Easy Asian Style Tuna Sashimi

Recipe: Tuna Sashimi Recipe »

This Tuna Sashimi Recipe is a delicious way to serve up fresh sashimi grade tuna so that it tastes like it came from a restaurant. Tuna sashimi is dressed in an easy namh jim and coconut dressing with fresh herbs and crispy shallots on top. You won't believe how deliciously easy this is! I promise there will be nothing left on the plate when you try this tuna sashimi recipe.

I first tried this tuna sashimi at Signal Box restaurant in Newcastle. It was so good that even after visiting around 8 places, we all devoured the plate of this. That's how you know something is good because we were all very full but found ourselves compulsively helping ourselves to piece after piece of this. Then Chef Dan James was kind enough to share the recipe with me!

10 Helpful Tips For Making Tuna Sashimi

1 - I make a big batch of the nahm jim dressing a few days before as I use it for salad dressings. The dressing isn't Dan's recipe but mine. I used my namh jim as it's simplified but the rest is his recipe. Usually nahm jim is made with tamarind but I wanted it to keep a clear look to it so I used more lime juice. It is probably a bit easier to find limes than tamarind for some people too.

2 - It's a very small amount of coconut cream needed but you can get those tiny triangles of coconut cream at Asian grocery stores too. But this is so delicious that you may find yourself making this more than you anticipate! We made 4 batches of this we loved it so much.

3 - Sashimi tuna isn't an inexpensive cut so it's not strictly a budget dish but the sashimi tuna cost $11 and I had the rest of the ingredients so compare that to what you might pay at a restaurant.

4 - Don't forget the salt - I only make a point of this as I forgot it once and it wasn't as delicious.

5 - You can use any sashimi - salmon, tuna, kingfish, cobia or snapper works well for this.

6 - Mirin can be found in the Japanese section of the supermarket or at an Asian grocery store along with palm sugar and crispy shallots.

7 - I use Thai palm sugar for this rather than the darker Malaysian gula melaka palm sugar. This is best finely shaved so that it can dissolve in the lime juice and fish sauce. If you can't access palm sugar you can also use caster or superfine sugar.

8 - You can cut the lime leaves with a pair of scissors or a knife. Fresh makrut lime leaves are available at the supermarket.

9 - I plated this a few different ways. One way was just laying out the slices on a plate. Another was using a metal collar to create a ring design.

10 - Needless to say but sashimi needs to be kept cold and I serve it straight away while the onions are crispy!

If you love tuna sashimi then give this salmon sashimi pizza a try. It's super easy! Or try this seared tuna tataki recipe a go or this Sicilian fresh tuna pasta that also uses sashimi grade tuna.

Tuna Sashimi Recipe

An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott, adapted from Dan James of Signal Box

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 0 minutes

• 200g/7ozs tuna sashimi slices (ask the fishmonger to slice it)
• 3 makrut lime leaves
• 15g/0.5oz crispy shallots
• Small handful of fresh coriander leaves
• Sea salt

Namh Jim Dressing

• 30ml/1floz lime juice
• 15ml/0.5floz fish sauce
• 20g/1.4ozs palm sugar, shaved (Thai, not Malaysian) or regular caster/superfine sugar
• 2 tablespoons green shallots or chives, finely sliced
• 1-2 small red chillies (depending on how hot you like it)

Coconut Dressing

• 25ml/1floz coconut cream
• 10ml/0.3floz mirin

Step 1 - First make the nahm jim so that the sugar has time to dissolve. Mix the lime juice, fish sauce, finely shaved palm sugar, green shallots/chives and red chilli together. You can make this 1-2 day ahead of time and keep it in the fridge.

Step 2 - Mix the coconut cream and mirin together in a small bowl.

Step 3 - Lay out the tuna sashimi slices on a plate and drizzle the coconut sauce on top. Then top with the nahm jim. Take a pair of scissors and fold over the lime leaf so that it is double the thickness and cut it very thinly - don't use the spine of the leaf. Sprinkle on top of the fish. Add coriander leaves and season generously with sea salt (don't forget this, it won't sing with flavour without it) and then finish with crispy shallots and serve.

What did you do on your Easter long weekend (which feels like so long ago now)? On Good Friday we went mushroom foraging as the slightly cooler weather signals saffron milk cap mushroom season and finished with this tuna sashimi for dinner that took less than 10 minutes to put together. On Saturday we went out for lunch with Monica in Barangaroo and we had friends over on Easter Monday for pizza. In between this time I spent the rest of the time reading a book.

It has been so long since I've read a book from cover to cover and it felt like a total luxury. Most weekends are spent doing things that you didn't have time to do during the week and having these 4 days was so lovely.

So tell me Dear Reader, what did you do over the long weekend? Do you put aside time for reading? Please give me your fiction or non fiction book recommendations!