by Gail M Feldman

Created on: September 15, 2010

Although tuna salad is a lunchtime mainstay, it's not the only tuna dish in the sea!  Here is an Asian-style recipe that use fresh, rather than canned, tuna.

Ingredients

* Two tuna fillets (or steaks if you don't mind bones)
* One cup long-grained rice (we like brown)
* One egg
* One tablespoon butter or spread (we like spread with no trans fat)
* Three tablespoons dark sesame oil

* One half cup frozen green peas
* Four tablespoons soy sauce
* Four tablespoons brown sugar
* Two tablespoons any flavor vinegar
* Three cups water
* One cup mung bean sprouts
* Eight ounces button mushrooms
* One green onion (bulb and greens)
* One clove garlic
* One teaspoon lemon pepper
* One half teaspoon cumin

Directions:

In a bowl, mix vinegar, half the soy sauce, all the sugar, a quarter teaspoon lemon pepper, and a quarter teaspoon cumin. Rinse the tuna and set in this marinade. Refrigerate overnight, or as long as you can if you're in a hurry.

Rinse the onion, cut the roots off the bulb, slice the bulb and greens.

Peel and chop the garlic.

In a large skillet melt the butter and add the garlic, sliced onion bulb and rice, stirring with a wooden spoon to coat every rice grain. Crack the egg into the skiller and rapidly and vigorously stir, scraping the bottom and mixing the egg throughly with the rice, garlic and onion. When the rice is dry, add the remainder of the water, soy sauce and seasonings, stir again, cover, reduce heat to low and simmer until the rice has absorbed all the water.

While the rice is cooking, rinse the peas and sprouts in a collander. Rinse the mushrooms by hand and slice them. When the rice is cooked, add all this to the skillet. Stir.

With the spoon, push aside the rice mixture to make space for the tuna. Put the canola oil in the space and lay the tuna in it. Push the rice mixture back over the tuna. Cover and simmer for five minutes, uncover, turn the tuna over and set it atop the rice, cover the skillet and simmer an additional five to ten minutes, depending on how well done you like your tuna (we like it rare).

Serve each tuna fillet atop a mound or bed of rice. Garnish, if you like, with lemon slices, parsley and/or tomato wedges seasoned with salt.

NOTE: This works in a wok, too; you may need slightly less oil.

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