The relish, packed full of garlic, red Asian shallots and chillies, with sweet, salty and sour flavourings, really lifts the grilled tuna in this dish. It also tastes great mixed through steamed jasmine rice
Ingredients
• 1 1/2 tablespoons canola oil
• 4 x 180g tuna fillets
• lime wedges, to garnish
For the relish:
• 8 garlic cloves, peeled
• 8 red asian shallots, peeled
• 4 long red chillies, seeded
• 1 ripe tomato, chopped
• 1 red capsicum, roasted, peeled and seeded
• 2 tablespoons palm sugar, shaved
• 2 1/2 tablespoons fish sauce
• 100ml Tamarind
For the salad:
• 10g coriander leaves
• 5g mint leaves
• 1/2 lemongrass stem, white part only, finely sliced
• 100g cabbage, finely sliced
• 1 small tomato, cut into wedges
• 1/4 lebanese cucumber, cut into batons
• 1 red asian shallot, sliced
Method
1 To make the relish, dry-roast the garlic, shallots, chillies and tomato in a wok over a medium–high heat, stirring frequently, until soft and caramelised, for about 8–10 minutes.
2 Put a lid over the wok to finish the cooking and to allow the ingredients to steam for 4–5 minutes.
3 Transfer the caramelised mixture to a bowl and mix with the capsicum, then pound to a rough paste in a mortar and pestle.
4 You may have to do this in batches, depending on the size of your mortar. Return to the bowl and stir in the palm sugar, fish sauce and tamarind. Set the relish aside.
5 Heat a hotplate or chargrill pan on medium–high. Heat the oil, then grill the tuna for about 2 minutes on each side, depending on the thickness of the fillets, until rare. Remove from the heat.
6 Place the tuna on individual serving plates or a serving dish. Arrange all the salad ingredients alongside each piece of tuna, spoon ½ tablespoon of the relish over the fish and garnish with the lime wedges.
7 Serve with the remaining relish on the side.
Recipe courtesy of Martin Boetz, extracted from New Thai Food
