We first sampled this second form of tataki (see take one here) in the not-so-salubrious surroundings of Osaka central train station. Lo and behold, Japan hit it out of the park again with a combination of seared tuna, sesame and ponzu that is to die for.
As soon as we got back, and guessing how this recipe could - with all ingredients to hand - be quite quick, we set about recreating it.
First up, we combined three tablespoons of ponzu... I'm fabricating slightly here, it was, as is shown by the photo below, a good old slug. To this, we added 2 teaspoons of sesame oil, a teaspoon of soy, a grated knob of ginger (as ever, the size of your thumbnail) and topped off with a good grind of toasted sesame seeds and a finely chopped spring onion. Tuna aside, this is a pretty tasty dressing that would work atop any steamed vegetables or fish.
Next up, we coated the tuna in a thin crust of sesame seeds. This was then seared quickly in a very hot pan. The idea here is really to just colour the outside and leave the inside raw.
I whipped out the trusty Benriner to julienne some daikon. The strips were left in ice cold water for ten minutes to crisp up, then dried.
The trick with tataki is to leave the middle properly rare - you should really be able to see an absolute colour contrast between the seared edges and the rest of the fish.
We plated the tuna up on the daikon, spooned over the ponzu dressing and added a few bonito flakes to finish. In our picture below there are also a few green beans lurking in the background; completely superfluous but jolly nice nonetheless.
It really is that simple and, in terms of effort in versus result out, an absolute winner.
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