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| Tuna with Black Beans, Courgette and Chilies with Rice |
This recipe is inspired by one from Rick Stein’s 2017 BBC series and book The Road to Mexico. The book bursts with vibrant, bold flavors - zesty lime, fiery chili, and rich spices - woven into a captivating collection of recipes that instantly transports me back to my travels in Mexico.
For this recipe, Rick writes about meeting Tommy Gommes who runs a seafood warehouse in San Diego, and Tommy's passion for conservation and encouraging people to use every possible part of any seafood. Rick notes that Tommy’s recipe is essentially a seafood twist on a chili con carne but featuring slow-cooked Opah belly with its firm, flavorful texture. Rick’s canned-tuna adaptation, on the other hand, involves quite a few intricate steps that the average home cooks would be unlikely to tackle in my opinion. I’m certain both versions will be nothing short of exceptional, though.
In New Zealand, fresh and dried chilies are mostly imported and come at a premium, while locally grown bell peppers and fresh tomatoes skyrocket in price out of season, often replaced by costly imports. Here’s my adaptation using canned tomatoes, canned tuna with fresh and dried chilies, for a dish that’s easy to prepare, spicy (but not blow your mouth off spicy), yet every bit as bold and flavorsome:
Ingredients: serves 4
- 2 long chilies, red or green, de-seeded and sliced into rounds
- 2-3 dried ancho poblano chillis, de-seeded, stalk removed (or use Pasillas if that's what you have)
- 2 bell peppers (capsicum) - red and/or yellow
- Pork lard
- 1 medium onion, peeled and diced finely
- 2 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
- 2 small green courgettes, ends removed, skin on, diced into chunks
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp granulated white sugar
- 1/2 can black beans in brine
- 1 x 425gm canned tomatoes (or substitute with fresh if you have them)
- 1 425gm can tuna chunks and brine (or substitute fresh tuna or other firm fresh fish if you have it)
- Rice to serve 4 (1 cup dried per person)
- Chopped coriander
- Limes
- Avocado flesh (1/2 an avocado per person)
Method:
Slit the dried and fresh chillis in half and open to remove seeds and stalks.
Heat a dry frying pan to medium-hot. Toast the dried chillis for a few minutes, then remove and immerse in boiling water to cover (around 300ml). Leave to steep for 20-30 minutes.
Melt lard at medium heat in a large high-sided pan, gently cook the onion and garlic for a few minutes
Remove the dried chillis, reserving the liquid. Chop those and the fresh chillis into thin slices. Add with the diced bell peppers and fry a few minutes.
Add about 100ml of the reserved chilli steeping liquid with the canned tomato, oregano, cumin, salt, pepper, sugar.
Simmer the mixture on low until thick with no 'runny' liquid.
Cook the rice, dice the avocado flesh.
While the rice is cooking, increase pan heat up to medium, add the black beans and tuna with their brine and diced courgette (adding the courgette last keeps it bright and green). Cook for 10 minutes.
Serve the mole over a bed of rice, topped with avocado chunks and accompanied by chopped coriander and fresh lime wedges for a bright finish.
Stelle x