Seared Tuna is a popular dish served at Izakaya or Robatayaki estaurants (Japanese food bars) throughout Japan. Traditionally, the surface of the tuna is seared over flames, often fueled with rice straw or charcoal, which adds a smoky aroma while leaving the inside raw. It’s served with ponzu (a tangy citrus-soy sauce) and wasabi, making it an excellent appetizer that pairs well with sake or your drinks of choice.
Simmered Potatoes and Tuna is a flavorful dish where potatoes and canned tuna are gently cooked in a sweet soy broth. The broth, reduced to a rich sauce consistency, beautifully coats the potatoes, enhancing their taste. To allow the umami of the tuna and seasonings to meld with the vegetables, it’s best to let the dish cool before serving. It’s incredibly easy to make and budget-friendly, yet it’s still a delightful side dish for any meal. Hope you enjoy it!
Tuna-mayo is a simple tuna salad that consists of canned tuna and Japanese mayonnaise, and tuna-mayo rice bowl (ツナマヨ丼) is an easy donburi rice bowl dish with tuna-mayo placed on a bowl of steamed rice. Tuna-mayo is one of the most popular fillings for Onigiri rice balls sold at any convenience stores in Japan. Creamy yet a bit tangy and salty Japanese tuna salad goes really well with steamed rice, and the flavor combination of tuna, mayo, rice, and nori seaweed is somewhat addictive. While Tuna Mayo Onigiri can be an excellent grab-and-go lunch in Japan, sadly not everyone is lucky to have convenience stores that sell such Onigiri nearby (certainly not where we live in the U.S.)
The Spicy Tuna Roll is a type of Sushi Roll (Makizushi or Makimono) that features sashimi-grade raw tuna seasoned with a spicy sauce and other seasonings. It is then rolled up with Sushi Rice and Nori (roasted seaweed). This roll represents a fusion creation that combines traditional Japanese sushi elements with American preferences for bold flavors, including spiciness. It is an American-born sushi roll, and nearly all Japanese restaurants in the U.S. offer the dish. The Spicy Tuna Roll has become so popular that it is deeply rooted in American food culture today and can be found not only in Japanese restaurants but also in many local supermarkets.
Tuna Zuke Don (マグロ漬け丼）is a rice bowl dish with marinated Tuna. Fresh Sashimi tuna is flavored in a savory soy sauce-based sauce, and placed on top of Steamed Rice. It is really easy to make, but you can taste this restaurant-quality dish at home.
Folding Onigiri is another way to make Onigiri (おにぎり) rice ball. In this way, you don’t have to hold and shape steamed rice directly in your hands, therefore rice doesn’t stick everywhere. It is also called Onigirazu. All the fillings including rice are placed on a sheet of Nori roasted seaweed, and everything is neatly folded together like Origami paper. The fillings could be anything you like, but here I made Carrot Sunomono, Tuna mayo, and Tamagoyaki egg as fillings for the Onigiri. Super yummy and nutritious! Hope you enjoy this flavor combination!
Tamagoyaki is a popular Japanese rolled omelette that is commonly eaten for breakfast or packed in bento lunch. You can make a plain Tamagoyaki or mix in many different ingredients for flavor variation. Today, we added a canned tuna and chopped green onions. An entire can of tuna (in water) can be added directly in the egg mixture, which will make it almost like Dashi. It’s packed with umami and quite satisfying with added protein. If you do not have a Tamagoyaki pan, you can simply make this into a regular omelette in a frying pan. It’s so simple to make with easy to find ingredients.
Tuna Cream Pasta (ツナクリームパスタ) is pasta, usually spaghetti cooked in creamy white sauce with canned tuna. The dish may be found at some restaurants, but it is mostly a western style Japanese home cooking dish. Although Tuna Cream Pasta doesn’t sound very Japanese, this easy and budget friendly pasta is one of the common everyday meals people eat in Japan.
Tuna Poke is raw Tuna cut into cubes and marinaded with a spicy soy-based sauce. Poke is actually a Hawaiian dish, but Japanese immigrants there may have contributed to the development of the evolution for the seasonings of Poke.
Tuna and Corn Pizza is a popular type of pizza in Japan. It sounds strange to people outside Japan, but it is quite good, and it is definitely worth trying.