On a recent trip to Hawaii with my girlfriend, four women crammed into a red rental camper van, I created what quickly became my favorite tuna carpaccio recipe. It's a simple yet decedent: buttery ripe avocado, tangy passion fruit, and fresh Pacific tuna, all brought together with a generous splash of lime.
I slice the raw Pacific tuna we bought earlier thinly, doing my best to perform neat, clean cuts with the blunt chef's knife that came in our camper van dish kit. My one fried is cutting into an organic avocado the size of my two hands put together, acquired just a couple of hours ago at Hana Harvest (read more about it in my Maui travel day one itinerary!).
At the merest pressure, the avocado just breaks apart, a perfectly ripe fruit begging to be lightly seasoned with lime juice.
Meanwhile, my friends are studying the insides of our passion fruits skeptically, bought from the back of a Hawaiian truck. Full of large, dark seeds and a mushy orange pulp, they look like alien egg depositories.
"I have never tasted a passion fruit, but they look disgusting," someone says, and I just smile to myself - they do not know what's coming. I get the same reaction when I serve my passion fruit mousse, but everyone is won over once they taste it!
Our dinner that night is tuna carpaccio topped with avocado and passion fruit: 1.5lbs of raw tuna, sliced thinly into sashimi-style slices. Topped with avocado and passion fruit pulp and a liberal drizzle of lime, it is bright and silky, an explosive experience of flavour, texture and colour.
More Seafood Recipes
For more delicious seafood recipes, check out my whole fish with pomegranate molasses or Colombian whole fish. Also check out my homemade gefilte fish recipe or my pink fish tacos.
Top Tips to Choose the Right Ingredients
Use sushi-grade tuna (sometimes labeled "sashimi-grade") from a trusted fishmonger. Quality matters here!
A very sharp knife will make it easier to slice tuna thinly.
The best avocados for this recipe are Hass or Maui avocados.
When picking passion fruit, choose ones that are wrinkled and heavy.
Storing Tuna Carpaccio
Tuna carpaccio is best enjoyed immediately after assembly!
However, if you need to prepare it ahead of time, you can slice the raw tuna up to two hours in advance and store it tightly wrapped in plastic in the refrigerator to maintain its freshness.
The avocado and passion fruit mixture is best made just before serving, but if needed, it can be prepared a couple hours ahead and kept in an airtight container with a piece of plastic wrap pressed directly onto the surface to help prevent browning.
It's important not to assemble the carpaccio in advance, as the acidity from the lime and passion fruit will start to "cook" the tuna, altering its texture and flavor in a way similar to ceviche (also check out my Colombian ceviche recipe).
Recipe
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Tuna Carpaccio with Tuna and Passion Fruit
Ingredients
- 1-1.5 lb of grade A raw wild tuna
- 1 large avocado
- 4 fresh passion fruits
- 2-3 limes
- Salt to taste (optional)
- Pepper to taste (optional)
Instructions
- Thinly slice tuna steak into sashimi-style slices, holding your knife at an angle.
- Mix avocado meat with passion fruit pulp, adding the juice of 1 or two limes (start with one, taste and add as needed). Season with salt and pepper to taste (optional).
- Top tuna slices with avocado-passion fruit mixture. Drizzle the juice of an additional lime on all the slices. Serve immediately with more lime slices.
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