This spicy tuna avocado tower is a show stopper with so many possibilities. Serve as a Christmas Eve fish course, appetizer or add another layer and call it an entree. The combination of the spicy mayo mixed with sushi grade tuna, avocado and the crunchiness of the fried wontons…..hit all the notes.
Spicy Tuna Avocado Towers
Makes 2-4 towers
1 cup avocado or vegetable oil
8-16 wonton wrappers
½ teaspoon kosher salt
1 lb sushi-grade ahi tuna, diced into small ½ inch pieces (can be left raw, I choose to sear for a few minutes…keeping the center raw))
2 ripe avocados, diced into ½ inch pieces
SPICY MAYO
1/8 cup mayonnaise
1-2 tablespoons sriracha, to taste
Juice of half of lemon
2 teaspoons sesame oil
Sesame seeds, finely sliced green onions, for garnish
- Heat avocado or vegetable oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Fry wontons, one or two at a time, for 10 seconds, then use tongs to flip the wontons over and fry for another 10 seconds, until the wontons are browned and bubbly. To garnish: cut thin strips of the wontons and fry quickly, remove from pan and add salt.
- Place the fried wontons on a paper towel-lined plate, then sprinkle wontons with a pinch of salt. Repeat these steps until all wontons are fried.
- In my rendition, I seared the tuna in the same pan with Avocado oil. 1 to 2 minutes per side depending on the thickness. Should be rare in the center.
- In a medium bowl, mix together the ingredients for the spicy mayo and set aside.
- In a large bowl, gently mix together the diced tuna and avocado. Then dollop two spoonfuls of the spicy mayo and gently mix in, adding more if desired to coat the fish and avocado to taste.
Serve
- On a plate, place one of the wonton wrappers and then top it with the spicy tuna mixture, making that layer as even as possible so the next wonton will sit as flat as possible. Top the spicy tuna later with another wonton, then top that with more spicy tuna, and repeat until you have about 3-4 wontons used. Make yours as tall as desired. I used just 2 wontons.
- Top the last wonton with the spicy tuna mix. Garnish with sesame seeds, and thin strips of wontons.
- Serve immediately, as the wontons will get soggy. Adapted from: Sweet Tea and Thyme
