Sweet and salty tuna and rice

This blogging thing is really growing on me. I am enjoying putting a little more thought into cooking and writing down recipes and food ideas to share. My family is not liking the fact that I now photograph every dish of food before they get to eat it. There have been rolled eyes already!

Other than the rolled eyes, there have been some minor challenges. I am currently living in a furnished, rented apartment. The kitchen came 'equipped' with the absolute basics, so I've had to add a few essentials, such as a grater, salad bowls, plastic cups and bowls for little people. I am missing my food processor, which is packed in a box back home. But my imagination is being stretched cooking without the equipment I'm used to. I am also rather limited on 'food styling' equipment for my blog pictures. I am learning to be creative with what we have however.

Today we ate sweet and salty tuna with sushi rice. The inspiration for this dish comes from my friend Leonie, who took her inspiration from the devine Nigella Lawson - she of the small waist. Links to Leonie's blog and Nigella's website you'll find on the left of this page. I've changed the recipe quite a bit, but credit where it's due. Thanks ladies.

I made a kid-friendly version (with fish fingers), and a grown-up version (with tuna streaks) of the dish, just to make sure that it suited all the people in our house.

What you'll need

For the adults
2 x 125g tuna steaks. The tuna I used in this dish was bought in the frozen food section of the supermarket Alternatively, if you win the lotto, you can buy them fresh. You could also use salmon fillets.

For the children
8 frozen fish fingers

For the sauce
1 medium onion, finely chopped
4 - 6 cherry tomatoes, finely chopped
12 medium cloves garlic, finely chopped/minced
2 tsp mined ginger
2 tbs soy sauce
2 tbs rice wine vinegar (if you don't have rice vinegar, substitute with white vinegar)
1 tbs mirin
2 tbs fish sauce
3 tbs water
1 lime, juice and zest
1/2 tsp fresh chilli or chilli powder (if you like it hot, add as much chilli as you prefer)
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 cup finely chopped mint
1 tsp vegetable oil

2 cups of sushi rice - cooked as per manufacturer's instructions

*This dish will serve four people.

What to do

Cook the rice. Once cooked, keep warm, ready for serving.

While rice is cooking, make the sauce.

Heat vegetable oil in a pan or pot over medium heat. Add onion, tomato and garlic. Reduce heat to low. Cook slowly until onion is transparent. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature.

Add all other ingredients except the mint. Taste to see that the balance of flavours is right for you. If it is too salty, add a little more water etc. Set sauce aside to 'develop' its flavour.

Cook the fish. Either pan-fry or oven bake the fish fingers according to manufacturer's instructions.
Pan fry tuna for approximately 3 minutes either side.

Assemble the dish, with lots of warm rice on the bottom of the plate, then some sauce, then the fish (you can flake the fish or leave it whole), then more sauce on top, then sprinkle with the chopped mint. As you eat the dish, your fish will flake and mix through, and the rice will soak up the delicious sauce. You will be licking the plate!

Serve with salad or vegetables and extra lime if you like. I added some cooked mushrooms to the sauce today, which made a nice change. I also forgot to add the ginger and mint, but it tasted so wonderful anyway.