Last (diet) Supper – Seared Tuna on Red Coleslaw Salad

The end is nigh! February is over, and with it – the dreaded diet season. P has been amazing in his resolve, and tonight we had our final weight-loss dinner.

Seared Tuna on Red Coleslaw Salad

This is my recipe – drawing inspiration form a few sources, mainly Iku Wholefood’s Red Coleslaw. The meal is dressed up however by additional salad greens and some seared tuna – definitely not on Iku’s menu!

Salad

• 1/2 head red cabbage, sliced
• 1 carrot, grated
• 2 small beetroot, roots peeled and finely sliced, leaves trimmed, washed and chopped coarsely.
• handful of parsley
• 300 gram piece of fresh tuna

Dressing

• 1/8 cup rice vinegar
• 1 tablespoon umeboshi vinegar
• 3 tsp sugar
• 1 tbsp grapeseed (or other) salad oil

Despite the image, the red cabbage didn’t actually come from the garden. I bought it.

Start by slicing the cabbage finely, then grating the carrot.

Peel the beetroot and finely slice, reserving the tops as salad greens. Wash these and set aside.

Combine the cabbage, carrot and beetroot together in a bowl and sprinkle liberally with salt. leave to rest for 1/2 and hour to soften slightly.

Rinse the salad mix in a colander to completely wash out the salt. This was only there to soften the crunchy components slightly and improve texture. Spin in a salad spinner to remove all the residual water.

Combine the dressing ingredients and whisk until sugar dissolves. You may need to heat it slightly. Pour dressing over the cabbage mix and refrigerate until needed, letting it marinade in the dressing and absorb flavours. Don’t be tempted to add salt without tasting – umeboshi vinegar is really salty.

Wash the parsley thoroughly and remove the stems. Set aside with the beetroot leaves.

Slice the tuna into strips 2cm wide. Heat a pan over high heat with a small amount of oil and sear the tuna strips all over, just to colour them well. You don’t want to cook them through.

Remove and place on a plate to rest briefly, then slice into 2cm cubes. They should be pink on the cross-section.

Assemble the salad by combining the fresh salad greens with the cabbage mix, then top with the seared tuna. You can then drissle some of the excess dressing from the coleslaw bowl over the top.

I used parsley because it is what I had on hand. I think next time I would substitute for something with less pungency – perhaps spinach.

Now by now I’m sure everyone wants to hear less about rabbit food and more about gardening, so I’ll try to leave cooking to Tuesday night Vego posts for a while. I’m hoping the Autumn will be a wonderful growing season in Sydney and that we can leave our woeful wet Summer to our memories, where I’m sure it will be exaggerated beyond reality.