Gla bon – round salmon with deep-fried shallots, sugar and watermelon – by David Thompson

Ingredients (makes eight pieces)

100g salmon, skinned and filleted
2tbs light soy sauce
Pinch of white sugar
15g galangal, peeled
Scant teaspoon of salt
2tbs white sugar
Pinch of salt
2tbs shallots, deep-fried
2 red shallots, sliced
8 small pieces of watermelon, deseeded
8 "betel" leaves
1tbs coriander leaves
Salmon roe

Method

Marinate the salmon in the soy sauce and sugar for 20 minutes. Grill until well cooked and cool. Pound the galangal with the salt into a fine paste. Coarsely break up the fish, combine with the galangal and add to a wok.

Stir over a very low heat regularly until the fish has crumbled, is quite dry, and is fragrant with galangal. Cool.

Mix the fish with the sugar, salt, deep-fried and fresh shallots. It should taste sweet and salty.

Place the watermelon on a "betel" leaf. Sprinkle with the seasoned fish, then the coriander and roe.

by David Thompson

Photo © Sam Bailey