lisa.w.hsieh Super simple, hard to mess up and healthy tuna dish that’s sure to impress! It only takes 15 minutes to make this sushi restaurant staple and it’s perfect for a healthy snack or pair with some sushi rice or noodles for an easy poke bowl meal!
With a sushi chef for an uncle, I feel like I’ve been eating sushi my whole life! I still have faint memories of hanging out at my uncle’s restaurant, doing homework at the sushi bar after school until my mom was done work. I think that’s where my lifelong love for sushi and japanese food came from. So one of my favourite dishes to make when I have people over in the summer is this seared sesame crusted tuna! It only takes 15 minutes to make, hard to mess up, and guests have no idea so it always impresses!
What Tuna should I get?
It might seem a little intimidating to cook raw fish but it’s easy if you know what type of fish to get! The danger of eating fish raw is the fact that you’re not killing any parasites during the cooking process. So instead, the fish needs to be frozen and stored at below -20°C for 7 days in order to kill all the parasites. If you find fresh sashimi/sushi grade fish at the fish market, it’s just been pre-thawed so that it’s ready to use right away.
For this dish, I like to get yellowfin (Ahi) tuna steaks from Farm Boy, a local grocery store chain that started in Ottawa and recently expanded to Toronto! Slight distraction – Farm Boy is the BEST grocery store, it’s like the Disneyland of grocery stores. They have a ton of house brand items that are unique to Farm Boy and it’s great quality and really well priced! Their frozen seafood is Good Catch certified and Farm Boy is really the only grocery store where I can find tuna steaks and black cod. If there’s no Farm Boy near you, you can usually find tuna steaks at local fish markets that’s packaged frozen the same way.
Thawing the tuna safely:
If you’re using frozen tuna, make sure that you’re not thawing it in the vacuum sealed bag that it came in. When the fish is vacuum sealed, it removes all the oxygen which is a great way to keep the fish fresh while frozen. However, once you remove it from the freeze, there’s a high risk of botulism as there’s bacteria in the vacuum sealed package that thrives in no-oxygen environments. The best way to thaw it is to remove it from the packaging and either wrap it in plastic or put in an air tight container and defrost in the fridge overnight. I place the tuna on a paper towel while thawing so absorb any liquid because you want your tuna to be dry when searing.
Serving the tuna:
I love to serve this tuna with a simple soy ginger sauce of soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, sesame oil, wasabi and grated ginger. All of these ingredients should be easy to find in the international section of large grocery stores or at any asian grocery store. I like to use fresh grated ginger in this sauce because it adds a nice gingery kick that can be mimicked by pre-minced or powdered ginger. Ginger is usually sold in giant pieces and it’s impossible for me to use it all before it goes bad so an easy tip, ginger stores really well in the freezer and you can just grate it straight from the freezer with skin on!
For an extra fancy, restaurant style dish, I like to serve the slices laid out and topped with thinly sliced onions that has been pickled quickly in rice wine vinegar and sliced green onions. I use a vegetable peeler to get the super thin slices, I wouldn’t recommend slicing the onions with a knife because if the onions are too thick, it’ll over power the tuna.
And that’s it! Once you’ve perfected the seared tuna, there’s so many ways you can enjoy this dish! Have it on it’s own for a quick and healthy snack or try it my favourite way, on top of a pile of delicious sesame soba noodles.
Sesame Crusted Seared Ahi Tuna
Ingredients
Sesame Crusted Tuna
- 2 Sashimi grade Ahi Tuna steaks approx. 300-400g
- 1/4 cup sesame seeds white or black sesame seeds or mixed (my preference!)
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 1 tbsp cooking oil
Soy Ginger Sauce
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 2 tbsp rice vinegar
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- 1 tsp ginger, grated
- 1/2 tsp wasabi
- 1 stalk green onion, chopped
- 2 tbsp onion, thinly sliced
Instructions
Soy Ginger Sauce
- In a small bowl, soak thinly sliced onions in a tbsp of rice wine vinegar
- In another small bowl, combine the soy sauce, remaining rice wine vinegar, sesame oil, wasabi and grated ginger until well mixed
Sesame Crusted Seared Ahi Tuna
- Mix sesame seeds, salt and pepper together in a bowl big enough to fit a tuna steak. Press all sides of tuna steaks into the sesame mix until well coated
- Heat oil in a non-stick pan over medium high heat. Add tuna steaks when oil starts to smoke slightly. Sear on each side for 1 -2 minutes, depending on the thickness of the steaks and level of doneness you want. Sear the edges of each steak for 30 seconds.
- Transfer steaks to a plate with paper towel to soak up any excess oil
- Slice each steak into 1/4 inch thick pieces. Serve with pickled onions and green onions sprinkled on top and drizzled with the soy ginger sauce.
