Editor’s note: The recipe and introductory text below are excerpted from chef Neil Perry’s book Rockpool. Neil also shared some helpful cooking tips exclusively with Epicurious, which we’ve added at the bottom of the page. For your convenience, we’ve converted the measures — with as much accuracy as possible — from Australian to American. For those who have metric equipment and wish to follow Neil’s recipe to the milliliter, we’ve included the original measures too.
To read more about Neil and Australian cuisine, click here.
This dish is a take on a Korean salad of raw beef with a sesame-oil dressing, raw egg yolk, Chinese cabbage and a combination of sesame seeds and pine nuts. The beef is almost frozen, and the crisp texture is offset by the silkiness of the egg yolk and the creaminess of the pine nuts. This dish is so good that in the old days Greg Frazer, Barry McDonald and I have been known to start with one and have another for dessert at the end of a meal. I decided to do a tuna dish inspired by this, and since it was raw and used an egg yolk, I called it Korean Tuna Tartare. The times I have taken it off the menu have been met with firm resistance from regular customers.
Serves four as a starter.
INGREDIENTS
- 2 medium carrots
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4 spring onions
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1 400 g (1 lb) piece fresh yellowfin tuna
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1 small chinese cabbage heart, finely shredded (about 1 cup)
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leaves from 1 bunch coriander (cilantro)
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3 tablespoons roasted pine nuts
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1 recipe sesame dressing
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4 egg yolks
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2 tablespoons sesame seeds, toasted
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freshly ground white pepper
DIRECTIONS Cut the carrot and spring onions into a fine julienne and soak in ice water for half an hour.
Place the tuna on a chopping board, and remove the skin. Cut it into rounds of 0.5 cm (1/4-inch) thickness, then cut it lengthwise into strips of about 0.5 cm (1/4-inch) square.
Place the tuna, carrots, spring onions, cabbage, coriander, pine nuts and dressing in a bowl. Toss to dress and divide between 4 plates. Make a little well in the centre of each, and place an egg yolk on top. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and grind over some pepper. Serve immediately.
Chef Neil Perry shares his tips with Epicurious:
• The dressing for this salad must stand for 30 minutes to let the flavors mingle. Since the salad must be served immediately once assembled, be sure to make the dressing first.
• The dressing calls for Chinese sesame paste. Tahini can be substituted, but this will change the flavor somewhat (tahini is made from raw sesame seeds, while the Chinese paste is made from roasted seeds). Chinese sesame paste can be found at most Asian grocery stores.
