Pan seared tuna and cold rolls.

The next meal I made in the new place was more adventurous because I had been grocery shopping and because I actually had some food cravings to address. The cravings were mainly for cold food - fresh, crisp veggies and some seafood. Can you tell that a trip for sushi would have cured this? Well, that it would, but I needed to cook! I would have been happy with the cold rolls on their own but I came across some tuna steaks and I have never cooked tuna before so I thought I would give it a go! I had also been reading Small Food and was inspired by some of the recipes in there.

The casing for your cold rolls is rice paper.I found this with the help of a friend in the Ethnic food aisle at the grocery store. The packaging does a very good job of telling you what to do so don't worry if you have never used it before (like me). I set about getting my fillings ready.

I thawed some frozen cooked shrimp and finely cut some cucumber (with the seeds removed), carrots and green onions. I also had some bean sprouts and avocado. I made a dipping sauce with some sweet chilli sauce, fish sauce and lime juice. Be careful with fish sauce, it is really strong and can take over a dish in a matter of drops if you put too much in. The dipping sauce was wonderful, sweet, spicy, sour, all the good things!

Now that the fillings were ready I turned my attention back to the rice paper. The sheets are round as you can see in the picture. They are stiff, so you need to soak them in warm water for 5-10 seconds then put them on a damp towel so that they don't stick. I had a rubber trivet/heat proof mat which I thought would work just fine and it did. You work with one at a time. I put a little of everything in the centre of the paper and by the time I went to roll it the paper had softened even more and was easily manipulated. You roll it like a taco, with one end tucked in and the other end open.

Under instruction from the packaging I laid my rolls on lettuce leaves and covered them with a damp towel (or face cloth in my case!) and left them while I cooked the tuna. This stops them from drying out.You can make cold rolls ahead of time and keep them in the fridge for a while.

I rubbed the tuna with olive oil, salt and pepper then placed it in a smoking hot pan. I learnt from Chef Stu to oil the meat rather than the pan, amongst a multitude of other useful tips! I reiterate that I have never cooked tuna before. I also know that you shouldn't eat it raw unless it is sushi grade tuna. This made me a little nervous about leaving it as rare as I wanted it to be. I seared both sides until they were a rich brown colour and then went on to lightly brown the edges as well. In hind sight, the last step may not have been necessary as the fish was medium well by the time I ate it. However, you can never be too careful and with fish just from the local grocery store (rather than fish monger), better play it safe than sorry. 

I added a side of soya sauce with chilli in it for dipping the fish in. It was a wonderful meal, so fresh, so full of goodness, so many bold flavours and textures! So filling as well. The tuna is like a real steak, make no mistake that because it is fish it will be light. It was heavy and dense. Small portions!!!!!

It felt so good to sit and eat a meal that took lots of attention to detail to make and that was all new to me! And even better that it was a success.