Thai-Style Tuna with Red Curry Sauce and Spicy Carrot Salad

This recipe (from Fine Cooking) was originally designed for sirloin steak, but my dad does it with seared tuna and it is *to die for*. I'm going to test it out with tofu (or maybe even some chickpeas?) sometime soon. Not sure that it can be made vegan though - I think the fish sauce is pretty essential.

1-1/2 lb. tuna steaks
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 Tbs. canola oil
3 Tbs. fresh lime juice
2 Tbs. fish sauce
2 tsp. light brown sugar
6 medium carrots, peeled and grated
1/4 cup tightly packed fresh cilantro, roughly chopped
1-2 jalapeño or serrano chiles, stemmed, seeded, and finely chopped
2/3 cup canned unsweetened coconut milk
1 Tbs. Thai red curry paste

Put 1 Tbs. oil, 2 Tbs. of the lime juice, 1-1/2 Tbs. of the fish sauce, and 1 tsp. of the sugar in a large bowl and whisk to combine and dissolve the sugar. Add the carrots, cilantro, and chiles and toss well to coat. This is the carrot salad to be served with the main protein.

Add 1/3 cup water to a saucepan and bring to a boil (if you used a pan to cook the protein, here's where you would deglaze). Add the coconut milk, curry paste, and the remaining 1 Tbs. lime juice, 1/2 Tbs. fish sauce, and 1 tsp. sugar; cook, whisking constantly, until thickened and fragrant, 4 to 5 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Thinly slice the tuna across the grain and transfer to plates. Spoon the sauce over the top and serve with the carrot salad on the side.

Original recipe