You probably don’t think of salmon as an Indian dish. Not India Indian. More American Indian. Like Alaska. Indians smoking fish. Grizzlies standing in white water snapping up salmon. Sarah Palin snapping up grizzlies.

This dish has origins that go back over 60 years. As a girl Madhur Jaffrey had tandoori dishes with a lovely tomato sauce. She has refined that sauce, and it is sumptuous with her salmon. The picture above shows her salmon, the  sauce and an accompanying rice — yellow basmati rice with sesame seeds. It’s the perfect rice to match this wonderful sauce — and it will be tomorrow’s post here.

Yes, I’m blogging a lot about this book, At Home with Madhur Jaffrey. But for good reason. I’m finding the recipes delicious, actually quite simple to prepare although they are “exotic Indian”, and a fun departure from American standards. In a dreary winter, when it’s too difficult to walk through piles of snow to my nearby Indian restaurant, I don’t have to. I can do it all myself.

The garam masala spice mentioned below is a fragrant blend of common spices. can be found in most megamarts. It turns out that there is no “standard” version of garam masala. It’s usually a combo of peppercorns, cloves, cumin, cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg, star anise, and coriander. The jar you find may not have all of those, and it may have others. I’m sure that whatever you find will contribute to this exciting dish. You may find yourself experimenting with garam masala for other dishes throughout the year. Think barbeque!

Salmon in a Tomato Cream Sauce

Serves: 4 persons

Ingredients:

To Rub on the Fish:

• 1 ½ pounds skinless salmon fillets from the center of the fish (where do slickest), first cut lengthways down the center then crossways to make a pieces
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• freshly ground black pepper
• 1/8 teaspoon ground turmeric
• 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

For the Sauce:

• 1 cup tomato purée
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon garam masala
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro

To Cook the Fish:

• 1 tablespoon olive oil or canola oil
• 1/2 teaspoon whole cooled seats

Preparation:

Season the salmon pieces by sprinkling the salt, pepper, turmeric, and cayenne on all sides of a big event. Put the salmon in a plastic bag and refrigerate for one hour or longer.

Combine all the ingredients for the sauce and mix well. Refrigerate if needed.

To cook the fish, put the oil in a frying pan and set on medium heat. When hot, put in the cooled seats. When the seeds sizzled for 10 seconds, pour in the sauce. Stir and bring to a simmer. Place all the fish pieces in the sauce in a single layer and cook, spooning the sauce over the fish. After a minute, turn the fish pieces over and lower the heat to medium low. Continue to cook, spooning the sauce over the top, with 3 to 4 minutes or until the fish is cooked through

Source: At Home with Madhur Jaffrey by Madhur Jaffrey