Tempura Tuna Bites

This may look like a lot of work, but it really isn’t—it’s just a matter of combining ingredients and getting them ready to go. I did the whole recipe from start to finish in about 35 minutes and I dawdle.

Ingredients:

For the marinade/dipping sauce:

¾ cup low sodium soy sauce

¼ cup rice wine vinegar

2 drops sesame oil

1 clove of garlic, minced

1 teaspoon fresh ginger, minced

2 green onions, finely sliced

Pinch of sugar

¼ cup water (optional)

Tempura:

1 pound fresh, good quality tuna, cut into ½ to 1 inch cubes (this will not yield rare tuna but bigger pieces mean you might have more pink in the middle. Plan on medium well-done tuna here)

½ cup cornstarch

2 cups canola oil

1 cup very cold seltzer water

1 cup flour (rice if you have it, all-purpose if you don’t)

Pinch of baking soda

1 Tablespoon sesame seeds

Directions: Make the marinade/dipping sauce by combining all ingredients in a bowl or glass measuring cup. Place the tuna cubes in a wide, shallow bowl and pour half the marinade over it and set it aside for about 10 minutes. Reserve the other half of the marinade for the dipping sauce. (Note: you can make the marinade/dipping sauce well in advance)

Place the cornstarch in another wide, shallow bowl and set aside. Set out a baking sheet lined with paper towels and place a cooling rack on top of it. This is your tempura landing pad. Place it next to the stove, careful not to get too near the hot oil.

Heat the oil in a wide, shallow skillet and heat on medium to medium high heat. While the oil is heating, drain the tuna and dry on paper towels. Toss into the cornstarch and shake off excess.

Make the tempura batter at the last minute by combining the seltzer water, flour, baking soda and sesame seeds together. Stir until it just combines (a few lumps are ok). The oil is hot enough when it shimmers, but does not smoke. You can test the heat of the oil by putting in a ‘sample tuna cube’  and seeing if it browns nicely over a few minutes—you can also check for doneness by doing this and adjust the next cubes to be more rare or well done, as you like. You can also check the oil by sticking a chopstick/skewer in it—if bubbles rise around the wooden stake, the oil is good to go.

Working in batches so you don’t overcrowd the skillet, dip the tuna cubes into the batter and shake off excess. Place in the hot oil and cook until golden on one side, then flip using tongs or chopsticks, about 2-3 minutes per side. Once the other side turns golden, remove to the rack. Repeat until all the tuna is cooked. Serve with dipping sauce.

Get creative on me: Why stop at tuna? I had some extra batter, so I threw in some green onions. I’m also going to do another batch here with all vegetables soon.