Pan-fried Salmon with Pumpkn Rice

I am really hook to Japanese cooking. This other book that I borrowed from the library: Washoku by Elizabeth Andoh, explains very well the principles and philosophy behind Japanese cooking. To quote: "The philosophy and practice of washoku can best be summarised by a set of five principles that describe how to achieve nutritional balance and aesthetic harmony at mealtime."

People say "you eat with your eyes before you eat with your mouth", I absolutely agree. Therefore I do try to create visually pleasing meals. Not that it worked out every time, but most of the time I am quite happy with what I have made.

Another part of planning for lunch or dinner, I also do try to balance well. I don't like to have all fried stuff without something to diffuse all the heatiness. That reminds me, this afternoon, Stella made lunch which has fried breaded chicken, fried eggplant and over-steamed pumpkin. Urghh, she finds it alright so I didn't want to say anything about it. But now I need to say this: it was bloody impossible to chew past all that fried goods unless you are a certified Macdonald's, Kentucky kid. ._.

For previous day's lunch, I prepared pumpkin rice, pickled mustard with lightly caramelised peanuts and fried salmon. For the fried salmon, I made a dipping sauce flavoured with ginger to go with it. Yup, that, in my opinion, is a good lunch! Pretty to look at too, since it has black sesame seeds sprinkled to contrast with the light colours of the rice and mustard. haha. :D

End.