ahi tuna salad

Looks like mah dadgum flash didn't go off.

The tuna is the type that comes frozen and vacuum packed individually. It is thawed rapidly and carefully by microwave pulses. Removed before it has a chance to cook in the slightest, and still mostly frozen. It is easier to slice that way, and it will completely thaw on its own soon enough. 

This is not the coveted bluefin tuna, which is a threatened species, and a crime against conscience if not nature to hunt down and slaughter and destroy the population just for our own incremental pleasure, and just flat bad karma besides. Ahi is yellowfin tuna, which you can see plainly ↓ is a completely different species altogether. 

This salad is a vegetable-salvaging project. The fennel, mushrooms, jalapeño, sugar peas and lettuce are all old, and they are not long for this world. It is almost a shame to match them up with this tuna, but one does what one can with what one has, and by these small sacrifices we do our part for the ideal of conservation. Shut up, we do. 

I wish there were some tamarind on hand around here. That would be nice. 

This is a pathetic wrinkled specimen of ginger root, but sometimes one just has to make do. It is either use this or toss it and use powdered ginger instead, which is its poorer second cousin, but in a case like this probably a good second choice. Or else pre-diced ginger that comes in a jar which is also a poorer second choice. Or else candied ginger which is dehydrated and sugared. Or else pickled ginger which is actually quite nice. Andf all else fails you can always try ginger ale and see how that goes. There is also dried ginger -- but what? -- are you insane?

Then the lettuce, then a quick toss.

This salad is really good even though the vegetables are not the most fresh. As I began to near the end of my plate, picking away with my chopsticks, pairing pieces of this and that with each bite as we chopstick-experts do, the anticipated finish began to develop into dread. I wanted so strongly to continue so I slowed down. And then I realized I had not filled my plate with the entire contents of the bowl and there was still some left,  my heart leapt right out of my chest and fluttered around  with happiness that I could replenish my plate. That's how delicious it is. 

If I would make this for you, I would leave out the jalapeños, or else I would trim their inner seed-bearing membrane so they are not quite so hot. I would also back off from other strong flavors or dilute the dressing with water so that all those strong flavors introduced do not predominate over the tuna so completely.