I am not a big fan of garlic and onion powder as I find them quite acrid tasting. I buy them in the smallest possible quantities each summer to make BBQ sauce and always end up throwing the rest away at some point over the winter since I have no other use for them. However, the inspiration recipe below for Nigeria's favorite street food looked promising in terms of both flavors and using those spices up and, since I had a beautiful tuna steak waiting in the fridge, I thought that Suya spice might work well the fish, which it did.
Collard greens worked really well here but they take a lot longer to cook than, say, spinach so, though around the ten-minute mark ain't too shabby, if you want a really quick meal I would use a different green. That being said, their texture and structure were a good foil for the tuna and the spices.
1 tuna steak, patted dry
1 bunch collard greens, middle stems removed and thinly sliced
1 Tbsp ground almonds or peanuts
1 clove of garlic, finely chopped
1/8 tsp onion powder
1/8 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp smoked paprika
1/2 tsp favorite hot sauce
2 tsps rice wine vinegar or lemon juice
1 tsp olive oil
Salt to taste
Wash and prep the collard greens. Shake them to roughly remove excess water.
Place the oil and the chopped garlic on a pan over medium heat and cook until the garlic is fragrant, stirring constantly, about thirty seconds.
Add all of the damp collard greens to the pan and stir to combine with the garlicky oil until all the collard greens have a sheen of oil. Stir from time to time as the greens continue to cook while you prepare the spice mix and the tuna.
Mix the ground nuts, the smoked paprika and the onion and garlic powder together on a plate.
Pat your tuna dry and then rub one side with half of the hot sauce. Place the tuna steak sauce side down in the spice mix and press to adhere the spice mix to the fish. Rub the rest of the hot sauce on the fish and turn over to repeat the process of coating the tuna with the spice mix. Press the spice mix and roll the fish around so that all sides are as coated as possible. Salt the fish on both sides.
Push the collard greens to the side of the pan and add the tuna to the now empty other side of the pan. Cooking time will vary based on the thickness of your fish. I had a five ounce thin steak and cooked it for two minutes on each side for a medium rare fish steak. You may need more time. When you flip your fish, take the opportunity to stir the collard greens, to which you should now add any spice mix that remained on the plate after your fish was coated with it.
When your fish is cooked to your liking, remove it from the pan and place it on your dinner plate. Stir the collard greens and add the vinegar, which will bubble up. Stir to combine and serve.
This was a ten minute and thirty seven second to the table meal.
Inspiration recipe, here.