We all love Japanese food in our household. And it’s sometimes a bit pricey to eat out at a Japanese restaurant when you are in the mood to eat heartily. So I wondered if homemade spicy tuna temaki was easy enough to replicate at home (it is!) and we had our fill of that before going onto a large pot of homemade sukiyaki…
I always have a niggling feeling that spicy tuna temaki is made from less than pristine tuna (perhaps leftover from the sushi bar or the remnants from trimming pieces of tuna) so I thought a good start would be to use a 500 gram piece of fairly prime tuna, sliced into rather small cubes. Add some japanese mayonnaise, sriracha sauce, japanese chili oil and some dried powdered Japanese chili powder and mix lightly, making sure to coat most of the pieces of tuna with the “dressing”. Some folks don’t put any mayonnaise. Resist the urge to season with salt, as you can serve this with a dipping sauce of soy sauce and/or wasabi if you desire. Earlier in the day, make some sushi rice and season it with a mixture of rice wine vinegar and a bit of sugar (dissolved over a low flame and allowed to cool first). Serve the spicy tuna with the sushi rice, some freshly roasted seaweed wrappers and assemble your maki or temaki as you please. This was REALLY EASY to do, and it tasted wonderful! I like how you can custom make your personal version, deciding to add more tuna or more rice as you please…
We also shredded some processed crabstick (it isn’t really crab, but flavored fish meal) and mixed in some japanese mayonnaise and a touch of lemon and used that in the wraps as well. This tasted very nice as well. And this version is even more economical than the tuna version. These two bowls of tuna and crabstick would easily, and I mean EASILY, feed 6 people, each enjoying several generously portioned temaki or maki.
20 Responses
My son will love this! Thanks MM!
I always have this in Kikufuji, but I’ve noticed that they’ve changed it into a dice as opposed to the fine mince that they used to do. I actually prefer the mince since it made the sashimi creamier, but it probably took too much time and effort – 2 knives continuously chopping to get the fine texture. Adding bits of fried tempura batter also adds a wonderful crunchy component to this dish.
I love hand rolls! My favorite so far is with crispy salmon skin but I like spicy tuna as well. Maybe a combination would be spectacular!
hi mm, we do this at home also, but our version is more like roll your own sushi with crab sticks, avocado, cucumber & topped with masago. see my attached pic :) httpss://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151704413272473&l=6f2b768528
rellay? just mayo, sriracha and togarashi? never knew that was all there is to it! i’m making some tonight! thanks, MM!
Congrats Marketman on your first attempt at Japanese Sushi. Looks like your on the right track. Everything looks amazing plus a bit of your market man creativity.
You didn’t mention the rice you used. i find Domestic Japanese rice expensive, but if found i have good results with california, jasponica and milagrosa rice varieties
A tip shown by my master baker, friend, Japanese mentor 35 years ago on how to save time cleaning the mat where the rice sometimes gets imbedded in between the bamboo…2 strips of Saran Wrap laid flat on counter and mat on top of it and cover the mat with it.
If you want to get a tuna overload…mAke an inside out maki just like a California roll, cut paper thin slices of tuna enough to cover the whole maki (easier to slice while tuna is still partially frozen) and lay it flat on the plastic wrap covered mat…center the maki and roll away. Sprinkle with furukake. But in our household, the boys want to get a furukake overload too. So I roll the maki in furukake….oh it ryhmes!
He also told me no need to buy those butane burners and the hot pot pan…back in those days, everybody had an electric skillet so that was what he used …of course, needless to say, there has to be socket near the table.
it is cold and raining here again…perfect day for shabu shabu or maybe sukiyaki…so my 25 year old electric skillet given as a wedding present will make its presence again on the dinner table!
Thank you, MM for this post. One less thing to think about what I will make for our dinner.
B the local Japanese short grain rice is in short supply. It’s grown in Bacolod and the company producing it claims they had production problems. I think that the recent issue on rice smuggling has caused the disappearance of all imported Japanese rice ( mostly from China). This has caused Japanese restaurants to probably purchase all the locally produced stocks, thus making it unavailable in the supermarkets. The Jasponica and Miponica white rice produced by Doña Maria are also in very short supply. From looking at the pics above, it doesn’t look like MM used Japanese rice.
Monty and B, no I used our regular rice, didn’t have any Japanese rice in the pantry. It worked fine however, though a purist might scrunch their nose at it… :)
Even the best 5star hotel based restaurants don’t use Japanese short grain rice. I personally know one that used japonica and another using california calrose rice for sushi.
Boopsie, I think the hotels may have been forced by necessity to shift to alternative sources. Short grain rice from China really isn’t that expensive, maybe around P60 per kg. The local Koshihikari brand goes for around P120 per kg, while the Jasponica and Calrose run around P70 per kg. Rice from Japan probably sells above P200 per kg. Rice importation, or smuggling, has been exposed quite recently and has caused the disappearance of imported short grain rice, including Calrose . The locally produced supply (Jasponica and Koshihikari) are already getting more expensive, and I haven’t seen them being sold for quite a few weeks now.
Rice is a highly political issue since the smugglers and their protectors make billions a year. Some economists believe that it would be better for us to import cheap rice and use the farmland to grow higher value crops. This policy would however expose us to sudden price increases which would leave our poor folk hungry.
I read somewhere that rice in the Philippines is 40-50% higher (retail) than imported rice. So obviously, some policies are harming local consumers. It is a political issue, but imagine how much better off the whole consumer population (but to the detriment of farmers and their families) would be if we paid 40% less for our rice?
My personal sushi rice recommendation is Milagrosa. There is something about the smell of the rice that makes sushi even more delicious.
Off topic but I hope you don’t mind my sharing a piece of this article from the Wall Street Journal titled “Unlikely Source of Healthy Fat: Coconuts”
“The Claim: Coconut oil, which is high in saturated fats, is increasingly being heralded as a healthy oil. Its advocates, including companies that sell it, say it’s nutritious, good for the heart and a fast source of energy. The oil may possibly protect against Alzheimer’s disease, they say.
The Verdict: A growing body of research suggests health benefits from coconut oil, including a recent study that found it protects mouse neurons against the buildup of proteins linked to Alzheimer’s disease.”
I hope this turns out to be true since it would help all those coconut farmers out there. CNO used to have a negative image, but it seems all that is changing. It’s sad though that most cooking oil available in our market is now palm oil.
MM, in japanese restaurants, don’t they add sesame oil in their spicy tuna?
The addition of cucumber makes sense to add that extra texture and to balance the spiciness of sriracha! Nice Article :)
looks so delish! will try this at home..thanks for the recipe
CCA19, yes, I think some places do add sesame oil to the mixture. But not too much, it’s flavor can overwhelm.
Thank you for the tip MM! :)
am looking for cheapest supplier of crab stick?nid it for mass produce.help?thanks a bunch