Aloha From The Islands ~ ~ Encrusted Ahi Tuna Pupus!

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Hello from tropical paradise!  My farm sitter is home with all my furry animal family and baking in the 100 degree temperatures while hubby and I escaped!  After a few days of soaking in the sun, taking in the aroma of all the tropical blossoms, listening to the waves gently washing ashore, we decided to venture out and try a new restaurant.  I simply love Thai food, so we chose Singha Thai due to all of the international accolades showered on the chef/owner and his culinary style.
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Little did we know that one of the appetizers or 'pupus' as they call them here in Hawaii, is one of the top favorite dishes that Chef Chai created and serves at both of his award-winning restaurants.  To me, no ingredient represents Hawaiian cuisine more perfectly than Ahi Tuna.  So as curious as I am, after we returned to our room, I googled the recipe!  To my surprise this is one of the recipes that he shares with his fans.  It is simply incredible and even my husband who despises raw fish/sushi/sushimi was impressed.

This delightful appetizer consists of beautiful, fresh, red Ahi Tuna dipped in a tempura batter and then encased in a panko crust.  Then the tuna is fried for just a few seconds only so that the tuna stays raw inside.  Finally, it is plated and beautifully presented in a perfectly spiced curry sauce with a wasabi sauce drizzled around for that extra little Asian bite!  A tropical mango salsa marriage tops it all off!

This is literally a tropical culinary paradise in your mouth!
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Sitting Buddha and Reclining/Sleeping Buddha statues among the Thai decor

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Crusted ‘Ahi Tuna Katsu, Yellow Curry Sauce and Fresh Mango Salsa
(Recipe courtesy of Chef Chai of Chai's Island Bistro and Singha Thai in Honolulu, Hawaii, USA)

Tempura batter

3/4 cup all-purpose flour
¼ cup cornstarch
1 egg, beaten
½ cup water
Salt and pepper, to taste

In a small bowl, combine all ingredients above until the batter has no lumps; set aside.

‘Ahi Tuna Katsu

2 blocks fresh ‘ahi (about 1½-2 lbs.), cut into an inch tube about 6 to 8 inches long
4 sheets nori (Japanese seaweed)
1 cup Tempura Batter (recipe above)
1 cup panko breadcrumbs
Vegetable oil, enough to fill a frying pan a minimum of 1-inch deep

Wrap each piece of ‘ahi tuna with two sheets of fresh nori.
Dip them into the tempura batter.
Coat with panko breadcrumbs.
In wok or deep fryer/cast iron pan, preheat oil to 375°F.
Fry fish until golden brown (about 30 to 45 seconds).
Slice into 8 to 10 ¼-inch-thick pieces.

Thai Yellow Curry Sauce

½ Tbsp. Thai yellow curry paste
2 cups coconut milk
1 Tbsp. fish sauce or Aloha Shoyu
½ Tbsp. curry powder
½ Tbsp. sugar

In a saucepan over medium heat, combine all of the ingredients above; bring to a boil.
Simmer on low heat for 10 minutes or until the sauce thickens to the consistency of mustard.

Mango-Tomato Salsa

2 Tbsp. ripe mango, diced
2 Tbsp. tomato, diced
½ Tbsp. Chinese parsley, chopped
½ Tbsp. onion, chopped
½ Tbsp. bell pepper, chopped
¼ Tbsp. lemon juice
¼ Tbsp. balsamic vinegar
¼ Tbsp. sugar
Pinch of salt, to taste
Dash of Tabasco, to taste

In a small bowl, combine all of the above ingredients.

Presentation: 
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Plate ahi tuna katsu slices on one side of plate.
Spoon some of Mango-Tomato Salsa next to tuna slices.
Ladle/pour some Thai Yellow Curry Sauce on the other side of plate.
Drizzle wasabi sauce around the outside of plate (for both taste/use as well as enhanced presentation).
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Mahalo (thank you) to Chef Chai and his aloha generosity for sharing this recipe!

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Sweet Cherry Tomato Basil Pesto Sauce on Farfalle Pasta

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Tiny little tomatoes!  "Sweet 100" tomatoes!  We just can't get enough of these little red rubies in the garden!  We planted only one plant of this variety last year and loved them SO much, that we planted four plants this year.  Oh my goodness, what was I even thinking about?  I'm going to have to back off next year, because this variety is true to its name:  Very SWEET and continually bearing hundreds of little tomatoes.  The plants grew so fast, and with so many on each plant, that the tomatoes are dropping off faster than I can keep up with harvesting them.  I've been giving them to friends though, as well as our dogs who love them as a snack (our vet approves too).  I've already made three batches of this sauce and several other standby recipes (look under tomatoes on the sidebar), and those tomato plants are still producing these little guys!

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This recipe requires roasting the tomatoes which really enhances their sweetness and brings out their flavor!  You don't have to peel them either which keeps things very simple!  While the roasting is going on in the oven (or on the grill inside a veggie basket) you prepare a quick and easy basil pesto sauce to toss the cooked tomatoes in.  Then toss on top of your favorite pasta and serve!  DONE in no time at all!

This recipe is extremely versatile as well.  Not only can you serve this as an entree/main dish, but you can also serve it as a side dish, AND as an appetizer on top of crostini as you would do with bruschetta.  You can make this ahead of time as well for any of the above situations and that's a big plus! 

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Tomatoes growing nearly out of control on the vine!

One or two of the basil crop in the garden

Just one morning's harvest . . . seriously, just one.  This amount is picked daily!

Sweet Cherry Tomato - Basil Pesto Sauce on Farfalle Pasta

1  - 2 pounds fresh, ripe red cherry tomatoes (we use Sweet 100's)

1 - 2 tsp. olive oil

Sea salt

20 - 30 leaves fresh basil

2 Tbsp. freshly grated Parmesan cheese

3 cloves of garlic, minced

2 Tbsp. olive oil

Pour olive oil onto a baking pan.  

Place the cherry tomatoes on the baking pan and roll them around to coat the tomatoes.

Sprinkle the sea salt lightly over the tomatoes.

Roast the tomato/olive oil/sea salt mixture in a 350 degree oven for 20 minutes.

In the meantime, have a deep pot of water boiling to cook your pasta.  

Cook pasta in the boiling water for the amount of time necessary for 'al dente' doneness.

While the tomatoes are roasting in the oven, prepare the basil sauce.

In a mini food processor, chop up the basil leaves (stems removed).

Add the garlic, olive oil, and grated Parmesan cheese.

Chop for another 30 seconds.

Put the warm roasted tomatoes in a large fry pan.

Add the basil/pesto sauce to the tomatoes in the pan.

Blend gently.

Drain cooked pasta.

Place in a pretty serving dish.

Pour the tomato/basil sauce on top.

Garnish and serve!

On a baking sheet, pour olive oil to coat it, then put your tomatoes on top and give them a swirl to dress them with the olive oil.

Aren't they beautiful?

Chop up the basil (in a mini food processor here), add olive oil, Parmesan cheese, and garlic.

Pour the basil pesto sauce onto the roasted tomatoes in a large frying pan.  Cook on medium for only enough time to heat the basil/pesto sauce through.

Mix it all up during the cooking process.

Serve over your favorite pasta shape......I used farfalle (bow ties) for this dish.
Just beautiful color!  The aroma of this is just incredible too!.

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Garden Fresh Marinara Sauce

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Oh my my!  It surely is fresh tomato time here, as it is in many parts of the country, I'm sure!  So what do you do with all of your tomatoes?  

First thing we do on this acreage is make salsa . . . lol!  You thought that I was going to say Italian tomato sauce, huh?  Actually, we really do prepare and can our salsa first and then make the marinara sauce.  Making salsa is such a day-long affair, that I prefer to just get it out of the way and then return to preparing dishes that aren't quite so long and involved!  But I'll post that recipe later for you.  Here's a nice basic marinara sauce that you can find in so many Italian cookbooks.  I'm sure that there is a plethora of recipes on the web as well.  But we think the aroma of this blend of ingredients is sublime and divine.

If you don't have freshly ripe red tomatoes, check and see if you have a local farmers market, or some really good varieties at your grocery store, and then of course you can always beg for some from a friend who has fresh tomatoes (we get that quite a lot and end of giving half of ours away every summer).  Remember the summer when tomatoes were going for $3.00 each and some restaurants stopped serving them?  We had neighbors that we didn't even know asking for our tomatoes!

But I ramble on.  Here's the recipe for you!

(Click on 'read more' below for this wonderful marinara recipe!)

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