Bite with Belkys: Seared tuna with chili daikon and garlic chips

The Chef: Rainer Becker
The Restaurant: Zuma inside the Epic Hotel and Residences in Downtown Miami
The Dish: Seared tuna with chili daikon and garlic chips

Ingredients for seared tuna with chili daikon and garlic chips:

500 g tuna fillet (ask for a small diameter cut of the loin)
2 tsp. sea salt
1 tsp. black pepper
2 medium red onions
1 red chili
2 stems ginger
1 clove garlic
25 ml soy sauce
25 ml rice vinegar
15 g caster sugar
5 green onions
40 pieces garlic chips
2 g Japanese chili paste (momiji oroshi)
15 g daikon
160 ml ponzu sauce

Method of preparation:

- Start by slicing the red onions and very finely chop the chili, ginger and garlic.

- In a hot pan, add a little oil and cook the onion a little. Then add the chili, ginger and garlic and braise the onions until they are tender, but not soft. Season with sugar, rice vinegar and soy sauce.

- Place the onions on a tray in the refrigerator to cool.

- To make the chili daikon, finely grate it, then add red chili paste until light pink. Be careful because the chili paste is very spicy.

- Now, prepare and trim the tuna into rectangular shaped log.

- Heat a pan to smoking point, then lightly oil and rub with a paper towel to remove the excess (or you can cook the tuna over a grill.)

- Oil the tuna, season with salt and pepper and seal for 15 seconds on each side. Make sure it's even.

- Once sealed, place tuna in ice to stop the cooking process.

- Slice the tuna tataki into thin slices.

Ingredients for ponzu sauce:

50 ml soy sauce
50 ml mirin
20 ml sake
10 ml tamari soy
10 cm konbu
5 g bonito
1 whole orange, sliced

Method of preparation for ponzu sauce:

- Combine the mirin and sake and bring to a boil. Cook until all the alcohol is burned off.

- Add the remaining liquid ingredients and the konbu. Just before the liquid comes to a boil again, remove from heat.

- Add the bonito flakes and the oranges and allow to cool.

- This sauce can be kept refrigerated for up to three months and used on grilled fish, meat or vegetables.

To plate the dish:

- Divide onions into four serving bowls.

- Place six folded slices of tuna tataki on top of the onions in each bowl.

- Mix the chili daikon with ponzu sauce and pour over tuna and garnish with green onions and garlic chips.

Serving suggestion: Saki

Serves: 4