Sesame Crusted Tuna

Tuna is a special fish for Japanese people. There are many type of tuna such as blue fin tuna, southern blue fin tuna, big eye tuna, yellow fin tuna etc. We eat all parts of the fish from head to tail. I have had the huge char-grilled head, marrow and ara hot pot in a tuna restaurant. I quite liked them. However, my best tuna is blue fin tuna Chutoro which is the belly closer to the born, from Oma port. As the tuna is captured by single rod fishing, I feel less guilty.

It's not easy to find high quality tuna. When I find such tuna, I become greedy! I tend to buy a big chunk without thinking of my stomach size. As I like eating raw tuna, I use most of the tuna for sashimi and tuna. the left over will be cooked over the following days. The last thing you want to do is make flaky tuna like you get in a typical tin of tuna.

Japanese people traditionally didn't like tuna until approximately 200 years ago. The problem was transportation which wasn't good, so they cooked fish thoroughly. I imagine it was like tin tuna which I don't like much either. I cook tuna quickly so that it is still pink. What else I take care of is using some soy sauce. I think soy sauce accentuate the flavor of tuna.

In this sesame crusted tuna, the outside is crispy but the inside is moist, so that the fish still maintains the raw iron flavor.

Sesame crusted tuna

Serves 4

Ingredients
300g tuna
Sesame seeds
6 spring onions, cut into 1 inch pieces
2 tbsp tamari
2 tbsp mirin
Sesame seeds oil
Japanese dried chili
Black pepper

Combine the tamari and mirin. Add the tuna and spring onions. Then cover and marinate in the fridge for 30 minutes.
Remove the tuna from the marinade and roll in the sesame seeds to coat.
Add the oil and cook the tuna for 30 seconds each side. Cook the spring onion for 2-3 minutes each side or until golden brown.
Slice the tuna and sprinkle the chili and black pepper over the tuna.
Serve with the spring onions.

Do you like Japanese food?

When it comes to Japanese food, people talk about sushi. Yes! I love sushi. However, Japanese food is so much more than sushi. I like cooking the food I learnt from my mum. She used to teach cookery in Tokyo where I grew up. She is a great cook. I hope I take after some of her talent. I have been here in London for 4 years missing my mum's food. I tried copying her food and creating new recipes with local ingredients. Eventually, that changed my life. Now I am teaching Japanese cookery. My recipes are generally healthy, practical and not complicated. I introduce easy and simple recipes as well as Japanese ingredients.