Asian-style tuna steaks with steamed green vegetable salad

I got really lucky a few months ago when some dude called Jerome came knocking on my door at the office. He's an authentic fisherman with the accent to prove it, and he sells me fresh fish from the back of his bakkie. I bought some tuna steaks the other day and made some last night. The cool thing about tuna steaks is the short cooking time and the wide variety of flavours you can season them with. Last night I went Asian. I would recommend making a turn past a proper Asian store and loading up on some ingredients. They keep for ages and you will use them often. I am giving very rough guidelines for amounts in this recipe, as it is all about personal preference. As with most Asian cooking, it is a balance of sweet, salty, hot and sour. Just keep tasting and you'll be fine.

Okay, stuff you'll need to feed 2 people:

• 2 x 200g tuna steaks
• About 2 teaspoons of fresh ginger, grated
• About 2 teaspoons of chilli, finely chopped
• About 2 teaspons of fresh garlic, finely chopped
• 1 cup of light soy sauce
• A few drops of sesame oil
• A few drops of fish sauce
• About 1 tablespoon of honey
• Juice of 1 lime (use lemon if you can't find limes)
• A few drops of kecap manis (this is like a thick soy sauce. Get it at any Asian store). Leave it out if you can't find it.
• Mixed green vegetables. (I actually like brussel sprouts so I used them but most people don't. Just use what you like. Things like spinach, asparagus, brocolli etc)
• A handfull of sesame seeds
• A handful of coriander, roughly chopped

Okay, what to do:

1. Make your marinade. Place soy sauce, honey, sesame oil, kecap manis, coriander, ginger, chilli, garlic, fish sauce, and half the lemon juice in a pot and bring to the boil. Reduce heat, let it simmer for about 10 minutes and allow to cool.

2. Pour marinade over tuna steaks and let them sit for 20 minutes. Turn them over and wait 20 minutes more.

3. Cook your vegetables in a steamer. Remember things like spinach will need hardly any cooking time so put the hard vegetables in first and add the rest accordingly. The total time will be about 20 minutes. You want your vegetables to still have a bite. Nothing is worse than soft, limp, overcooked vegetables without any colour or flavour.

4. Cook the tuna steaks for 1-2 minutes per side. DO NOT OVERCOOK THEM! They should be pink in the middle.

5. To serve, get a large platter, toss the sesame seeds through the vegetables and place on one side of the platter. Slice the tuna crossways and place alongside the vegetables. Drizzle a bit of the marinade over the tuna and use the remaining lemon juice to pour over the entire dish.

This is pefect for a dinner party dish. You would place the final dish in the middle of the table and let everyone help themselves with chopsticks and a side plate.

Cheers,

Jamie Who