Tuna with Pomegranate Sauce or the Scarlet Sail

I was thinking whether to label the post as "Red Theme" or "Armenian heritage" and have decided to go with "Red Theme", the reason being that the main  ingredient  in this recipe is one that is not generally used in Armenian cooking however if you are in Armenia the best would be to substitute Tuna with  Sturgeon.

The interesting part of this dish is the  Nursharab aka Pomegranate sauce. Before starting  the dish you will need to have it ready.

Ingredients (to serve 2 persons)


Tuna 2 fillets
Pomegranates 5 pomegranates
Rice 1 cup
Salt
Black Pepper 
Sugar 1 table spoon

Squeeze the juice from 5 pomegranates, if you plan to squeeze the pomegranates manually, firstly roll the pomegranates on the table for few minutes, make a hole inside the fruit and this will make the process much easier, pass the juice through the sieve.

Place the juice on low heat and simmer for 1 hour or 1 hour 20 minutes depending how big the pomegranates were.

 Add half a tea  spoon of salt and  3 black peppercorns and ground black pepper. If the pomegranates are very sour add 1 or 2 spoons of sugar. The density of the sauce should be like liquid honey and of rich pomegranate colour. Don’t make it too thick  it may become sticky and difficult to chew.

Cooking the rice.

Add some butter in the pan. Add 1 cup of rice

 turn the grains over in the pan  till it gets a shiny colour, dd 2 cups of boiling water, or chicken stock. Cover with the lid and cook on low heat.

Season tuna fillets with lemon juice (just few drops) salt and black pepper.

.

Fry in butter on medium, heat for 3 minutes each side

Place the tuna on the plate, dress it with the Nursharab, squeeze few drops of lemon juice on the top of the rice and decorate it with lemon and pomegranates.

A Tip: You can keep the leftovers of  Nursharab sauce in the fridge and use it later for fish barbecue, it will make your day :)