Fresh Crispy Tuna Cakes

We bought fresh tuna steaks from the seafood market a couple weeks ago and promptly froze them for later use.  Today, inspiration hit, and we grabbed one of the steaks for tuna cakes paired with yellow rice and creamy snow peas.

Ingredients

• Tuna steak (1/2 lb)
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 hot pepper, chopped finely
• 2-3 t season salt (or Old Bay)
• 1/4 t pepper flakes
• 1/2 t Sriracha
•  1/4 t Worcestershire sauce
• 1 T mayonnaise (Japanese or Korean - we used Kewpie)
• 1 egg
• 1/4-1/3 c bread crumbs

Recipe

• Preheat oven to 180°C (~375°F)
• Quickly sear tuna steaks.  Do not overcook.  Later, you will further cook the tuna.  If you fully cook the tuna now, the tuna cakes will be overcooked.
• Set tuna aside to cool and then shred tuna into small pieces
• Saute onions, hot pepper, and garlic until slightly tender, about 2 minutes.  
• Combine tuna, sauteed vegetables, seasoning, Sriracha, Worcestershire sauce, mayonnaise, and egg.
• Add breadcrumbs until mixture is no longer wet and sticks together
• Form 4 cakes 1 inch thick and 2-3 inches in diameter
• Heat 1/4" oil over medium heat in skillet
• Pour extra breadcrumbs in a shallow pan and bread tuna cakes in breadcrumbs
• Place tuna cakes in hot oil and fry 2-3 minutes until golden brown. Flip, flatten with spatula, and cook for additional 2-3 minutes until golden brown on all sides.
• Place tuna cakes on oven sheet and bake for 5-10 minutes until crunchy. Do not overcook.
• Remove and plate. Garnish with your favorite seafood sauce.  We made a Japanese shrimp sauce, but you can use tartar sauce, cocktail sauce, remoulade, or even ketchup.  These crab cakes would be amazing between two pieces of toasted rye.