Recipe: Sweet and Spicy Seared Tuna with Cilantro

If you like sushi, you'll love this recipe.  Tuna goes great with sweet and spicy flavors.  This recipe features two sauces to complement the tuna:  a buttery hot sauce, and a sweet lime sauce.  I normally would use some jalapeno on something like this, but I didn't have any today!  (sad face!)

Sweet and Spicy Seared Tuna with Cilantro

Sweet and Spicy Seared Tuna with Cilantro

Ingredients:

1 6 oz sushi grade tuna steak, approximately 1 inch thick
1-2 tablespoons butter
1 tsp sesame seeds
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp cayenne pepper
2-3 tablespoons chipped cilantro
salt and pepper to taste

For hot sauce:
1 tablespoon butter or ghee
1 tsp hot sauce (such as Tabasco or asian chili paste, you can go find a hot sauce that is as hot or as mild as you like however)

For sweet sauce:
1 tablespoon raw honey
1/2 tablespoon lime juice, approx

For garnish/side:
1 cup of spinach and arugula, combined

Directions:  Coat a fully thawed tuna steak with the salt, pepper, garlic powder, ground ginger, sesame seeds, and cayenne pepper.  In a small skillet, warm 1 tablespoon of butter on medium heat.  When skillet is hot, cook the tuna for 3-4 minutes on each side until you get a nice golden color on each side.  Remove from heat and let it rest.  (At this point, a typical 1 inch thick tuna steak will still be pink in the middle - if you like that, let it be, but if not, place tuna in a 350 degree oven for approx 10 minutes until it is cooked through).

To make the hot sauce, first place 1 tablespoon of butter into a glass bowl or cup with 1 tsp of hot sauce.  Warm in microwave for 30 sec intervals until it is melted, and then mix them both together.  To make the sweet sauce, put 1 tablespoon raw honey with approximately 1/2 tablespoon of lime juice. Microwave this mixture for about 20 seconds until the honey is just warm enough to mix easily.

After the sauces are done, make a bed of spinach and arugula and salt/pepper to taste (this step is optional).  Slice tuna in thin strips and arrange over the plate.  Then take the sauce hot sauce and sweet sauce and drizzle as desired.  Chop up the cilantro and toss over the top.

Enjoy!!