Baked Salmon Tikka with Spinach & Lentil Daal

I had a huge piece of salmon waiting to be cooked for dinner yesterday and was due to be out all day. So in the morning I needed to get that fish into a marinade. I decided on Indian Spiced so make an Indian Tikka style paste (which took 5 minutes). A spoonful of the paste went into some natural yoghurt and was popped in the fridge to chill as a creamy accompaniment. The rest was added to more yoghurt and was used as a marinade for the salmon which I cut into large slices, ready for later. I decided I wanted healthy, so the fish was to be baked - not fried.

I also wanted a good healthy side dish, so instead of my usual Tarka Daal (lentils), I added some spinach to it.. and it was the best tasting daal I have had yet!

For the Tikka paste:

In a small food processor, pop in the following - one red chilli (heat of your choice), 1 inch piece peeled ginger, the seeds from 5 cardamom pods, 2 tsp. ground cumin, 2 tsp. ground coriander, 1 tsp. paprika, 1 tsp. turmeric powder and 1 tsp. garum masala. Add 1 tbsp. water and process to a paste.

For the salmon:

Add 1 tsp. of the paste to 1/4 cup natural low fat yoghurt, cover and chill for later. The remaining paste, add to 1/4 cup yoghurt and marinade the salmon. (Alternatively you could use chicken - just as delicious). Marinade for up to an hour and bake at 180 C for 20-25 mins. Healthy, low fat and ALL the flavour.

For the Spinach & Lentil Daal:

180g toor daal
1 tbsp. oil
2 tsp. cumin seeds
1 onion, finely chopped
3 whole green chillies, left whole but pricked with a knife
1 inch piece ginger, chopped
2 large tomatoes (or 5-6 cherry tomatoes)
5 cloves garlic
1/2 tsp. turmeric
1 tbsp. garum masala
1 tbsp. ground coriander
400g frozen spinach
salt & pepper
handful fresh coriander, chopped

Firstly, wash and the toor daar in a colander, then put into a pan and add water to cover by about an inch. Bring to the boil, cover and then leave on a medium heat as they cook. They will take about 1/2 hour to become tender, so top up the water as needed. You don't want them to be dry. Add the spinach and cook until spinach wilted and mix well. Remove from heat and set to one side.

Heat the oil and fry the cumin seeds until fragrant and add the onion, chillies and ginger and cook on a medium heat until tender and the onion beginning to brown. Blitz the tomatoes and garlic together in a hand blender and add to the onion mix. Stir well and then add the ground spices along with 100ml of water.

Season with salt and leave to simmer gently for 15 minutes. Then add the onion mix to the lentils,  putting them back on a low heat. Season with a 1/4 tsp. salt and ground black pepper. Stir in chopped coriander and serve.