Sesame-Crusted Tuna Tataki with Avocado Tartar

This dish can be easily found virtually at any trendy restaurant right now. You can serve it as an appetizer to share or as a main course. I had been wanting to try it for a while, and it turns out to be super easy to make! I serve this dish with a side of delicious avocado tartar that goes amazingly well with the tuna (you can find the recipe in this post as well).

The key to this recipe is to buy a very good quality bluefin tuna fish. It is a high protein dish and I have adapted it for a low-carb diet replacing some of the ingredients.

Needless to say, being a practically raw fish recipe, we must pre-freeze it for at least 48 hours to avoid Anisaki problems.

Ingredients:

• Bluefin Tuna Loin
• Black and white sesame seeds
• 3 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon agave syrup
• 1 small garlic clove, grated or garlic powder
• 1 tablespoon of mirin (Japanese wine) or white wine
• 1/2 tablespoon sesame oil
• 1/2 avocado
• 1/2 tomato
• Juice of 1/2 small lemon
• Coriander

Preparation:

The first thing we will do is prepare the marinade. To do this we mix the soy sauce, agave syrup, grated garlic (fresh is better, but we can also use garlic powder), mirin and sesame oil in a bowl.

We mix well, and we will put the tuna in and marinate for at least 1/2h to 1h so that they soak in the flavor.

Once it has marinated we put the sesame seeds on a flat plate and cover the tuna loins with the seeds, turning them over so that the seeds stick well to the fish. We will save the marinade to use later.

In a very hot and oil-free pan, place the loins and sear on all sides. We only want to brown the outside, but inside of the fish will be raw. When the fish is cooked, we put a part of the marinade in the pan and leave a few seconds on the fire until it thickens a little. Remove from heat and put in a bowl. We reserve the rest of the marinade for the tartar.

We take the tuna to a board and slice it, not too thin, but not too thick. We place on a serving tray.

To prepare the avocado and tomato tartar, we chop them well and mix in a bowl with the lemon juice. To this mixture we will add a teaspoon of the uncooked marinade that we have previously reserved and a little bit of cilantro. Mix and place on the side of the serving tray where we put the fish.

Finally we pour a teaspoon of sauce cooked over the fish. As for the tartar we pour a teaspoon of the uncooked marinade over it, as well as sprinkling some sesame seeds and cilantro.

This dish can be eaten as is or it can be served with a side of white rice. It will be a success!