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Seared Tuna Napoleon

A layered appetizer of seared tuna, avocado, sprouts, and onion with fried wonton triangles and wasabi mayonnaise.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 21 ingredients
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Why it works: Bonito and ginger work together. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and 13 recipes mention both. Both carry 2-nonanone, which smells fruity, floral. The science ↓

The recipe

Ingredients

Contains: egg, soy, fish (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

  • Ponzu Sauce

Directions

Prepare the sauces and wontons

  1. Rehydrate wasabi in 2 tsp. of water.

  2. Mix the rehydrated wasabi with mayonnaise.

  3. Place wasabi mayonnaise in a squeeze bottle and chill.

  4. Cut the wontons in half to make triangles.

  5. Fry the wonton triangles until golden brown.

  6. Drain the wontons on towels and reserve.

  7. Mix all the ingredients of the ponzu sauce together and let stand for 24 hours, then strain.

Sear the tuna

  1. Coat tuna with chimayo pepper, thyme, and oregano.

  2. In a medium skillet, heat olive oil over high heat.

  3. When pan is very hot, add tuna and sear on each side until the seasoning is blackened but tuna remains rare in the center.

  4. Slice tuna thinly (you'll need 24 slices).

Assemble and serve

  1. Streak a round plate randomly with wasabi mayonnaise.

  2. Place a wonton triangle in the center.

  3. Layer with a slice of seared tuna, avocado, sprouts and onion.

  4. Repeat until there are three layers.

  5. Top with a mound of sprouts, and randomly streak with wasabi mayonnaise.

  6. Garnish with chopped green onions, pickled ginger, and ponzu sauce or soy sauce.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

This recipe comes from the Recipes Wiki on Fandom and is licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Our formatting and summaries are shared under the same licence.

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Bonito + gingertop 8% of all pairs
    Aroma overlaplow
    Mentioned together13 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).

  2. Thyme + oreganotop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together791 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  3. Wasabi + avocadotop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together46 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  4. Pepper + thymetop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together11,585 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  5. Thyme + olivetop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together4,641 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyl 2-methylbutyrate (apple, fatty).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Tuna steak
Forms the main protein; searing gives a blackened crust while the center stays rare.
Mayonnaise
Adds richness and moisture, carrying the wasabi heat through the wasabi mayonnaise.
Wonton wrappers
Fried until crisp, they form the crunchy base layer of each napoleon.
Avocados
Add creamy texture and fat that softens the sharpness of the wasabi and chile.
Wasabi powder
Supplies sharp, pungent heat once rehydrated into the mayonnaise.

The step that matters

Searing the tuna. Very hot pan and a short sear blacken the spiced crust while keeping the center rare. Overcooking turns the tuna firm and dry, so slice only after a brief rest.

Flavor stand-ins for the wasabi

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (wonton wrapper, pepper, thyme, oregano, olive, avocado, onion):

  1. Tomatobetter flavor fit
  2. Capsicumbetter flavor fit
  3. Carrotbetter flavor fit
  4. Wasabithe original

Fit is the average pairing score against wonton wrapper, pepper, thyme, oregano, olive, avocado, onion. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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