First off, you’re going to want to read the notes on this one, because I have a lot of additional information and instructions that the recipe itself won’t include. This may be my favorite recipe I’ve made for this site, or at least tied with the enchiladas, anyway. It’s incredibly refreshing for a warm summer night, very easily customized so that non-keto family members or guests can eat it too, and every component of it tastes awesome. And while it’s not the easiest weeknight meal, it can definitely be on the table in less than an hour, and most of that time is spent chopping stuff. Plus, it’s just PRETTY.
First off, start by making the sauce to toss the tuna in. In a medium bowl, combine 1/2 cup of soy sauce, tamari, or coconut aminos with 4 teaspoons of Sukrin Gold Fiber Syrup, whisking until the syrup is no longer stuck on the bottom of the bowl. I love the Sukrin syrup for this, as I prefer honey to sugar in most sauces, but if you don’t have it, you could probably substitute the same amount of Swerve Brown. Add two teaspoons each of rice wine vinegar, sesame oil, and chili oil, and a tablespoon of chili garlic sauce. Whisk again, then add one chopped green onion and white pepper to taste. Set the bowl aside while you prepare the other ingredients.
Cut two seedless cucumbers crosswise into even pieces, then, using a vegetable peeler, peel them into ribbons into a colander over a mixing bowl. Seedless cucumbers are often known as English cucumbers, and are longer and thinner than regular cucumbers. You can’t use regular cucumbers to make this, as they have too many pulpy seeds and not enough flesh. Peel them down until you can’t peel any more without taking off part of a finger, then let them rest in the colander to drain until you’re ready to assemble the bowls.
Heat up a quarter cup of avocado oil over high heat in a stainless steel skillet. You’ll want avocado oil because it’s got a neutral flavor and a very high smoke point. Refined coconut oil will likely also work, but I haven’t tried it to figure out if it affects the overall flavor. While it’s heating, salt and pepper two or three ahi tuna fillets, about 8-12 ounces total. Sear them in the hot skillet, no more than 3 minutes per side. You’ll want to make sure they’re golden brown on the outside but still very red on the inside. If you have sushi grade ahi, you can just put it in the sauce raw instead, if you’d prefer.
When it’s finished, remove it from the skillet immediately, thinly slice it, and put it in the sauce, stirring to make sure that the slices get plenty of chili garlic sauce on them. Then begin to plate. This is where the customization can begin, depending on what you like and what your macros are. Divide the cucumber noodles evenly between plates. If your meal partner isn’t keto, you can use some cucumber noodles as a garnish for them and serve theirs over rice. Edamame is surprisingly low in carbs, so I used 1/4 cup for each plate. I love avocado, so I used an entire half of one on mine. You could add a tablespoon or so of masago or tamago if you can find it, or a bit of choppped tomato, for a nice pop of color. I didn’t have jalapenos around, but if I did, I’d probably mince one and throw it on there. Pile the tuna evenly on top of each plate, making sure that each slice is well-sauced. I made sriracha mayo with a tablespoon of mayonnaise mixed with about a teaspoon of sriracha, drizzled it on top, then put a teaspoon of Trader Joe’s wasabi mayonnaise (SO GOOD if you like wasabi) on top of the tuna. Finally, I sprinkled chopped macadamias and some black sesame seeds over everything. For my husband, who isn’t keto and doesn’t like wasabi, I gave him sticky rice instead of the cucumber ribbons, chopped up a bit of mango to add to his bowl, and he used just plain sriracha instead of the mayo.
Once you’ve gotten everything on there that you want, serve it immediately. Because of the nature of the cucumber ribbons, this isn’t really a meal that you can make ahead of time and serve later.
Seared Ahi Tuna Poke Bowl
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup soy sauce, tamari, or coconut aminos
- 4 tbsp Sukrin Gold Fiber Syrup
- 2 tsp rice wine vinegar
- 2 tsp sesame oil
- 2 tsp chili oil
- 1 tbsp chili garlic sauce
- 1 green onion chopped
- white pepper to taste
- 4 tbsp avocado oil
- 12 ounces ahi tuna
- 1/2 cup shelled edamame
- 1 medium avocado
- 2 tbsp mayonnaise
- 1 tsp sriracha
- 2 tsp wasabi mayonnaise Trader Joe's brand
- 1 ounce macadamia nuts chopped
- 1 tsp black sesame seeds
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the soy sauce, fiber syrup, rice wine vinegar, sesame oil, chili oil, chili garlic sauce, and green onion, until the syrup has dissolved. Add white pepper to taste. Set aside.
- Put a colander over a bowl. Cut off the ends from each cucumber and, using a vegetable peeler, peel ribbons lengthwise into the colander until you reach the seeded core of each cucumber or you can't hold it without slicing your fingers, whichever comes sooner. Set aside.
- Heat the avocado oil in a stainless steel skillet over high heat. Make sure the oil doesn't smoke. Lightly salt and pepper the ahi tuna and sear it in the skillet, about 2-3 minutes per side, making sure that the insides are still pink. Remove the tuna from the pan, thinly slice it, and put it in the sauce to rest.
- Put the cucumber ribbons evenly on each plate. Slice the avocado and divide evenly, putting the slices to one side of the plate. On the other side of each plate, divide the edamame. Stir the tuna in the bowl to make sure some of the sauce sticks to it, and divide it evenly down the middle of the plate. Mix together the sriracha and regular mayonnaise and drizzle it over each plate. Place a teaspoon of the wasabi mayonnaise on top of each plate. Top with chopped macadamias and black sesame seeds. Serve immediately.
- It's difficult to calculate macros for this meal, because you can't tell how much of the sauce is going to stick to the tuna. I counted half of it, and counted one tablespoon of the avocado oil used in searing, and I probably overdid it on both of those. However, as I've calculated it, the macros for this one are 750 calories, 14 grams of net carbs, 55 grams of protein, and 50 grams of fat. If these are a bit high for you, I'd suggest only using half an avocado and trying to drain as much of the sauce as possible.
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