Seared Sesame Tuna

By Ceri

There are many good things about living at Keston Road. One of my favourites of the plethora of brilliant things to choose from is the Keston Birthday Dinner. This is a dinner where each of the 3 housemates who are not celebrating turning a whole year older takes a course each and a stunning 3 courser is produced. Since September, we have seen in 4 landmark birthdays as we have all turned 30. Boats have been pushed out, pink fizz has been drunk, heels have been worn, parties have been raucously owned and most importantly some truly delicious food has been eaten. I have said to the girls that when (if) we ever move out of our lovely South East London home, we have to recreate these dinners wherever we are- which means we are in for at least another 30 years of Happy Birthday Feasting... Hooray!

My favourite of my recent contributions has been the seared sesame tuna sashimi I made as a starter last week for Jules who is the most recent of the Keston ladies to mark her 3rd decade of fabulousness. I have totally fallen in love with Japanese food, particularly Sashimi and have been wanting to have a go at this for a while. I had it in my head what I wanted to make, did a little bit of digging around for recipes and came up with the below. Rachie followed suite and prepared a beautiful asian inspired duck and noodle recipe and Charlotte finished off with calvados flavoured rice brulee. It was a total birthday win of a meal.

Tip- You need your tuna to be as fresh as is possible and best to buy from a fishmonger on the day you are planning to make it if at all possible. Raw tuna is completely safe to eat, but the fresher the better for taste and texture. We have the totally wonderful Moxon's on Lordship Lane near us, which has other interesting things to go in for besides the wonderfully fresh produce (attractive fishmongers, who knew?!). http://www.moxonsfreshfish.com/

Seared Sesame Tuna

Serves 2

1/3 cucumber, seeded and cut into strips

4 spring onions, shredded lengthways

A handful of coriander leaves

2 very lean tuna steaks, thick cut, marinated in 2 tbsp soy sauce mixed with 1 tbsp runny honey for 10 mins. You can also buy a larger cut of tuna from the fishmongers. I'd recommend more toward the tail end as it's easier to manage.

2 tbsp sesame seeds, toasted

Dipping Sauce

2 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp sesame oil

1 lime, juiced, lime zest

1 red chilli, de-seeded and finely chopped.

First of all, combine all the ingredients for the sauce in a bowl or jam jar, give it a stir and set to one side. It helps to do this first so the flavours infuse.

1. Sear the tuna in a hot pan for 20 seconds each side then roll in sesame seeds and leave for 5 minutes. I used a griddle pan for this, but a large frying pan will be fine. Get the pan nice and hot before you put the tuna on it.

2. Mix the spring onion, coriander and cucumber and get them ready on a plate.

3. Slice the steak into strips.

4. Serve on a pile of leaves and serve small dishes of of dipping sauce. I also made a quick dressing for the salad and cucumber mix. Add 2 tbsp of olive oil, 1 tbsp of sesame oil 1 teaspoon of honey, juice and zest of 1 small lime into an empty jam jar. Season, give it a good shake and

put a little over the salads.

5. Serve with slices of fresh lime and a big fat HAPPY BIRTHDAY JULES you wonderful brilliant lady, you. :) xx