How To Serve Canned Tuna And Mayo The Japanese Way

Canned tuna + mayonnaise = tuna salad, a staple of sandwich shops all over the U.S. While a plain tuna sandwich may not be the most exciting of lunch options, the salad can be punched up with the addition of spicy, crunchy, or pickle-y mix-ins and the sandwich itself can be elevated to a thing of beauty when turned into a tuna melt. If you're looking to expand your culinary horizons a bit farther, though, Namiko Hirasawa Chen suggests taking that tuna salad and using it to stuff the Japanese rice balls called onigiri.

Chen, who started her food blog Just One Cookbook back in 2011, notes that onigiri can have a variety of fillings, but says tuna mayo is one of the most popular ones in Japan. If you have leftover tuna salad and are intrigued by the thought of making rice balls, you need to make sure you have the right rice on hand. As Chen tells us, "When making onigiri, you must use hot or warm Japanese short-grain rice so it sticks together and holds its shape." She suggests shaping the rice into balls with wet palms but says you could also roll it in plastic wrap or use an onigiri mold. (This cute set of molds from Amazon lets you make rice balls shaped like bears, dinosaurs, ducks, and hearts.)

While you could fill rice balls with the same tuna-mayo blend you'd use for a tuna melt, your onigiri might be even tastier if you experiment with making a more Japanese-style salad. Namiko Hirasawa Chen says she keeps her tuna salad simple. In addition to tuna and mayonnaise (Kewpie is her brand of choice), all she adds is soy sauce. Miso paste could also bring the umami, as could a different savory ingredient like fish sauce. For a spicier salad, try our sriracha and chile-spiked tuna roll mayo. Japanese tuna salad may also include crunchy additions like onions and celery, although pickles are not typical. Nor is lemon juice, but lime juice or rice vinegar will work if you like your tuna tangy.

Japanese-style tuna salad isn't just meant for onigiri, as it's often served over rice. For a lower-carb snack, it can be served atop lettuce leaves or stuffed into celery boats or hollowed-out tomatoes. You can use it in tuna salad sandwiches too, of course. This is not unknown in Japan, where tuna sandwiches made with milk bread make up one layer of the popular tri-level, mixed sando set, the other two consisting of ham with Swiss cheese sandwich and the other egg salad.