Sizzling Seared Tuna with Avocado, Cucumber, Radish and a Ginger Chilli Sauce

This sizzling seared tuna with avocado, cucumber, radish and a ginger chilli oil is such a fun dish. It’s so fun to make and eat!

The tuna is sizzled by pouring hot oil over top, creating a beautiful sear on the exterior, whilst ‘blooming’ the seeds and spices covering the tuna. Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong in my book with just searing the crusted tuna on a ripping hot pan. Though, this is fun and I love the crackling sound it makes as it crusts the tuna.

Reuse that oil after pouring it over the tuna to make the chilli oil that is the base for our amazing ginger chilli sauce. We just use a tablespoon of the chilli oil, per person, add in fish sauce and lime juice, etc, etc, until we have this deeply umami yet citrusy and acidic sauce that is going to dress our tuna in the best way possible.

Once all the components of the dish are together, this makes a delicious lunch or dinner, perfect on a sunny day. The flavours and textures remind me of a poke bowl, although I recognise that there are a few cuisines at play here.

Visit your local fish shop and ask for raw tuna steaks. The more local the better. I am so lucky where I live that it is caught locally.

This recipe makes extra chilli oil. Save it in the fridge for garnishing pho, ramen, eggs, salad, salmon, you name it. I like to just make a big batch of the ginger chilli sauce rather than keeping it as a chilli oil. Up to you.

Makes two servings, plus extra chilli oil.

Ingredients:

2 tuna steaks

1 tbsp ‘everything but the bagel seasoning’ recipe here

2 tsp avocado oil

1/2 cup neutral oil, such as Rice Bran oil - reused later for the chilli oil

Chilli ginger sauce: (two servings)

2 tbsp chilli oil

2 tsp oyster sauce

2 tsp fish sauce

1 tsp soy sauce

juice of a lime

Chilli oil: (makes approximately 1/2 cup)

Repurposed neutral oil from the tuna steaks, about 6 tbsp

1 tbsp dried chilli powder

2 dried chillies, long red

1 tbsp brown sugar

1 tbsp sesame seeds, white

1 tbsp sliced almonds

2 garlic cloves, grated

thumb-size piece of ginger, grated

Crispy Cucumber Radish Salad:

4 radishes, sliced thin

1 cucumber, sliced thin

1/2 an avocado

1/2 cup spring onion, chopped

sprinkle of furikake

Method:

Using a mandolin, or a knife, slice the cucumber, spring onion and radish and place into a medium mixing bowl with lots of ice and water. This will keep them crisp while we cook the remaining.

On a baking tray, or heat-proof container/plate, rub 1 tsp of avocado oil on each tuna steak and rub in 1/2 tbsp of everything but the bagel seasoning on each tuna steak.

Heat 1/2 cup of neutral oil in a pan until it starts to smoke. Once it just starts to smoke, turn off the heat and let it cool for 2 minutes. Then, making sure the tuna is on a heat-proof surface, pour over each side of the steaks, flipping to make sure both sides get sizzled. P.S. — you can also just sear the steaks on super high heat for 30 seconds on each side. The oil pouring method is just something more fun to do, but both work really well. :)

Strain the oil to remove any seeds and pour the oil back into the pan to heat it up again.

In a small heat-proof bowl, such as a stainless steel mixing bowl, combine all the ingredients for the chilli oil.

Heat the repurposed oil back to the point where it just starts to smoke. Once it starts to smoke, turn off the heat and let it sit for 2 minutes to cool down. Test the heat of the oil by throwing in a small piece of grated garlic into the oil. It should sizzle but not turn the garlic brown. If it sizzles and keeps the garlic a very light golden colour, then it’s ready to pour over the chilli oil ingredients. Make sure to remove your test piece of garlic before pouring.

Pour the hot oil over the chilli oil ingredients and let it sit for 5 minutes to cool down.

After it has cooled, prepare the chilli ginger sauce by combining 2 tbsp of the chilli oil with the remaining ingredients. You will have chilli oil leftovers for delicious food in the future. Mix this sauce until combined and set aside.

Slice the tuna steaks against the grain and plate with 1/2 an avocado, sliced and sprinkled with furikake, then the cucumber radish salad. Spoon the chilli ginger sauce over the tuna.