Tuna Tartare inspired by Asia de Cuba

Asia de Cuba is one of my all time favorite restaurants. In fact I can still remember my first meal there when I was 18 years old. My mom took me to NY city for my birthday and we ate our way through some of the cities best and trendiest restaurants. Till this day my mom is one of the most serious foodies I know, I guess we now know where I get it from. Anyways Asia de Cuba is fabulous restaurant with locations in NY,  London, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Miami. The food is tapas style with influences from Cuban & Asian cuisine.
 
This tuna tartare is my take on their famous dish "Tunapica". To make to make the dish a little more heart healthy I serve it in cucumber cups instead of deep fried wantons. Either way the tartare is to die for! If you don't have time to make cucumber cups or fry your own wantons you can serve it up on potato or tarot chips as well.  What's great about serving an appetizer like this is you can prep everything in advance then quickly toss it together right before serving. If you like spice you can add a drizzle of sambal or sriracha to the dressing.

STEPS:
1 - for the dressing add finely chopped chives to the lime juice, soy sauce, sesame oil, grape seed oil, minced garlic & ginger, and a pinch of s & p
2 - finely chop the tuna and refrigerate until you are ready to use it
3 - toast slivered almonds in a pan over medium heat until golden
4 - combine coconut, currants and almonds once they have cooled down 
5 - remove cucumber skin (using a carrot peeler) and divide into 1" pieces, then punch out using a cookie cutter, then wrap in damp paper towel and refrigerate until ready to serve
6 - toss tuna, dressing, & dry mixture together and spoon into cucumber bites. 
7 - garnish with a sliver of green onion or panko bread crumbs 

So grateful for the #twitterlove from the operators at Asia de Cuba, many thanks. Now when can a girl get a calamari salad in Toronto?