Can anyone ever have enough cookbooks? I’m sure O. would be ready for lively discussion on that topic (ok I do have a few…), but after all he almost enjoys them as much as I do.

Whilst following my daily blog reading routine I came across a post (Mango Crème brûlée) on Petra’s blog, which sounded delicious and referenced The Cinnamon Club Cookbook from Iqbal Wahhab & Vivek Singh. I remembered that I put this book on my amazon-wishlist sometime ago, so I went back there. Click-happy as I am, I saw, read and bought it :) Since I purchased it via marketplace, it took a little longer than usual orders – almost two weeks until the sight of a big brown parcel in our real mailbox saved my day… Is there anything better, than coming home after a stressful day of work, finding new evening literature in your mailbox? It has already become one of my favorite Indian cookbooks. Beautiful layout and photography. The recipes seem easy to follow and it has neat writing/little stories besides the recipes.

Skimming through the book, the Seared Tuna instantly jumped at me. Not literally of course, but it displaced all other dishes we had on our list (to soon cook) to second and third places. Also, because we just bought tamarind paste on a recent shopping spree.

We found it very easy to make, extremely yummy with the adhoc yoghurt sauce creation and most definitely something we’ll do again as appetizers for a next event. Since we forgot to get a cucumber – the original recipe suggest a cucumber yoghurt – we thought of a possible alternative and turns out, it’s a keeper. :)

For the dip: Chop the fresh coriander, parsley and spring onions and mix it with the Greek yoghurt – or simply blend everything together in a food processor. Salt to taste. Keep refrigerated until served.

Cut the tuna in little cubes, about 3cm in length, and put them on wooden skewers.

Put tamarind paste into a pot and bring to the boil, then add the sugar. Stir well until fully resolved, add the chili powder and the salt. Cook over low heat for another 15 minutes or so. Then remove from the stove and let chill. I wouldn’t allow it to fully cool down, otherwise you’ll have a hard time getting the gooey mix on the tuna – I know what I’m talking about – now I do…

Meanwhile briefly roast the seeds (they should not get burned), crush in a mortar and add to the tamarind paste. Also add the oil.

Coat the tuna pieces thoroughly with the tamarind paste and cook either under very hot grill for about a minute, turn over for another minute – or sear alternatively in a hot non stick pan until the outside is nicely caramelized while the inside is still uncooked and pink.

We tried the grill in the oven – it didn’t work. The tuna turned in an unhandsome grey THING, not very much alike the photo in the book. They suggest a very hot grill – which we thought we had in our kitchen. Talking about heat, looks like Indian tandoors play in a whole different league :) However, the pan we tried instead worked just fine, the results looked glossy and convincing and so they tasted.