Tuna and Sweet Gingered Eggplant Relish

10-oz sushi grade tuna, cut in 2 "steaks"
Coarse-cracked black pepper
2 lbs Asian eggplant, chopped
2 tbsp salt
1/2 red onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp ginger
2 tbsp tomato paste
3/4 cup rice vinegar
2 tbsp brown sugar

Bring the tuna to room temperature, and dust each side with cracked pepper.
Toss eggplant and salt, place in a colander and let sit 30 minutes. Rinse and pat dry.
In a non-stick skillet over medium, add 1/4 cup water.
Add the onions and cook 1 minute.
Stir in the eggplant, garlic and ginger, cooking 4 minutes longer and adding water if necessary.
Add the tomato paste.
Stir in the vinegar, scraping the bits from the bottom of the pan.
Add the sugar and cook until all the ingredients are well mixed (about 5 minutes).
Heat a separate pan sprayed with non-stick cooking spray to very high heat.
Place the tuna steaks in the pan and cook (without moving the meat) 1 minute.
Flip steaks and sear second side 1 minute longer.
Remove fish to a board and allow to sit 2 minutes.
Spoon equal amounts of eggplant mixture onto serving plates.
Slice tuna steaks into 6-8 pieces each, and top the eggplant with them.

Number of Servings: 2

Recipe submitted by SparkPeople user JO_JO_BA.