Having eaten such fresh and delicious seafood in Seattle a couple of weeks ago, especially at Shucker’s, I was inspired to make my work fish dinner at home. Everything that comes out of kg kitchen has a twist though, so here’s my idea of a delicious fish dinner for company or family. Sushi grade tuna is marinated in a salty, spicy mix of soy, ginger and chili, then crusted in sesame and seared. To go with the tuna is a spicy cucumber salad, and peanut noodles that are so easy to make, you’ll be wondering why you’ve ordered them from takeout all these  years.

Sesame Crusted Tuna:

• 1 tablespoon low sodium soy sauce—the fish sauce is already salty, so a lower sodium soy is better. A sweet soy sauce like tamari would work nicely too
• 1 tablespoon fish sauce
• 1/2 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
• 1 tablespoon of rice wine vinegar
• 1/2 tablespoon of Sambal Olek—an Indonesian red chili paste flavored with salt and vinegar. It is very spicy, without the sweetness associated with sriracha sauce
• 1/2 tablespoon of fresh ginger
• 1/3 of bunch of scallions, sliced
• 3-4 large sushi-grade tuna steaks–I recommend you splurge for the high end tuna. Trust me, you’ll taste the difference
• 2 large bulbs of baby bok choy

1. Combine soy sauce, fish sauce, rice wine vinegar, sambal, ginger, and scallions in a medium bowl
2. Add the tuna to the marinade, and let the fish sit in the marinade for 1-2 hours to absorb the flavors of the sauce
3. Remove the fish from the marinade, and shake off excess liquid
4. While the fish is slightly wet, drip it into sesame seeds and crust both sides with sesame
5. In a sauté pan, heat up some vegetable oil on medium heat, and get the tuna ready
6. Cook the tuna steaks for about two minute per side—pay attention because it cooks fast, and higher quality tuna is best cooked rare
7. Sauté some baby bok choy with garlic and excess fish marinade
8. To serve: lay the bok chy on a big platter, and then set the sesame crusted tuna atop the bok choy

Peanut Noodles:

• 1 tablespoon of toasted sesame oil
• 2 tablespoons of vegetable or canola oil
• 1 tablespoon of low sodium soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon of fish sauce
• 3 heaping tablespoons of (crunchy) peanut butter
• 1/2 cup of warm water
• 1 box of angel hair pasta
• 2/3 bunch of scallions, sliced
• 1 tablespoon of white sesame seed

1. Combine the first 6 ingredients and whisk together until it becomes a thick, homogeneous sauce—a blender or food processor works as well, but I like the texture that the nut pieces give to the sauce when it’s hand mixed
2. Chill the sauce for at least 20-30 minutes
3. Cook the pasta according to package directions, and drain well
4. Toss the hot pasta with the sauce, sesame seeds and scallions
5. Chill for 15 minutes in the refrigerator
6. Serve in a big bowl, garnished with chopped scallions, and some chopsticks

Spicy Cucumber Salad

• 2 hot house cucumbers–also known as English or seedless cucumbers. I like this variety of cucumber since it’s longer and the skin is much thinner, so you can eat it easily. Plus is has much less seeds and comes prewashed
• 1 tablespoon of sambal olek
• 1/2 tablespoon of toasted sesame oil
• 1 tablespoon of soy sauce
• 1/2 tablespoon of rice wine vinegar
• 1/2 tablespoon of white sesame seeds, for garnish

1. Chop the cucumbers—skin on—into half moon pieces
2. In a bowl, combine the sambal, sesame oil, soy sauce and vinegar
3. Toss the cucumbers with the sauce and let sit for at least 20 minutes—the longer it sits, the more the cucumbers will expel liquid, and absorb the flavors of the sauce
4. Serve garnished with sesame seeds over the top on a bright plate

This is a wonderful meal to serve for dinner to your family–like I did–or use it to wow your dinner guests as you take them on a culinary tour of Asia. Leftovers from all three of these dishes will taste even better the next day!