Sauteed String Beans, Tuna & Cashew

After buying "some" tuna, this is another dish I was able to come up with.  I think I exaggerated in the amount that I felt a jolt of guilt that I didn't leave enough for the others.   No, I am not a hoarder, I just get a little bit excited at times at the food shops.

It is time to refresh the menu at home.   This delicious & tasty dish has an Asian twist and is best eaten with plain white rice.    My one-year old is a white-rice junkie.   She will drop anything for a bowl of white rice drizzled with extra virgin olive oil.   Good healthy choice but it stops there.   Anything mixed with her rice gets dumped on her neighboring plate which happens to be my husband's.   She's already quite efficient with her fork that she gets to fish out anything that's not the same color or size as her rice.  This time I tricked her.  I put her string beans & tuna in the electric chopper and mixed it with her rice.  After a complaint here, there, on the wall, on the floor & heaven knows where, she finally waved the white flag and ate.

I was actually meaning to serve the fish & vegetables as separate dishes but then I thought of putting them together in one plate.  After all, my kids would be eating them mixed anyway.  Cashew nuts.  They go well with sauteed vegetables.  Already for some days, I had been trying to mentally recreate my Mom's vegetable dish with cashew nuts.  I was not a veggie-eater when I was a kid and that dish was the only one that I willingly ate without running away from the table.   How I wish she wrote down her recipes. 

Sauteed String Beans, Tuna & Cashew

Ingredients:
Serves 4

• 300 grams string beans
• 200 grams fresh tuna
• 1/4 cup cashew nuts
• 1/2 onion, chopped finely
• 2 limes, juice
• 1 medium tomato, chopped coarsely
• 1 clove garlic, halved
• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• 6 tablespoons teriyaki sauce
• 5 tablespoons water
• salt & pepper
• extra virgin olive oil 

Directions:

1. Marinate tuna in 3 tablespoons teriyaki sauce, 1/4 cup soy sauce, 2 tbsp. water & juice of 1 lime.  Leave for 20 minutes. 
2. Drain tuna slices.  Grill on an oven-top griddle or if you don't have one, use a heavy-bottomed saucepan to cook them without any oil.  Brown both sides, about 3-5 minutes each side.   Dice.  Set aside. 
3. Meantime, saute' garlic & onions in a saucepan with extra virgin olive oil.  When they start to color, add the tomatoes.  
4. After 3 minutes, add the stringbeans.  Add teriyaki sauce, soy sauce, water & lime juice.  Cook for 10 minutes.   
5. Add diced tuna.  Season with salt & pepper.  Add cashew nuts.  Cook for another 5 minutes.  Discard garlic.