I’ve always been big on full flavoured food and my next recipe delivers big time. A riff on an old takeaway favourite, my Salmon Fried Rice is a satisfying, tasty and easy midweek meal not to be missed.

Start by grilling some salmon which has been sprinkled with chinkiang vinegar. Never heard of chinkiang vinegar? Think of it is as the Chinese balsamic. It’s thick, rich, dark, a little bitter and a little smokey in flavour. Your local Chinese supermarket is the best place to find it but luckily, Amazon sell the exact one I like and it’s dead cheap! Here it is:

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The beauty of a fried rice dish is that as it is traditionally a dish made up of leftovers, there’s nothing stopping you cooking the fish the day before, perhaps making double so you can have some that night for dinner with a stir fry and the rest you can flake into the rice and reheat the next day.

Speaking of leftovers, you really do have to use cold, cooked rice or it will turn out a mushy mess. I always cook my rice in my [easyazon_link identifier=”B00OP26T4K” locale=”UK” tag=”evnocr-21″]Instant Pot[/easyazon_link] as per these foolproof instructions:

The thing is with rice that you do have to be careful from a food safety point of view when not serving it immediately, as nasty bacteria can grow in warm rice and make you very sick. To prevent this, you must cool your cooked rice rapidly, chill for no more than 24 hours in the fridge and reheat thoroughly until piping hot. I do this by chilling a large plate in the fridge whilst the rice cooks then I tip the hot rice on to it and return to the fridge until it is stone cold before covering with clingfilm. Don’t cover it until it is cold or condensation will form and it will go sticky, as well as being a breeding ground for bacteria.

But enough of the science stuff! Let’s get back to this delish recipe.

Once you have your cooked rice and fish ready to go, this dish comes together in minutes. It’s a real one pan wonder, a complete meal in a single bowl and that is my most favourite way of eating. Sure, festive feasts where there are many dishes to sample on the table are wonderful, but day to day, I want to eat my dinner curled up on the sofa, from a bowl, preferably with a spoon. I will concede to a fork for this though!

My Salmon Fried Rice is packed full of protein thanks to the fish, eggs and peas which make it very filling to eat; and loads of low calorie but high nutrient vegetables. I have used celery, baby corn and spring onions but by all means add some carrot, onions, peppers, heck even some asparagus would work. It’s a great dish to clear out the veg drawer in the fridge with.

This dish would be totally Syn Free if it weren’t for the final addition of a teaspoon of sesame oil to finish, but the flavour it gives as well as the glorious mouthfeel you get by slicking this with a little oil is worth the 1 Syn per portion. I like to use my Syns as part of the meals I eat rather than save them for chocolate etc but you do you. Sesame oil is very intense so 1 tsp for the whole dish is plenty and I really do encourage you to try it out if you haven’t before.

Also, do check what brand of oyster sauce you have on the Syns calculator as not all of them are Syn free. I use the [easyazon_link keywords=”Lee Kum Kee premium Oyster Sauce” locale=”UK” tag=”evnocr-21″]Lee Kum Kee Premium Oyster Sauce[/easyazon_link] which I can get in my local Chinese supermarket but also in the international aisle of larger supermarkets. It’s rich, thick, tasty and Syn free. Result!

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If you are wondering about the kitchen kit I reach for most often, such as the nonstick ceramic pan featured in this post, then don’t forget to check out my YouTube channel and this video on my favourite Slimming World Kit:

Yield: 2 portions

Salmon Fried Rice (Low Syn)

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At 1 Syn per portion, this is the tastiest way to get a takeaway treat into your weekly menu, with a fraction of the calories but all the flavour you could want!

Cook Time 10 minutes

Total Time 10 minutes

Ingredients

• 2 salmon fillets
• 1 tbsp chinkiang vinegar*
• Oil spray (I like coconut, rapeseed or olive oil Frylight)
• 1 rib of celery, finely chopped
• 1 pack of baby corn, chopped into small chunks (about 150g or 3/4 cup)
• 100g frozen peas (3/4 cup)
• 3 spring onions, sliced on the diagonal
• 1 cup cooked, cold rice (white or brown, basmati, Thai or long grained as liked)
• 1 tbsp oyster sauce
• 2 tbsp dark soy sauce
• 3 large eggs, beaten in a jug
• 1 tsp sesame oil (for 2 syns in total)

Instructions

1. Start by putting the salmon on a foil lined oven tray and pouring over the chinkiang vinegar. Grill on high for 8-10 minutes until cooked through and flake into 1 inch sized chunks. Leave to one side for now.
2. Spray a large nonstick pan with your oil and adding the celery, baby corn, frozen peas and spring onions. Cook on high until starting to soften and brown at the edges.
3. Add the rice, oyster sauce and soy sauce and heat stir well, making sure that the sauces coat the rice fully and the veg is well distributed throughout.
4. Make a hole in the middle of the rice and pour in the egg. Allow it to cook for 1 minute before stirring and scrambling the egg. When most of the egg has started to form curds (or scrambles I suppose!) then fold it gently through the rice along with all the salmon chunks.
5. Drizzle the measured teaspoon of oil over and serve immediately, making sure the rice is thoroughly reheated and piping hot.

Notes

*= if you really can't find chinkiang vinegar, then use dark soy instead

• This blog and recipe is in no way affiliated with Slimming World. Always check ingredients yourself against official Slimming World guidelines to see if they have Syn values or not.

This post contains affiliate links, meaning I will earn a little commission if you chose to buy items I’ve advertised, helping me to bring you all these recipes for free!

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