Mustard Crusted Tuna with Spiced Couscous

Its tuna season, at least in Bangalore it is, and there were some wonderfully fresh specimens at the store. I love the feel of tuna, its skin has this leathery quality and the entire fish glistens in the light. I also decided to filet it at home, which with tuna is such a painful task as it has these little pin bones throughout. I served it up with a yellow mustard crust and some saffron infused couscous. The mustard adds a bitter crust, so if you're not serving it with the couscous, choose something a little sweet to cut through the bitterness.

Ingredients

Tuna

• 2 skin-on filets of tuna
• 1 1/2 tsp yellow mustard seeds
• 1 tsp paprika
• 4 peppercorns
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• salt to taste

Couscous

• 1/2 cup dry instant couscous
• 1/2 cup water (or such other quantity as specified in the couscous instructions)
• 1 tbsp hot water
• 1/2 onion, filed chopped
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg powder
• 1 pinch saffron
• 4 almonds, finely chopped
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• Salt and pepper to taste

Method

1. Grind the mustard seeds, paprika and peppercorns into a fine mixture.
2. Pat dry the tuna filets and rub salt into them.
3. Place them skin side down and dust with the mustard seeds powder. Cover the flesh side evenly with the mustard powder mixture by shaking the dish.
4. Set aside for 15 minutes.
5. Heat the oil in a pan, on high heat. 
6. Once it starts smoking, reduce the heat to a medium-high and add the tuna filets skin-side down.
7. Let the skin crispen up and then flip to cook the flesh side down.
8. Once the mustard crust forms and the fish is cooked to your desired doneness (I like it well done), remove from the heat.
9. Add the saffron to the tbsp of hot water and set aside to infuse.
10. Heat the oil in a pan and add the onions.
11. Sweat out the onions till they turn translucent, then lower the heat and add the couscous.
12. Stir around to even coat the couscous and add the nutmeg powder.
13. Heat the remaining water and add the saffron liquid to it.
14. Add the hot water to the couscous and set aside for 5 minuted, covered.
15. Add the chopped almonds to the couscous and fluff it.
16. Create a bed with the couscous and place the fish on top. Serve hot, with a sprinkling of lime juice.

Baguette and Braided Bread

Warm bread lathered with fresh butter and served up with scrambled eggs; show me a person who can resist that. I left the dough to rise over-night, so it had a little sourness through it, but it can be made with just 4 hours of resting time. Also, I used a mix of wholewheat and white flour, to make just that little bit healthier. The same dough can be used to make braided bread, baguettes, pain d'epi or any other artisan bread. The preparation time is around 30 minutes for the kneading and 4 hours (minimum) to rest, and the cooking time is 25 minutes.

Ingredients

• 2 cups whole-wheat flour
• 2 cups white flour
• 1 cup luke warm water
• 1 tsp dry yeast
• 1 egg
• 1 tbsp sugar
• salt to taste

Method

1. Mix the sugar and yeast in the lukewarm water, and set aside for a few minutes.
2. When the yeast mixture starts frothing, add it to the flours and salt.
3. Make a soft dough, and knead it, punch it and roll it around to release that gluten.
4. Once the dough is elastic and contracts when stretched, roll into a ball and place in a large bowl.
5. Cover with a cloth and keep aside in a dry and cool place to rise.
6. Set aside till the dough doubles in size, about 4 hours or overnight.
7. Once the dough has doubled, punch it down and split into four equal parts.
8. Roll out the each part into any desired shape and keep aside for 30 minutes.
9. Beat the egg and once each part has doubled in size, baste with the beaten egg.
10. Place each part on a floured board and in a pre-heated oven at 190C.
11. Cook for 20-25 minutes, till the bread gets a golden brown crust.
12. Lather with butter and serve up warm with soup or scrambled eggs.

Pan fried Pomfret with Zucchini Couscous

Got a new camera, so have put up bigger and clearer pictures. Also finally found some cous-cous in Bangalore, so I put the two together to produce that. A fresh filet of black pomfret lightly seasoned and pan fried served on a bed of zucchini couscous with some lemon juiced on top. You can use any firm white fleshed fish, I used pomfret as it adds sweetness and remains moist through the frying process. A thin bottom feeder, like sole is ideal for such pan frying as it skin crispens up beautifully. I rehydrated the couscous in chicken stock to add flavour, but ordinary salted water or vegetable stock can be used as well. This is quite literally a 15 minute dish, with the preparation taking around 10 minutes and the cooking another 5 minutes.

Ingredients

Fish

• 2 filets of black pomfret with skin
• 1 tsp paprika
• flour for dusting
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 tbsp butter

Cous-cous

• 3/4 cup dry couscous
• 3/4 cup chicken stock (or as per package instructions)
• 1/2 cup chopped zucchini
• Juice of 1 lemon

Method

1. Wash and pat dry the fish filets, and add the paprika, salt and pepper to the flesh side of the filets.
2. Rub the seasonings into the flesh of the fish and dust with flour.
3. Rub a little salt on the skin side of the fish.
4. Spread the flour on the fish and set aside for 10 minutes.
5. The flour and salt will pull some water out of the fish to make firmer.
6. Heat the oil in a pan.
7. When the oil begins to smoke, lower the heat to a moderate-high heat and add the butter.
8. Stir and melt the butter, and once the froth subsides add the fish, skin side down to the pan.
9. Shake a pan slightly to make sure the fish does not stick and then leave it on a moderate-high heat for 3-4 minutes.
10. Once the skin has crispened, gently flip the fish onto the flesh side.
11. Cook for another 2-3 minutes, until the fish is cooked through.
12. Remove from the pan and save the butter-oil mixture.
13. Heat the chicken stock and add it to the couscous, cover and set aside to rehydrate for 5 minutes.
14. Fry the zucchini in the butter-oil liquid (add a tbsp more oil in case the fish absorbs most of the oil), to soften and cook through.
15.  Mix the rehydrated couscous with the zucchini and create a bed of the couscous on a plate.
16. Place the fish over the couscous and dress with the lemon juice.