Guam has a hyperactive barbecue scene, with an annual festival that gives away tens of thousands of dollars in prize money. No family or social event is complete without the firing up of a grill (often half of a 55-gallon drum). Given Guam's proximity to the Philippines and Japan, it comes as no surprise that soy sauce, ginger, and wasabi should figure prominently in the local grilling. Here's the Pacific Island version of a grilled blackened tuna from my Guamanian barbecue buddy, Steven Cruz. The tuna is crusted with Old Bay seasoning. (OK, it's a long way from Baltimore to Guam, but apparently this Maryland seafood seasoning enjoys great popularity on the island.) Ginger, wasabi, and chiles give the dipping sauce a triple blast of heat.
Ingredients
Serves 4
For the Dipping Sauce
For the Tuna
Advance Preparation
Step 1
1. Prepare the dipping sauce: If you are using powdered wasabi, place it in a mixing bowl and add 1 tablespoon of warm water. Stir to form a paste and let stand for about 5 minutes. If you are using wasabi paste, place it in a mixing bowl. Grate the ginger on a fine grater into the bowl; you should have about 1 tablespoon. Cut the lemon in half and cut a thin slice off one half. Cut the slice in quarters, remove any seeds, and set the lemon quarters aside for garnishing the sauce. Squeeze the juice from the remaining lemon into the bowl, squeezing it through your fingers to catch any seeds. Add the soy sauce, scallion, and chile and stir to mix well. Divide the sauce among 4 small bowls. Float a quarter lemon slice in each bowl. The dipping sauce can be prepared up to 1 hour ahead.
Step 2
2. Prepare the tuna: Place the tuna steaks on a large plate and thickly crust them with cracked peppercorns, pressing the pepper onto the fish on both sides and the edges. Generously season the tuna with Old Bay seasoning and salt. Place the olive oil in a shallow bowl.
Step 3
3. Set up the grill for direct grilling and preheat it to high.
Step 4
4. When ready to cook, brush and oil the grill grate. Dip each piece of tuna in the olive oil on both sides, then arrange it on the hot grate. The dripping oil may and should cause flare-ups—it's supposed to. The flames will help sear the crust. Grill the tuna until it is dark and crusty on the outside but still very rare inside, 2 to 3 minutes per side, turning with tongs. When done the tuna should feel quite soft when poked.
Step 5
5. Transfer the grilled tuna steaks to a cutting board and cut them into 1/4-inch slices. Cut down through the steaks, holding the blade perpendicular to the cutting board. Each slice will have a dark crusty exterior and a blood-rare center. Fan out the slices on a platter or plates. Garnish the tuna with lemon or lime wedges and serve the bowls of dipping sauce alongside.
Guamanians would use a slender red chile called donne. A Thai chile or serrano pepper would work well.
How would you rate Guam "Volcano" Tuna (Pepper-Crusted Tuna with Ginger-Wasabi Dipping Sauce)?
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Reviews (14)
Back to TopAwesome! As per other reviewers suggestions I didn't salt the tuna and radically cut back on the soy sauce within the dip (to make up for some of the missing liquidity, I added a bit of rice vinegar which IMO worked well). Served with bok choy seasoned with garlic, ginger, and gochugaru - brown rice on the side. YUM!
Nutellaluvr
Calgary, AB
2/12/2018
Couldnt be any easier to make. I love tuna and I will be adding this to my tuna rotation. I put no salt on the tuna and low sodium soy and it tasted quite nice. I would make it again!!
lazy_chef_
Atlanta
6/17/2013
Too much sodium in this recipe. Next time I'll skip salting the tuna as there is plenty in the dipping sauce.
Anonymous
6/7/2013
This was very good but I agree that the dipping sauce was much too salty. The next time I make it I will try replacing some or all of the soy sauce with dark soy sauce. It's sweeter and thicker than the standard soy sauce we see on American supermarket shelves. I buy it at our local Asian market where there is an enormous variety of soy sauces. I also read online that there are a couple of Indonesian soy sauces that are sweet or semi sweet.
Anonymous
DC Area
10/18/2012
I made this and had to check the recipe. I used low sodium soy sauce and found the dipping sauce to be so salty!!
Anonymous
8/4/2011
Easy to make and so enjoyable! This kind of recipe is very forgiving if you're missing fresh lemon, the right kind of chile, or have no Old bay seasoning. I used bottled lemon juice, a jalapeno and made my own spice blend based on Old Bay. I used far less pepper than called for, advised from other reviews. I cooked the tuna in cast iron and even at two minutes, it was just slightly overcooked. The flavor and heat were perfect. I served this with sumeshi and a kohlrabi salad.
eggpoet
8/3/2011
I used previously frozen Tuna and it was as good as any that I have had out in top notch restaurants. I think I used a bit too much salt though, next time I would skip the salt on the tuna and it would be perfect with just the dipping sauce drizzled over it.
Anonymous
Jensen Beach Fl
6/13/2011
简单!烤它grill Pan on stove. Turned out restaurant quality.
Anonymous
Atlanta
12/30/2010
not very good. too much pepper, too much wasabi in sauce. definetly low sodium soy sauce too. ruined perfectly good tuna
vader69
7/25/2010
This was very delicious, the pepper crust gave it a nice kick. The dipping sauce was also very flavorful and you could really taste the lemon. I didn't add the hot chile- I did red pepper flakes and might go with the recommended chile next time. I also overcooked the tuna slightly, about three minutes on each side- next time will probably do closer to two.
lmehringer
Boston, MA
6/24/2010
This tuna turned out perfect! It was definitely spicy! I didn't have grill to cook it on so I used my George Foreman :) Instead of closing the Foreman, I left it open and cooked the tuna a few minutes on either side. It surprisingly turned out great! I had some left over tuna, so I'm going to use it for over a salad. Yum!
bleueyedkate
Salt Lake City, UT
6/10/2010
Fast dish and not a spicy as you might expect. Good with a side vegetable salad. I added a little extra wasabi. The hardest part was the peppering, all of the eaters commented that it could use about half the pepper. I still thought it was fine, I think the 4-6 tablespoons could be 3-6.
zylvere
Cleveland, oh
6/6/2010
Excellent flavor. Cooking time too long for my grill however. Definitely a do over. Just less time on the heat or even thicker tuna. Dipping sauce was fantastic!
mendy
maine
5/20/2010
Wonderful! I pulverized my peppercorns in my coffee grinder, next time I'll buy "cracked". I used 2t Himalania Salt instead of Kosher but will try Kosher next time. Will make again.
Anonymous
Indianapolis
5/15/2010
