My friend Aggie gave me the idea for this dish.
Layering veggies and salmon in a pot and cook with a miso sauce so the salmon steams. It’s about as simple as dinner can get.
I love how the steamed fish and veggies feel so nourishing and wholesome.
And with the miso juices, incredibly delicious. You’re welcome 🙂
I’ve kept it simple with just cabbage and mushrooms but you’re welcome to play around with different veg. And different fish for that matter 🙂
One Pot Miso Salmon
Ingredients
- 200 g mushrooms
- 1/4 medium cabbage (approx 500g / 1lb)
- 1/4 cup white miso paste (60g / 2oz)
- 1/2 cup water
- 2 salmon fillets
- 2 green onions (scallions / shallots) or chives
- 2 tablespoons roast pine nuts or sesame seeds
Instructions
- Slice mushrooms into 3 or 4 slices lengthwise and place in the base of a large saucepan. Slice cabbage into ribbons about 1cm (1/2in) thick and make a layer of cabbage. Top with salmon, skin side down if it has skin.
- Mix miso paste and 1/2 cup water in a small bowl. Drizzle over the salmon and veg.
- Place the saucepan on a medium high heat. Leave uncovered until it starts to boil.
- When you can hear the liquid bubbling, cover. Reduce the heat to medium and simmer for 10 minutes.
- While the salmon is cooking, finely slice green onion or chop chives.
- Check after the 10 minutes. If the salmon is cooked (cut into the thickest piece and have a peek - you're looking for it to be pale pink and no longer translucent). Also check that the cabbage is no longer super crunchy.
- If it needs longer cover and simmer for another 5 minutes or so.
- Check again and repeat until you're happy with the salmon and cabbage. Divide the veg between two shallow bowls. Top with salmon either whole fillets or break into chunks.
- Pour over the gorgeous miso sauce. Sprinkle over green onion (or chives) and pine nuts or sesame seeds.
Nutrition
Variations & Substitutions
no white miso – substitute soy sauce and use a scant 1/4 cup because soy is even saltier than miso.
different miso – if using red or brown miso, use less because these tend to be more salty and stronger in flavour – and you can always add more if you wish.
Keto / ultra low carb – halve the cabbage and serve on a bed of baby spinach leaves.
vegetarian – this would be lovely with tofu or tempeh.
more substantial (carb lovers) – steamed rice.
more substantial (low carb) – serve with extra nuts, chunks of avocado or zucchini ‘noodles’.
Low FODMAP – replace mushrooms with canned champignons, use chives instead of green onion, use white cabbage (only about 150g) and add 2 carrots finely chopped into matchsticks.
different vegetables – carrot, zucchini, eggplant, capsicum (bell peppers), broccoli or cauliflower.
different protein – chicken breast or thigh fillets (may take longer to cook).
more fancy / for entertaining – If I was going to serve this for company I would add a thumb sized piece of ginger sliced into match sticks – add with the mushrooms. And it’s chop up a few nori (seaweed) sheets and sprinkle them over with the pine nuts and sesame seeds. And I’d probable serve a vegetable side like this Japanese Salad or Super Yum Japanese Broccoli.
Waste Avoidance Strategy
mushrooms – keep in the fridge in a brown paper bag. Once cooked will keep for weeks. And can be frozen raw or cooked.
cabbage – will keep in a plastic bag in the fridge for weeks, even months. Can be frozen but will have a wilted texture once defrosted.
miso paste – unopened paste keeps in the pantry for months, once open needs to be refrigerated and will last for months.
salmon fillets – freeze them.
green onions (scallions) – keep in the fridge in a plastic bag for weeks. Can be frozen.
pine nuts – keep them in the pantry.
Problem Solving Guide
bland –Â add a little salt or serve with a drizzle of soy sauce.
burning –Â Â it’s important to keep the lid on when simmering so the salmon steams and the pot doesn’t dry out. For now quickly transfer to a clean pot leaving behind the worst burnt bits. Next time use a lower heat to simmer and keep an ear out. If it stops giving the bubbling sound it’s time to check the water level – you can always add more.
Prepare Ahead
Yes! Just cook as per the recipe but keep the pine nuts / sesame seeds separately. Leftovers will keep in the fridge for up to 2 weeks or can be frozen. To serve, bring back to a gentle simmer and top with pine nuts or sesame seeds.
Add to my Old Favourite Recipes
Is it possible to sub canned salmon or tuna for the fillets in this one?
Absolutely Claire! YOu can either cook them with the cabbage – in which case they will mingle in. Or cook the veg first and add the cold tuna / salmon when you’re serving.
Made this tonight—mixed in cans of tuna with the cabbage and added grated ginger and cashews. Used soy sauce instead of miso. With a generous amount of salt, it was delicious!
Fantastic Claire! And good call on the cashews 🙂
My local shop had a special on broccolini, so I used that and a couple of carrots, cut into matchsticks, instead of the cabbage. The only problem was that the fish, sitting on top of everything else, didn’t absorb much of the miso flavour, and was a bit bland. OK.
Sorry to hear it was bland Mark! I find when I eat it with the miso sauce the salmon tastes great – but you do have to make sure you get some sauce wiht each bite
I did it again with canned tuna, adding the oil (which is largely water anyway) to the carrot, mushrooms, zucchini and cabbage, with soy sauce because I didn’t have any miso, and warmed the tuna at the last moment, then added sesame oil and cashews. Good.
Good call on the sesame oil Mark 🙂
So yummy. I ‘cheated’ by adding a pack of unflavored ramen style noodles, but only one for two huge portions bc of the cabbage, leeks and carrots from my fridge that needed purpose in life. Yes, salmon and miso were the life of the party. Is anyone else partying with their fridge contents these days?
ooh I love the thought of partying with your fridge contents Murphy 🙂