Seared Sesame Tuna with Wasabi Sauce and Radish Salad

We added fish back into our diet last night as a part of the ongoing detox plan. And went for the gusto. No mild flaky whitefish here. Full-flavored rich and silky tuna. Seared medium rare. But stayed healthy too. Accompanied it with lightly sauteed Chinese cabbage (just chop coarsely and saute in a bit of olive oil for five minutes or so) and a crisp tangy sweet radish salad. It's an easy and deliciously healthy meal.

Seared Sesame Tuna

6 ounce tuna steaks (about 3/4 inch thick), one per person (Buy good quality fresh albacore or yellowfin tuna from a good fish department if you can.)
Soy sauce
Olive oil
Toasted sesame oil
Sesame seeds (white and/or black)

Place tuna steaks in shallow dish or pie plate and drizzle generously with soy sauce and olive oil. Drizzle sesame oil over sparingly. Rub marinade over steaks and make sure all sides are well-coated. Set aside to marinate for 5-10 minutes.

Sprinkle sesame seeds onto tuna (one side only) and press lightly to adhere.

Place a saute pan or grill pan on the stove and heat over high heat. When hot, place tuna, sesame seed-coated side down, into pan. Turn heat down to medium-high and sear tuna for 2 minutes until sesame seeds are lightly browned. Turn tuna over and sear on other side for 2 minutes.

Remove from pan and serve immediately drizzled with wasabi sauce (recipe below).

Note: This should give you tuna that is rare to medium-rare. To keep it that way, it's important to serve immediately. So have your sides ready to go.

If you want your tuna done a little more, cook for an extra minute or so on each side. Be careful though that you don't let the seeds burn. You can also cook for the four minutes outlined then put on a plate loosely tented with foil. The residual heat will cook the tuna for another five minutes or so.

Here are two great accompaniments for your tuna.

Wasabi Sauce
This is great on tuna steaks, but would also be good with steamed vegetables or even Asian noodles.

3 tablespoons silken tofu
1 tablespoon wasabi powder (Note: Caution. This stuff is hot. If you're sensitive to heat, start with 1/2 tablespoon wasabi powder and add more to taste. The sauce also seems to get hotter as it sits, so let it rest for a few minutes before you taste for heat.)
1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon mirin (sweetened sake)
1 tablespoon water
1/2 tablespoon soy sauce (Note: This turns the sauce a brownish color, so you could omit if you wanted to keep the sauce a fresh green-white tinge. I like the added flavor the soy sauce brings though.)

Whisk all ingredients together in a small bowl. (I found it was even better blended in a mini food processor.) Set aside. Drizzle over tuna steaks.

Radish Salad
I was happy to find this recipe in an old issue of Food & Wine magazine. It's a nice combination of crisp peppery radishes tempered with an easy tangy sweet dressing. The added herbs and sprouts bring even more flavor and crunch. It was perfect with our Asian tuna, but would also be good with chicken or a sandwich. Could also be an unusual, but yummy, addition to traditional barbecue fixings like pickles and cole slaw.

Makes two to four relish-size servings.

Eight radishes, sliced as thinly as possible. (I used a mixture of red and white globe radishes and sliced them with a little hand-held mandoline.)
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon mirin
1 tablespoon finely chopped cilantro (optional)
1 tablespoon finely chopped mint (optional)
2 tablespoons daikon sprouts or other peppery sprouts (optional)

Mix all together in a small bowl.