Black and white sesame seared tuna with homemade teriyaki and vegetables

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Mathew and I went to a great raclette dinner party last night with two lovely friends of ours. All that delicious steak and cheese went down a treat (helped along the way by some vino of course) but all the indulgence left me feeling a wee bit guilty today, so something 'good' was called for at lunch to help assuage that guilt.

I like that this dish is fresh and zingy tasting and also that it's so colourful. The trick is to blitz the broad bean and rice dressing just before you need it so it retains its colour on the plate, and to barely sear the tuna so it's still pink and jewel like inside when you cut into it.

For two:
2 fresh tuna steaks
3 heaped tablespoons each of black and white sesame seeds
2 dried chillies, crumbled
A couple of scrunches of salt
10 asparagus spears (or however many you want really)
2 vines of cherry tomatoes, still attached to the vine
150g broad beans, shelled (I use frozen ones that you boil for a few minutes, then blanch and pod)
Basmati rice, measured in a jug to 100mls
A handful each of fresh mint, basil and coriander
A thumb sized piece of ginger, grated
Juice of 2 limes
Several glugs rapeseed oil
A teaspoon toasted sesame oil
A couple of tablespoons palm sugar
75mls light soy sauce
75mls mirin
3 tablespoons brown sugar
Rapeseed oil and unsalted butter for frying

Method:
- Preheat your oven to 200 degrees
- Put a kettle on to boil
- Rice first, and this method is foolproof, guaranteed fluffy separate grains of rice every single time you cook it. Add a tablespoon rapeseed oil to a frying pan and heat on a high heat for a couple of minutes. Add a scrunch of salt to the rice in your measuring jug, then add it to the pan and stir coating all the grains in the oil. Cook on the high heat for 5 minutes continually stirring. Turn the heat down the the lowest it will go and pour twice the volume of freshly boiled water into the measuring jug the rice came from - so in this case you want 200mls water (you always use double the water to the rice), carefully add it to the pan and stir - it will sizzle and steam massively so don't burn yourself. Stir the rice in the pan and clamp the pan lid on it for 15 minutes.
- Add a drizzle of rapeseed oil and bit of butter to a roasting tin and place in the oven
- In a food processor add a few gluts of rapeseed oil, the sesame oil, sugar, fresh herbs, ginger and lime juice, don't blitz it yet, you just need to have it ready
- In a small saucepan combine the brown sugar, mirin and soy sauce and leave to cook on a low heat, you're looking for the mixture to reduce and thicken becoming very shiny, this can be sat reducing gently until the dish is ready - stir it from time to time though
- Boil your asparagus spears for 3 minutes then drain and cool in cold water, before removing and draining until dry on kitchen paper
- Take the roasting tin out of the oven and put your cherry tomatoes on it, then drizzle a bit more oil on to them and pop back into the oven
- On a plate combine the sesame seeds, dried chili and salt, mix together ready for the tuna
- Once the rice is ready remove the lid and stir it with a fork, leave it to cool slightly with the lid off
- Heat a frying pan on a high heat with some butter and rapeseed oil and when the butter begins to foam add the asparagus, cook for a couple of minutes, turning in the butter, before removing and placing in a roasting tin in the bottom of the oven to keep hot
- Take each tuna steak in turn and lay in the sesame seed mixture on both sides until they're covered, then place in the sizzling frying pan with another knob of butter
- Cook for around 1 minute before turning over - tuna really doesnt take long
- While the second side is cooking blitz the contents of the food processor until smooth, place the rice into a bowl with the shelled broad beans, then pour the aromatic dressing over them both and combine
- Remove the tuna from the pan and set aside on a chopping board
- Remove the tomatoes and asparagus from the oven and turn off the teryaki sauce
- Time to plate, the rice mixture first with the asparagus to the side along with the cherry tomatoes, slice the tuna into slender pieces and place on the top, and drizzle your teryaki over the spears and tomatoes. Eat