Gooey toro don

Tuna is a rare treat in my household as we normally avoid it for its potentially high mercury content, but we’ll indulge a couple of times a year and when we do, this is what we make using high quality fatty tuna. It’s not just the tuna that is gooey but the okra and natto too - in a refined kind of way. It’s filling but light. Simply delicious.

Nutritionally spreaking, it’s a perfect one-dish meal rich in protein, minerals, fibre and probiotics. Swap tuna for salmon or leave it out to make a vegan version.

Ingredients (serves 2)

• 1.5 cups Japanese rice

• 200g raw fatty tuna fillet (salmon, trout, and sea bass work well too - Skip the fish for the vegan version)

• 10-15 Okra

• 1/2 cup Natto (fermented soy beans - replace with tempeh if you can’t find it)

• 1/2 Nori sheet

• Small bunch chives

• Handful coriander

• 2 tbsp toasted sesame seeds

Condiments

• Tamari sauce

• Wasabi paste

• Toasted sesame oil

• English mustard

Method

• Cook the rice.

• Briefly toast the nori sheet by waving it over a flame a couple of times.

• Wash and simmer the okras for 5 min, then drain and set aside.

• Prepare the sauce by mixing some wasabi into Tamari sauce and set aside in a shallow bowl to serve.

• Prepare the natto by mixing 1 heaped tsp English mustard vigourously into the natto (the Japanese say do 100 stirs) until gooey. Add 1 tsp Tamari and 1 tsp toasted sesame oil and some chopped chives. Stir briefly.

• Cut the okra lengthways and then into small pieces. Adjust with salt and pepper. Mix in some chopped coriander and sesame oil.

• Mince the tuna with a cleaver or sharp knife. Stir in some chopped chives.

• Assemble the ingredients into 2 large (donburi) bowls. Flatten the warm cooked rice at the bottom of the bowl. Put 2 tbsp each of the tuna, natto and okra into small mounds on top of the rice. Sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds and strips of nori. Pour the Tamari and wasabi mix over the bowls (as much as you like).

• Serve miso soup or a broth (optional)