This is one of my favorite healthy meals, and is one of my most underrated recipes! The Thai corn and bean salsa uses the same dressing as Thai green papaya salad. And in fact, the idea came to be because my favourite pounded salad is a version made with corn, such as this corn and cucumber salad. It's easy and tasty, perfect for a weeknight!
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The tart citrusy dressing goes very well with fish, so I decided to use it to top salmon, but any other kind of fish will work. You can also change it up by replacing the beans with more corn or cucumber, it's quite flexible. You can even use the salsa to top a taco!
Watch The Full Video Tutorial!
All my recipes come with step-by-step video tutorials with extra tips not mentioned in the blog post, so make sure you watch the video below to ensure success!
Ingredients
Here are all the ingredients you'll need to make this recipe. For amounts, check out the full recipe card below.
- Salmon filet or other fish of your choice
- Garlic
- Thai chilies
- Palm sugar (or substitute light brown sugar, honey, or maple syrup)
- Lime juice
- Fish sauce, see my post here about how to choose good fish sauce
- Corn kernels, I prefer boiling corn on the cobs for best flavour, but frozen or canned will work in a pinch.
- Long beans, cut into ¼ inch pieces. You can sub blanched French green beans. Long beans can be eaten raw, but green beans should be lightly cooked.
- Black beans, canned, drained and rinsed
- Grapefruit, segmented (see video @2:42 for how to segment a grapefruit)
- Mint leaves, roughly chopped
- Cilantro leaves, roughly chopped
How to Make Salmon with Corn & Bean Salsa
Here are all the steps to make this recipe. If this is your first time, I highly recommend watching the video tutorial to ensure success.
- Make the dressing: In a mortar and pestle, pound garlic and chilies into a fine paste. Add palm sugar and pound until mostly dissolved.
- Add lime juice and fish sauce and use the pestle to swirl until the sugar is completely dissolved; set aside.
- In a mixing bowl, combine the corn, black beans and long beans, toss to mix and set aside.
- Cook the fish: You can cook the fish however you like—grill, bake, pan-fry, deep-fry, steam—this salsa works with all methods! For my salmon, I salted the filet and pan-seared it for about 3-4 minutes per side for medium doneness.
- When the fish is almost ready, finish the salsa by pouring the dressing over the corn and bean mixture. Add the grapefruit segments (do not add the extra juice), mint, cilantro, and toss to mix.
- To serve, spoon the salsa over the fish and enjoy on its own or with some jasmine rice!
Recipe
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Thai Salmon with Thai Corn Salsa
- Yield: Serves 3
Description
A healthy recipe that's also quick, easy, and very fresh tasting. Pan seared salmon is topped with a corn salsa inspired by Thai green papaya salad. Accented with grapefruit, it is the perfect spring and summer fish recipe.
Ingredients
- 1 lb salmon filet or other fish of your choice
- 2-3 cloves garlic
- 2-3 Thai chilies
- 1 tablespoon chopped palm sugar (or substitute honey)
- 3 tablespoon lime juice
- 2 tablespoon fish sauce
- ¾ cup cooked corn kernels (about 1 medium ear of corn)
- ¼ cup long beans, cut into ¼ inch pieces
- ⅓ cup black beans, canned, drained and rinsed
- 1 grapefruit, segmented (see video @2:42 for how to segment a grapefruit)
- ¼ cup mint leaves, roughly chopped
- ½ cup cilantro leaves, roughly chopped
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Instructions
Make the dressing: In a mortar and pestle, pound garlic and chilies into a fine paste. Add palm sugar and pound until mostly dissolved. Add lime juice and fish sauce; stir until the sugar is completely dissolved; set aside.
In a mixing bowl, combine the corn, black beans and long beans, toss to mix and set aside.
Cook the fish: You can cook the fish however you like—grill, bake, pan-fry, deep-fry, steam—this salsa works with all methods! For my salmon, I salted the filet and pan-seared it for about 3-4 minutes per side for medium doneness.
When the fish is almost ready, finish the salsa: To the corn and bean mixture add the grapefruit segments (do not add the extra juice), mint, cilantro, and the dressing; toss to mix. To serve, spoon the salsa over the fish and enjoy on its own or with some jasmine rice.
futileresistance says
Don't get me wrong. This is not her best fish recipe in my opinion. But it's still great and easy if you are into these flavours.
Sue Coles says
This was the most delicious thing I have eaten in a while. We thought the grapefruit was delicious. Our grapefruit was freshly picked from the tree, so it was very sweet. I would serve this for company. Thanks for the recipe. We love all things Thai!!
Joey & Quỳnh Mollica says
Hey, Pailin! Loved the som tam flavorings mixed with corn and beans... mmm MM!! The bitterness of the grapefruit tasted out of place (to me). I think I'll try next time with pomelo (của bưởi in Viet) as it has that citrusy taste without being too bold (orange) nor too bitter (grapefruit). Have you made it with pomelo before?
Thanks for your hard work!