Recipe for Causa Atun – Whipped Potato Topped With Tuna and Ponzu Dressing

Recently my fellow members of Les Dames d’Escoffier,  Your Secret Chef’s Karen Dar Woon and Chicha Restaurant’s Chef Shelome Bouvette, presented a cooking class at the Vancouver Aquarium’s Fin To Tail event. Seafood was donated by Fresh Ideas Start Here owner Jenice Yu, who is also a Dame. Dames do great things and I’m super proud to be part of this talented group. Here’s the recipe or this beautiful dish, which is available at Chicha Restaurant at 136 East Broadway. Photos by Leila Kwok.

This recipe has four parts: Causa, marinated tuna, ponzu dressing and wasabi mayonnaise.

Potatoes, originally from Peru, form the base of this classic dish. Causa refers to a “dough” of cold potato
The soy-marinated tuna, mayonnaise with wasabi, and ponzu dressing speak to the introduction of Japanese foodways into South America in the late 1800s. Nikkei cuisine is the beautiful and delicious marriage of Japanese and indigenous Peruvian culinary cultures.

Active time: 60 min Total time: 3 hours including chilling
Makes: 4–6 servings

Causa (potato puree)
1 bunch Cilantro
1/4 cup 65 ml Olive oil
1 lb 450 gm Russet Potatoes
1/2 tsp 2.5 ml Sea salt or Kosher salt

1. Combine cilantro and olive oil in blender, pulsing until the mixture is bright green and smooth.
2. Peel potatoes, and steam/boil until tender. Drain well in a sieve, for 10 minutes.
3. Rice the potatoes, or mash until very smooth.
4. Stir in cilantro oil, adding about 1/2 at first. The mixture should be soft but not fluid.
5. Add salt to taste.
6. Chill approximately 1 hour before shaping. Mixture should easily hold it’s shape.

Wasabi Mayonnaise
1/2 c 125 ml Mayonnaise
2 tsp 10 ml Wasabi Powder
1/2 avocado, mashed
1/2 lime, juiced
1 tbsp 15 ml honey
Combine all items, mixing until smooth.

Tuna
1 lb 450 gm Tuna loin Oceanwise Albacore. Diced in 1 cm pieces.
1/2 c 125 ml Light soy sauce
1 tbsp 15 ml Ginger, minced
Pinch Cayenne pepper, ground
1 bunch Green onion, trimmed and finely diced
1 tbsp 15 ml Honey
2 tbsp 30 ml Toasted sesame oil

1. In a medium bowl, combine the soy sauce, ginger, cayenne, green onion, honey and sesame oil.
2. Add the diced tuna, stirring to coat. Cover and set chill at least 30 minutes, or no longer than four (4) hours.
Ponzu (makes 1 cup)
1/2 c 125 ml Light soy sauce
1/4 c 60 ml Lime juice (1 or 2 medium limes)
1 tbsp 15 ml Honey
1/4 c 60 ml Passionfruit juice*

Combine all ingredients, cover and chill. May be made ahead and refrigerated.
* If Passionfruit juice is not available, pineapple or guava juice may be substituted; omit the honey.

To assemble the dish:
Have plates chilling in the fridge.
Drain the tuna, discarding marinade.
Spoon approx. 2 tbsp/60 ml of the Wasabi Mayonnaise onto the plate.
Divide the potato causa into 6 portions, and using your hands, shape into a flat patty. Place on top of the mayonnaise.
Spoon the drained tuna over the causa.
Drizzle 1 tbsp of the ponzu over the tuna, then garnish with black sesame seeds and cilantro micro-greens.