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Sometimes, you want a little heat with your tuna steak. Sure, it’s great seasoned with the classic lemon, garlic, herb combination or served simply with salt, pepper, and a little citrus. However, a spicy kick brings the whole experience to the next level, especially if you avoid mistakes like over-marinating as you prep the fish. You can add spice in a lot of different ways – creamy sriracha sauce, cayenne pepper, or even fresh jalapeño slices. But the next time you want to zhuzh up your tuna steaks, try adding some harissa.
Harissa is a red chile paste from North Africa, used in all sorts of African, Middle Eastern, and Mediterranean recipes. It’s made from dried red chile peppers combined with a few other ingredients like garlic, herbs, and lemon. Found at major retailers like Walmart and sold as a powder or a paste, like New York Shuk’s Signature Harissa, it’s smoky and spicy, with a bright undertone of lemon — a perfect combination of flavors for fresh tuna. A healthy coat of harissa will deliver a unique, smoldering, spicy kick, and its deep red color will give your fish an attractive, ruddy hue.
How harissa takes your tuna to the next level
Harissa could be your next secret to grilling tuna steaks like a pro. It adds its own flavors to the fish, but the paste also helps create a crust by holding together spices and herbs on the top of the tuna, like coriander, cumin, caraway seeds, crushed black pepper, sesame seeds, or crushed nuts like pistachios. You can check out our tuna steak seasoning techniques for tips on creating that thick crust on your fish steaks.
Harissa doesn’t just go well with whole tuna steaks; it adds a delicious, smoky kick to the fish any way you eat it. The combination is great in a sandwich, especially if you shred the tuna and then add some kalamata olives, thinly sliced tomato, hard-boiled egg, a little mayo, and some onion. Harissa tuna is also great in a light stew alongside new potatoes and fresh tomatoes. Add it to bowtie pasta for an easy and beautiful smoky, zesty, and spicy tuna salad, or go big with a harissa and tuna casserole with layers of potato, aromatics, tuna, harissa, olives, eggs, and tomatoes cooked in a baking pan.
However you choose to serve harissa-spiced tuna, don’t forget to prep yourself or your guests with an appetizer or two. Stick to the theme with spicy tuna wontons — created by spooning some cubed and spiced raw tuna on top of wontons, with a dollop of mayo-harissa-lime sauce.
