1 month ago
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Asian ingredients really sing to me and, while I respect each nation’s individual traditions and ingredients, I also, on occasion, take a pan-Asian view of it all. Food crosses borders and today it flies across oceans to continents where none of the Asian traditions has any history. There’s no reason why we can’t pick and choose to find our own way with them.
Anyway, egg noodles, a Chinese tradition, are found in ramen, a Japanese tradition, so precedent there is.
I bought tamari (essentially the concentrated soy liquid you get when squeezing miso), which is Japanese, ponzu (the delicious tamari soy-based sauce containing citrus, rice vinegar and katsuobushi (bonito flakes), kombu (kelp); gochujang (the Korean barbeque paste), and seasoned rice vinegar. I forgot to buy wok oil even though it was first on my list. But I always have peanut oil at hand, so it’s not the end of the world.
I was disappointed to see that the high-end Checkers at the Boardwalk Mall in PE/Gqeberha has closed down for lack of interest, so I had to buy frozen tuna fillets. They defrosted on the trip home, while I planned a supper of seared albacore tuna with pak choy, shiitake mushrooms and medium egg noodles (thicker and with more body than the finer noodles).
It was fun playing with the various condiments in differing combinations. Everything works together somehow, but I kept the Korean barbeque sauce out of play; that’s waiting for something meaty.
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There was a lot of green going on, as you can see in the photo. Pak choy leaves become even more vivid with quick wok frying; I used the green parts of the spring onions as well as the white, and I thought about using coriander leaves, but decided they didn’t really fit, in flavour at least.
Once I’d got that far, I opted to go the whole hog, with a green plate and even chopsticks.
Seared albacore tuna with ponzu sauce
Ingredients
(Serves 2)
2 medium or 4 small albacore tuna fillets
Peanut oil
White sesame seeds
For the sauce:
4 slim spring onions, finely chopped, including most of the green parts
2 Tbsp ponzu sauce
1 Tbsp tamari soy sauce
½ teaspoon sesame seeds
Juice and finely grated zest of 1 lime
For the shiitake mushrooms:
200g shiitake mushrooms
Peanut oil
Splash of tamari sauce
Squeeze of lime juice
For the pak choy:
200g pak choy, ends trimmed away
Splash of seasoned rice vinegar
1 Tbsp tamari soy sauce
2 x 60g medium egg noodle nests (a Woolworths product, or similar)
Method
Pat the tuna fillets dry, several times, then leave uncovered on a plate in a cool place to air dry; turn after a while and mop up juices on the plate and underside.
In a bowl, toss the lime juice, lime zest, ponzu sauce, thinly sliced scallions, sesame seeds and soy sauce. Set aside.
Sprinkle sesame seeds on both sides of the tuna fillets.
Slice the root ends off the pak choy and discard.
Slice each shiitake mushroom in 2 or 3 depending on size.
Bring water to a boil, add the noodles, bring back to a boil and cook for 2 or 3 minutes. Drain.
Fry the mushrooms in peanut oil in a pan or wok on a high heat, tossing and turning with wooden spoons. Add tamari sauce and a squeeze of lime. Remove to a side dish.
Add more oil to the wok and the pak choy, and cook, tossing, till just done. Add a little tamari sauce and rice wine vinegar.
Heat a nonstick pan on a high heat. Add peanut oil to coat. Sear the fillets in hot oil very quickly, turning once. Remove to warm plates.
Toss the noodles, pak choy and mushrooms quickly in the wok to heat through (or separately, as I did) and serve with the tuna, with the ponzu sauce spooned over. DM
Tony Jackman is Galliova Food Writer 2023, jointly with TGIFood columnist Anna Trapido. Order his book, foodSTUFF, here
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This dish is photographed on a plate by Mervyn Gers Ceramics.
