Easy, nutritious, and family friendly, this is a perfect pregnancy & postpartum meal - lots of protein, good fats, and extra nourishing thanks to seaweed and black sesame seeds!

This is a meal I associate with Costco trips, because I think their wild caught salmon is the best in town, and at $16-20 for a large fillet (that feeds my family of 5+ leftovers), it's a really economical protein. It's also really simple to prepare and great as leftovers, making it a good option for the early weeks postpartum. Even better if someone else is making it for you!
There aren't many ingredients in this recipe, but I find them all to be pretty important flavors-wise, so stray at your own risk.
Salmon & Rice Seaweed Roll Ups
What you'll need:
For the fish:
1 large wild caught salmon filet, approximately 1.5lbs
1 tbsp garlic granules or powder
1/4 cup low sodium soy sauce or tamari
1-2 tbsp brown sugar, maple syrup, or honey
a few teaspoons oil of choice - I use avocado or olive
1 1/4 cup uncooked long grain white rice
2 tbsp black sesame seeds (these are great to have around postpartum!)
1/4-1/2 cup mayonnaise, to taste
Sriracha
Seaweed snack sheets for serving, either the individual packs or the large family sized sheets cut up
Quick Pickles:
1 English cucumber or 2-3 baby cucumbers
white vinegar
rice wine vinegar
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
pinch of red chili flakes (optional)
Preparation:
Pickle your cucumbers:
Slice cucumber rounds as thinly as possible, using a mandoline or a knife. Don't drive yourself crazy, but the thinner the better.
Place in a jar or bowl, then sprinkle sugar, salt, and chili flakes (optional) on top, and then cover with equal parts white vinegar and rice wine vinegar so the cucumbers are mostly submerged. If you only have one of the vinegars available, that's fine. I use white vinegar because I always have a huge container available, and it's cheaper than rice vinegar.
This can be done days or weeks in advance and stores well in the refrigerator. You can also easily scale your quantity up or down. I like to have a large container on hand so this meal is even easier to put together.
Prep the salmon and start your rice. These can be made at the same time, or easily combined later on. Timing is flexible.
Preheat your oven to 425 degrees.
Place the whole salmon filet skin side down on a sheet pan lined with parchment or a silicone mat.
Drizzle over or spray olive/avocado oil and soy sauce, using measurements above as a guide. You just want to lightly coat the fish with each ingredient without having much pooling liquid on the pan.
Sprinkle evenly with garlic granules/powder and sweetener of choice. All of these flavors end up flavoring the rice mixture, so you can be generous.
Let the fish sit with the seasoning on it while the oven is preheating and begin prepping your rice. Don't forget to rinse well.
Cook rice according to instructions - I don't usually add salt or butter/oil since it will be well mixed later on.
Cook salmon for approximately 12-15 minutes, depending on the thickness of your fish.
Once the fish and rice are both prepared:
In a large bowl, combine the fish (skin removed) and the rice and begin mashing together, adding mayonnaise for moisture and flavor. I usually start with less and then increase a bit as needed.
Sprinkle black sesame seeds on top and mix in. Again, 2 tbsp is just a guide, add more or use less based on your preference.
If the people eating the meal like spice, it's easy to mix the sriracha in at this point as well, making serving even easier. Because of my kids, I add sriracha separately.
To serve immediately:
Scoop the salmon and rice mixture onto a piece of seaweed and top with the pickled cucumber slices and sriracha if it's not already mixed in. I assemble one at a time so the seaweed doesn't get soggy. My baby will feed herself the rice mixture with some seaweed on the side, and my older kids assemble their own roll ups how they like.
To reheat individual servings:
Warm up the rice mixture in the microwave for approximately 45 seconds, then serve as indicated above.

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