wise young lady. And you always cook salmon so well…what a treat! Glad you had such special time with your family – we all need a break and spending time with loved ones is the best! Take care and hope all is well!
Balvinder
Yeah, my daughter is a pretty confident and strong girl, physically and emotionally. She has a special interest in counseling and she volunteers as a peer leader in UBC.
A million thanks for your caring and kind words, Monica.
Shana
Hi Balvinder,
I hope you are feeling better now dear.. I know these health issues can be frustrating, even in the mildest forms.. Hugs to you and your daughter.. can’t wait for My girls to talk to me like that 🙂 I am also in constant battle to get more exercise and try to balance it all. Hope the BP is back to normal.
Balvinder
Hi Shana,
I am doing everything to feel better and to avoid seeing doctor.
Haha, you will also develop a special relationship with your daughters when they grow up, just wait few more years. I hope BP gets normal because I hate taking medication.
Thank you so much for your kind comment. I wish you a nice day and sending a huge hug.
Kathy @ Beyond the Chicken Coop
So glad you are feeling better! I’m glad you were able to enjoy your visit with your family. Now take care of yourself. Salmon is a perfect choice for a healthy dinner! I love how you’ve prepared it. I’m not familiar with a carom seed… I will need to check it out.
Adina
It is lovely to see pictures with your family and I really do hope you are feeling better. I am taking blood pressure medication for almost two years now, not great, but each member of my family (both sides) has been having high blood pressure from a relatively yound age as well (despite normal weight). And lots of strokes! So I better take the medicine… The salmon looks delicious, it is definitely my favorite kind of fish.
Alida @My Little Italian Kitchen
I am sorry to hear you have not been feeling well. Sometimes these things happen unfortunately. I hope you are much better now.
This salmon looks delicious, so well cooked and well presented.
Treat and Trick
Great pictures of your trip. Wishing you a quick recovery and the salmon looks awesome! Your daughter does a great job by uplifting you spirit and bring your life back to normal again..
Barbara
Your salmon steaks look delicious! Nice to re-unite with family….what lovely photos! S glad you had a good time, sorry to hear about your bout with vertigo. Hope it doesn’t happen often!
Katerina
Oh I am so sorry Balvinder! I hope you are better now! I used to have vertigos a few years ago not as strong as yours and some doctor gave me some exercise to do in bed and she told me not to get medication. From then on my vertigo lowered and lowered until nothing left. Now every time I feel it starts again I am doing these exercises and it stops. I love salmon and you cooked it perfectly!
Balvinder
Hi katerina, Can you tell me those exercises? Mt email ID is on my about page.
Summer
Looks so delish ♥
summerdaisycottage.blogspot.com
Juliana
Oh Balvinder, I hope you are feeling better…the pictures are so nice…
And the salmon just look delicious, I have never marinated fish in yogurt…I will have to try it…of, before I forget, I love the grill marks on the salmon.
Have a wonderful week ahead 🙂
Citu
Gracias por la receta. Te mando un beso.