While Tartare is often associated with finely chopped raw beef, at fine dining restaurants, it’s more common made with fish. Fish tartare is simple to make and incredibly good value compared to dining out. At a restaurant in Sydney, this plate of Tuna Tartare would cost at least $40 – probably more!
Such as with Ceviche and Poke Bowls, this can be made with any sashimi-grade sparkling fresh fish suitable for raw consumption.
Tuna Tartare
I wish I could pass out samples of this through my computer screen so you can taste it. I really hope that you try this at least once in your lifetime because I promise, it is something really special.
The combination of finely chopped raw tuna, sweet juicy lychees, creamy avocado and the zing from lime is magical. It’s fresh but creamy, light but indulgent, sweet but tangy. The softness of the tartare makes it perfect for piling onto crunchy crostini. Every single bite is just heaven.
And it’s so easy to make. And I know you don’t believe me, but it’s incredible value too! The two “expensive” ingredients in this are the sashimi-grade tuna and lychees.
But here’s the thing. You don’t need much of them! Seriously. That generous pile you see in the photo above is made with just 200g/7oz of tuna and 7 lychees. All the ingredients for this recipe cost me A$17 (A$17.65, to be exact), and it serves 4 to 6 as an appetiser. I’m in Sydney, Australia, which is one of the most expensive cities in the world, so chances are it will cost you less (relatively speaking).
Just look at it! The soft tartare piled on crunchy crostini….You want to reach in and grab a piece, don’t you? Come on, admit it!! 😉
The lychees. That’s what takes this from yummy to extra special. You don’t need much, a little goes a long way because they’re so juicy and sweet.
When I start seeing lychees, I know summer is just around the corner. Do you know what lychees are? They are slightly smaller than a golf ball and have a blush red rind. They’re easy to peel and the flesh is white and very juicy. It tastes like a grape – but better. Much better!
Aren’t they beautiful? So pretty!
It’s funny how particular foods bring back memories. Lychees always reminds me of rafting trips. I have a crazy adventure friend who roped me into a rafting trip down the crocodile infested Fitzroy River in the Kimberly’s (way out in the isolated outback of Western Australia). I have one particular memory of a crocodile resting on a rock in the middle of a rapid we had to go down and I was absolutely convinced I was going to be hurled into the water and eaten alive. That’s me on the left in the raft on the photo below. Clinging onto the raft for dear life while the boys did all the work! 😉
I was also convinced that I would be a midnight snack for crocs. We’d shine our head torches onto the river and see dozens of red eyes (being our torches reflecting off the crocodile eyes). So creepy! So I made sure to camp well away from the edge of the river, somewhere I was convinced the crocs could not get to. Like in the photo above – up nice and high on a rock!
I know you’re wondering what on earth this has to do with lychees! Well, put it this way. Now that I’ve described how “hard core adventure” this trip was, is it any surprise to you that we celebrated surviving every day on the river with lychee cocktails? 😉
We didn’t have fresh lychees. We had to take all our food for 3 weeks, cookware, personals, sleeping gear, not to mention safety gear on rafts and we were in 104F/40C+ scorching heat every day. Fresh lychees would not have survived 30 minutes!
So we had to make do with tinned lychees, but they were nowhere near as delicious as fresh ones and our daily cocktail sessions would have been made that much better had we been able to enjoy beautiful lychees, fresh from the tree!!!
PS Seriously. As a girl. Do you know how HARD it was to pack for this trip? You see those red waterproof bags below? We each shared one of those for our personals. Including sleeping bags! For THREE weeks!!
PPS For the Aussies reading this, don’t you just love that we somehow “found room” for a couple of cases of VB? 😉
So every time I see lychees, it reminds me of that trip. And the other standout memory from that trip is freshwater barramundi (“barra”!). Freshwater barra is pretty darn special because it’s only found in a few remote areas in Australia. High end restaurants in Sydney pay an absolute fortune for fresh (rather than frozen) freshwater barra.
Well, let me tell you. Sunset and sundown, there were schools of giant barramundi rushing down the river and the guys were catching them as quickly as they could reel them in. It was a sight to see, that’s for sure!!
Suffice to say, we were enjoying fresh barra for breakfast, lunch and dinner. YES we had sashimi!! We even had soy sauce and wasabi with us in the hope of catching barra!!!
So this Tuna Tartare with Lychees recipe I’m sharing today is inspired by this incredible rafting trip in the Kimberly’s. Sashimi grade freshwater barramundi is a premium fish that’s generally not available to ordinary folk like me, it’s reserved for posh restaurants. So I used tuna, which is much more readily available.
But just like with other raw fish dishes like Ceviche and Poke Bowls, you can make this with any sashimi grade fish you want. It just has to be sashimi grade fish, which means fresh, fresh, fresh!!! Most fish mongers have a sign indicating which fish are sashimi-grade. If not, just ask them which fish are “sashimi-grade”.
I feel like I say those words a lot to my local fish monger. I’m sure he will agree. 😉
I hope you enjoy! – N x
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Tuna Tartare with Lychees
Ingredients
- 200 g/7oz sashimi grade tuna (or any other sashimi grade fish) (Note 1)
- 7 lychees , fresh (Note 2)
- 1 1/2 tbsp large red chili (not a spicy one), very finely diced (Note 3)
- 1/4 cup red onion , very finely diced
- 1 1/2 tbsp coriander/cilantro leaves , finely chopped
- 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil , plus extra
- 3 tbsp lime juice , plus extra
- 1/2 small avocado , diced (~ 1/2 cup)
- Salt and pepper
To serve
- Sliced sourdough baguette , toasted
- Extra coriander/cilantro leaves
- Lime wedges
Instructions
- Freeze tuna for 20 minutes – just to firm. Slice into 3mm / 1/8″ strips, then cut those strips into 3mm / 1/8″ cubes. Place in a bowl.
- Peel the lychees, then finely dice the flesh and add into the bowl (Note 4). Scrape the juices that pool on the cutting board into the bowl too – don’t waste a drop!
- Add the chili, onion and coriander, olive oil and lime juice into the bowl. Season with a generous pinch of salt and a good grind of pepper.
- Use your fingers to toss together gently. Taste and adjust olive oil, lime and salt to taste.
- Pile on a platter, top with avocado and garnish with coriander/cilantro leaves. Drizzle with more olive oil. Serve immediately (Note 5), with toasted bread and extra lime wedges.
Recipe Notes:
More recipes to make using sparkling fresh fish
Yuuuuuummmm! Fresh lychees are my favourite fruit but in a million years I’d never have thought of pairing them with sashimi and now I’m wondering why not. Such a pretty plate of food – I don’t think I’d be sharing that with anyone 🙂
Gosh Nancy, thank you!!! Aren’t lychees the best? I could eat them all day!! N x
You know you couldn’t be more right, sometimes we eat very expensive posh food at restaurants and you later find out you can make the same thing in your kitchen for less. Your tuna tartare looks 7 star!! well done
PS: Your rafting trip story just makes me want to pack right now, i have Australia on my travel bucket list!!
I think you need to move Australia to the TOP of your bucket list!!! 🙂
This sounds wonderful, though it won’t get made here because my husband would not eat it. Lychees are my #3 favorite fruit. #1 is rambutan, #2 is mangosteen. One of my memories of a day trip my girlfriend and I took when we spent some time in Bangkok was seeing roadside stands piled very high with lychees and/or ugli fruit. Nice memories. Too bad we can’t get those wonderful fruits fresh here.
I love hearing tidbits of your travels Susan!!! And rambutan and mangosteen are your favourite fruits??? You have incredible taste Susan!! 🙂
Woahhh would never have thought to pair lychees with tuna!! Brilliant. I LOVE LOVE LOVE tuna tartar – it’s my all time favorite appetizer and I need to try this with lychees. By the way I love how on your 3 week camping trip you still managed to have nightly lychee martinis — that’s my kind of camping!!! Sound like an epic trip. I know all about the torture of backing light — my bf and I lived out of backpacks for 2 years when we backpacked around Europe and Asia so I know how annoying packing light is!!
OK, you are tougher than me, I have never backpacked for that long!!! Roughing it in the outback is VERY different to backpacking in my books! I’d rather sleep on dirt any day!! 🙂
I have a confession to make. I loathe lychees! Aside from my personal tastes, this look spectacular, Nagi!
I still can’t get over that you loathe lychees…..having said that though, I am pretty sure you have much fancier ways of making tartare!! :0 N x
Hi Nagi! This looks incredibly delicious! I have never seen fresh lychees, only canned. 🙁 I’m sure they don’t grow in TN!
Thanks Dorothy!! No lychees, even in SUMMER?? Lychees are definitely grown in the southern states of America!! 🙂 N x
It looks fantastic. Yes I would try it and I would definitely make it. The tuna would not be hard to find — the lychees are a different story living in the Midwest. But where there is a will . . . I loved your story about your trip. You certainly have more intestinal fortitude than I do. And my idea of roughing it is being able to take only two suitcases and no hairdryer. Yep thats rough!! New Years would be a good time to try this recipe!! Oh and have some nice bubbly to go along with it. Have a great weekend!!
Ba ha ha!! You CRACK me up Marisa!!! TWO suitcases??? If I take 2 suitcases, one is empty on the way there and filled with food on the way back!!!
Nagi!!! OMG Still looks so fantastic!!! SO SO SO fantastic! Lychee and tuna?!? It does sound very fancy! Tartar must be one of my favorite dishes to order anywhere and you are so right about the price!! It IS actually way cheaper to make it at home! And you are and your gators!
THANK YOU Mila! Always means so much when you *approve* of something I share, being the chef you are!! 🙂 N x
This looks amazing Nagi, your photos are beauitful like alwatsm but I´m not so sure about the raw tuna…. I know my daughter will gobble this up in seconds.. but me on the otherhand I like my fish cooked…. 🙂 😉
No sushi???!!!!
Yes.. I use to really like sushi, especially with salmon and avo, but since my pregancy with my son, Luca, 5 years ago, I just can´t stomach it!! 🙁
“like always”
Hi Nagi, I always love to read your recipe ideas. I run a hotel too. One important issue I do have. Tuna fish and other things are environmentally an issue. We try very hard to find alternatives to wanted food for our guest. Just an input as our seas are not doing good at all incl. the rest of our planet. I think it is very very important that our kitchen start to cook from locally sourced food.
thanks and happy holidays…
I agree Kevin. I’ve actually been thinking about doing a series on sustainable seafood recipes!! What do you think?? So many people just don’t know how to prepare sardines, as an example 🙂
Nagi you have outdone yourself! Tuna tartare is something I have wanted to try for the longest time, and you have fully convinced me to go ahead and try it – the pairing with avocado and lychees is phenomena, and your photos just make me want to reach in and grab a piece (or the whole plate, to be honest!. Your rafting trip sounds like SO much fun too, and a true Aussie experience (so true about the VBs!!). Hope you have a lovely weekend – as for me, I need to go and hunt myself down some sashimi grade fish asap! <3
Thanks sweetie! It really is a fab pairing of flavours 🙂 I hope you have a MERRY CHRISTMAS Claudia!! N x