Blackened Salmon with Simple Rice Pilaf

I have had blackened salmon at many restaurants in Bay Area. Having grown up eating sea fish with lean meat I am was not used to eating fresh water fish like salmon, tuna or rohu (which is found in Indian rivers). I do enjoy eating the tuna sandwich at subway though. So when ever I am eating out I prefer salmon well cooked with lot of seasoning and spices. I found this recipe from a dear friend and now its a regular at my home too. Blackened seasoning can be found in some stores around the coast. I didn't find this seasoning at my local grocery stores, so I looked up the internet and found this recipe. I modified this recipe for making the seasoning.

Blackened Seasoning:
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon red chili powder or as per taste
1/2 teaspoon pepper powder
2 tablespoon onion powder
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon ground thyme
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon basil powder
1/2 teaspoon cumin powder

Mix the above spices well.



Ingredients for Salmon:
1 fillet of salmon - around 300-400 cut into 2 inch pieces
3 tablespoon of blackened seasoning with the above recipe or store bought blackened seasoning
lemon for garnish.
Salt for taste

Method 
Apply salt and the seasoning mixture to the salmon on all sides and marinate it for at least and hour. There are two ways of frying the salmon. Either you can melt butter in a pan, dip the salmon in butter on both sides and put the salmon to fry on a pan. This is a traditional way and the result is definitely yummy. 
A healthier method I follow is to coat a shallow frying pan with 2 tablespoon oil and put the salmon skin side down. I put the pan on high heat till the side is blackened and well cooked. Flip it to the other side and cook till it is blackened on the other side. Garnish with lemon juice and serve hot with pilaf.




For the Pilaf:
Ingredients:
1 cup rice (basmati can be used here. I used adobo as an experiment and it came out to be very flavorful too)
2 cups of stock (vegetable or chicken)
1/2 teaspoon salt or as per taste
4-5 strands of saffron
Method:
Heat the stock. Pressure cook or pan cook the rice with the stock, saffron and salt till it is well done.