Spicy Tuna Bites (2 ways)

I already posted a Spicy tuna onigiri recipe, which is quite fast to make. I find it ideal when packing a quick lunch. When eating home with your family or guests though, I love a good dish to share and prep on the spot, where everyone is involved, like Korean barbecues, Mexican tacos, or French crepes. In all these instances, you set one large spread of ingredients on the table, and as everyone gathers around and shares it all, you get a sense of closeness and community that makes the moment precious. I crafted those Spicy Tuna Bites in this spirit. I bought some of these cute small nori sheets, designed to individually pile a mouthful of ingredients upon it. I started to picture rice, then tuna. As a simple sauce to get everything to slide, a gochujang spicy mayo -because what's better than tuna and mayo ??- with a touch of sesame, that I love with tuna. Where's the crunch though ? The special kick ? Well, kimchi here has you covered, with its spicy tang ; add a slice of green chili pepper if you dare, to make the whole bite properly spicy and crunchy and perfect. I absolutely adored this canned tuna bite. It takes some humble tuna to the very next level, in a matter of minutes. Then I thought ; tuna + rice... Ahi Poke... Of course, let's make a raw tuna bite !! You simply dice your sushi-grade raw tuna, then mix it with the spicy mayo. That's it. Then everybody assembles it the way they want. You launch your rice, then get both kinds of tuna ready within 10 minutes. You spend one minute slicing the green chili pepper, one more to quickly put the rest on the table ; that's it ! That's honestly my best time spent to pleasure ratio so far -around 10 minutes of active work, then just wait for the rice to be ready.

Spicy Tuna Bites (2 ways) - Recipe

Ingredients - Advice & key points

• You can buy small nori sheets at Asian stores. If you can't find them, simply cut your Nori sheets using scissors !
• It is important to use short-grain rice here, so that it sticks together on your bite. Nowadays, you can find it in your grocery store.
• Try to pick an oil-based canned tuna. I know, oil + mayo seems unhealthy, but remember that the oil is drained and that you actually eat a small portion of it.
• For the raw tuna version, only pick sushi-grade raw tuna, or tell your fishmonger's you plan on eating it raw.
• For the Gochujang paste, you'll likely need to go to an Asian store to find it. You can substitute it with another hot sauce, but Gochujang is a tad more relevant in this simple recipe ; as it is fermented, it brings in a nice depth of flavour.
• Also, feel free to add any ingredient you like to this spread ! You could go for raw/pickled/spring onions, add pieces of fruit such as a cubed apple, replace your nori sheets with lettuce leaves ; or make a miso mayo if you don't like it spicy !

Recipe - Advice & key points

• If you want to prep it in advance, you can, except for the rice !

All set ? Let's dig into it !