Pomelo Salad with Lightly Seared Tuna
I love Thai salads. Almost nothing could be better on a hot day than a crisp and refreshing bite of fresh fruit and vegetables with all the sweetness, heat and citrus sting that makes Thai cuisine so fantastic. A more traditional Yam Som-O would be made with shrimp, shredded coconut and peanuts- in short very different than what I have created- so I'll say this is more inspired by than authentically Thai.
A version of Yam Som-O that is more like what I have had in restaurants here can be found on this page: http://rasamalaysia.com/thai-pomelo-salad-recipe-yam-som-o/
Sheela, the author of this recipe is the creator of She Simmers which is one of my favorite food blogs.
Here's what went in my version of a Pomelo Salad.
- Pomelo,roughly shredded
- Cilantro,roughly chopped
- Red Onion, thinly sliced
- Chopped Cashew nuts
For the Dressing
- Lime Juice
- Fish Sauce
- Sugar
- Chili Flakes
- A little garlic
For the Tuna
- Sushi grade Tuna
- Soy sauce
- Ground white pepper
- Sesame oil
To make this salad, I simply combined roughly equal parts lime juice and fish sauce with sugar, a bit of garlic, and some chili flakes. The amount of sugar you put in depends on how tart your pomelo is (I like particularly tart dishes; if you don't, you may want to add some coconut milk to the dressing as well to help balance the dish). Basically, a taste test should reveal a balanced palette with sweet, spicy, salty and sour flavors all present, but with none overwhelming the others. I normally like my food quite spicy, but I held back a bit here as I thought too much heat would mask some of the flavors of the tuna.
Once you are happy with your dressing, toss in your pomelo, onion and cilantro. My mixture was roughly seventy-five percent pomelo, with the remaining quarter being about half onion and half cilantro with a small handful of chopped cashew nuts.
The tuna was marinated for just a few minutes in a mixture of soy sauce and sesame oil seasoned with ground white pepper. After removing the fish from the oil, you will want to dab away any excess liquid with a paper towel so that the fish doesn't come out too salty. I seared my fish very briefly so that only the outside was cooked.
After everything was ready, I arranged the tuna on top of the salad and sprinkled a few more cashew pieces and a bit more cilantro on top.
This lovely and refreshing dish only took about twenty five minutes to prepare.
Pairing Notes: A light slightly sweet white or perhaps a lager beer would be good options.
As a side note, the photo is not meant as a particular endorsement of Leo beer. I can't say more for it than I can most Thai beer: It's cheap and if it's cold enough, well... don't mind if I do.
