Chargrilled Tuna with Pan fried Zucchini, Tomatoes and Olives served with Buttered Saffron Rice

I love seafood, but living in the middle of Germany, "seafood" is usually defined as fish and "fresh fish" usually means flash frozen ones that travelled about 6 hours in a truck from the coast after perhaps 4 hours of processing. Seafood that in Singapore would have been held by the tail, prodded with a stick and scoffed at. But once in a while, I get my hands on some really fresh, good quality (need I say) expensive fish which gets me all jittery and excited at the same time because for one - how will I cook this? and for two - will my kids eat this? And so out come the cookbooks and this one was inspired by Jamie Oliver's Char Grilled Tuna with Vegetables. I always have zucchini in my fridge as this versatile vegetable can be something crunchy (like in a salad), or something crispy (like encrusted in a parmesan crust and baked) or something sweet and saucy like how it was transformed as part of a vegetable dish to accompany the fresh tuna that I was afraid of. It was totally freestyle cooking on a Saturday evening when the whole family was at home. So with the hubs taking care of the bubs for the next half hour (I timed it - it was almost leisurely cooking when I did not have to attend to the kids!), let the tuna transformation begin!

For the Chargrilled Tuna

• 2 fresh, good quality tuna steaks from a sustainable source
• 2 tablespoons of fresh orange juice
• 2 tablespoons of salty soya sauce

For the Pan-fried Vegetables in Sauce

• 1 zucchini/courgette or other green vegetables like broccoli, leek or asparagus, cut slanted or lengthwise for a longish shape
• 3-4 tomatoes, quartered
• A handful of olives, left whole
• 1/2 an onion, sliced
• 1 or 2 cloves of garlic, mashed with the back of the knife and minced
• 2 tablespoons of fresh orange juice
• 2 tablespoons of water
• Salt and black pepper shakes for seasoning

For the Buttered Saffron rice

• 1/2 an onion, diced as small as you want
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil
• 1 tablespoon of butter (or Ghee, that lovely clarified butter that you can probably get from an Asian supermarket if you are in Europe or the US or Australia since that is where many of my readers come from! Besides Singapore of course - but you, my fellow Singaporeans, should know what Ghee is!)
• 1 big mug of fragrant Thai jasmine rice
• 2 big mugs of water
• A pinch of saffron
• A pinch of salt

Take a deep breath, Ready? Set. Go!

Actually it is not that difficult, lah (A Singaporean suffix, this "lah". Kinda like the Canadian "eh" or the Chinese "hor", this I-would-say "non-word" emphasises a sentence in a colloquial way, unique to that country, but I digress. Malaysians, please don't hit me).

For the Chargrilled Tuna

Marinate the fish steaks for at least 15 minutes. Then heat a pan until really hot, add the tuna steaks and chargrill them on one side for about a minute. Then flip and do the same to the other side. I like the tuna to be still pink inside so that was enough for me. And since my children are already eating sashimi from the tender age of 1, I am sure they will not complain about eating slightly-pink-in-the-inside tuna. But if you are not like me and your kids are not like mine, feel free to cook the tuna to your degree of doneness.

Cover the tuna and set aside. When cool, slice it lengthwise to be piled on top of the vegetables.

For the Buttered Saffron Rice

Add olive oil and butter or Ghee, the clarified butter to a heated pan and add onions and garlic with a pinch of salt to prevent them from burning. Then pour in the rice and mix the grains around to coat them in the buttery garlicky oil. Oh good heavens, the smell should be heady and appetising by now. When the rice is making crackling and popping sounds, add all the water and let it boil, covered. Take a little bit of the water and add the saffron to it, making a saffron infusion. Add the saffron infusion back into the rice. Check and stir frequently to make sure that the water has not dried yet. Once it does (about 15 minutes on medium heat), turn off the heat, stir and fluff it up with a fork. Cover the pan, but not completely, leaving a space for the steam to escape and fluff up the rice even more.

For the Pan Fried Vegetables in Sauce

Add the onions and the garlic to a pan of heated olive oil (or your preferred vegetable oil), with a pinch of salt, of course. When they are wilted with the smell wafting up, add the rest of the vegetables and cook until they are semi-soft. Then add in the orange juice and some water if you want more sauce. Prick the tomatoes to let the juice out and let them mingle with the other liquids to make a heady sauce. Season and let your tastebuds tingle.

To serve

Pile the rice on your plate and then pile the vegetables and lastly, the tuna slices on top. Savour every spoonful of the buttery tuna and let the fragrant saffron rice envelope your senses. And finally, enjoy your meal and don't forget to congratulate yourself for doing justice to this beautiful fish.