Saturday, January 2, 2010

Japanese Tuna Salad Sushi Roll (Homestyle)


Tonight, I wanted to make something special yet easy to prepare. Something that we can munch on while we watch a movie. So, I made some tasty tuna salad sushi rolls that are somewhat healthy, kid-friendly and safe to eat (not raw fish). The only thing that you need to "cook" is the egg (which is optional anyway). Ok, there's rice too but I assume that you have a rice cooker to take care of that.

Not only is it economical to make, the ingredients are also very flexible. You can even save them for the next day to take to work for lunch. So as long as you have the seaweed sheets and Japanese rice and some light soy sauce for dipping (all are available in most grocery stores these days, even in Walmart!), all the other ingredients are optional and can be substituted with other choices (example, you can use crab meat or clam meat instead of tuna, carrot instead of cucumber).  Just use your imagination!



Anyway, here's how I made them tonight:
Ingredients:
- Albacore tuna (2 cans)
- Japanese mayonnaise (aka "Kewpie Mayonnaise." It has a very creamy texture. Very rich flavor. Great on Salads. You may substitute it with regular American mayo if you don't want to bother with it. For mine tonight, I used the regular Kraft olive oil mayonnaise. The flavor is not as strong, but since we were only  using a very small portion of it, I was better off with a healthier option)
- Japanese white rice (3 cups. Cooked in rice cooker. Scoop out in a big bowl and chill in room temperature. When it's no longer hot, add rice vinegar. Mix and leave for 10 minutes or so)
- 2 eggs (scrambled with a pinch of sugar)
- 1 cucumber (peeled, pitted and sliced to long tiny strips. The thinner the better)
- 1 big avocado (peeled, pitted and cut to strips. Not too thin, since it's very soft)
- Sushi seaweed sheets (aka "Nori." Seaweed sheets usually come10 in a pack)
- Rice vinegar (a few teaspoons)
- Light soy sauce (a few teaspoons)
- Toasted sesame seeds (a few sprinkles - optional)

step 1: Make tuna salad by draining tuna and mix with 3-4 teaspoonful of mayo (not too wet).

step 2: Place chilled rice on seaweed and spread around on seaweed sheet. Seaweed-shiny side down.

step 3: Put tuna salad, cucumber slices, avocado and egg pieces on one end.
step 4: Roll up slowly and squeeze on the bamboo mat gently to tighten the sushi roll.

step 5: Cut to equal sizes and arrange on plates.

step 6: Sprinkle toasted sesame seeds (optional)

Tips: Make sure the knife you use for cutting the sushi rolls is thin and sharp. That way the roll edges will be smooth. Dip knife over cold water to avoid rice sticking to knife.

Have a good night!

5 comments:

  1. I love the idea of 'safe sushi' I am afraid to say that I really cant get into raw fish, although LOVE everything else on a Japenese menu, it's a texture thing!

    I must send you some recipes to try out Fran, I adore cooking!

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  2. Apologies for my poor typing and subsequent misspelling!

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  3. Mun is an awesome cook!...I have been served this sushi and it is awesome too!!!..Great site Mun. And the title Mun-chies....fits! Love you....Mom in Law

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  4. YAY!!! SOOOO excited to make this! Thanks, F!

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