Tuna Steak With Watermelon

Hey everyone!

When I was talking to the Baron about this project I was like, we’ve gotta keep it as basic as possible - not a concept I’m normally familiar with but I am not a gourmet chef, I’m a home cook and I make vegan alternatives of things that my family ate growing up. So the one thing that I’ve never been able to replicate whether with meat replacements or alternatives is fish. So I researched and I saw that there was a way to do a sort of impersonation of tuna steak with watermelon, and I have to say, I don’t know what a fish tastes like but this was like a fruity noodly schnack!

Ingredients 

• Watermelon

• Dark Soy

• Light Soy

• Maple Syrup

• Sesame Seeds

• Nero Kale

• Rice Vinegar

• Noodles of your choice (Udon Rice)

• Chilli Oil

• White Onion

• Peppercorns

• Red Peppers or Red Chillis (to your taste)

So I wanted to try and chop up a watermelon in the way that would create a square, and I tried four times and got two our of four, it wasn’t as easy as I imagined because the texture of the inner watermelon is slightly more delicate so it doesn’t hold a shape completely, but I gave it ago and started to dissect squares into cleaned out steaks. I guess this is what people do with fish bones isn’t it?

So I sliced the watermelon into about 2cm thick, and then at an angle made incisions perfectly to resemble the texture of a fish. Now I think I could have been a surgeon once upon a time and this kinda gave me reassurance that I could have been cos it came out quite good haha.

In a bowl mix up two tbs toasted sesame oil, light, and dark soy, enough to coat the whole steak and get into the cuts we’ve made. Rub the watermelon with salt, don’t pull it apart because this can make it super delicate but them coat the whole thing in the oil so that it sort of all pulls the moisture into the salt and then hits into the gaps of the watermelon.

Next in a pan, we’re gonna make a basic onion and Nero kale stir fry, you just wanna brown the onions in maple syrup, light soy, a touch of chilli oil and a tsp tomato paste. Takes about ten minutes and you can add sliced chillis if you like for extra spice or red peppers. Add some rice vinegar and seasoning and add the kale sliced finely until it’s wilted and the texture is to your taste. Then throw in your noodles straight into the pan with a splash of water and let the steam cook what is left to do. Cookout until the water is evaporated and the oils coat everything.

Next, let’s go into the tuna coating and the way I tried to do this was by using maple syrup to adhere to the peppercorn, sesame mix which I toasted in a pan. I cooked until they started popping, made a space for the watermelon and added it straight into oil, then started to push the crust of seeds into the edge of the watermelon. It was hard, they didn’t stick at first but as they cooked they sort of bound together. Be careful not to burn them as it’ll ruin the flavour but the watermelon was cooking and steaming amazingly and the smell was divine. I’d say we cooked it on low for about 8 minutes.

So here is the final! Is it like fish? I wouldn’t have a clue but the sherbert texture of the watermelon with the richness of the crust and the kale, was actually amazing and I really would recommend.

Let me know if you’d try this below.