Sushi in my book is edible art. While I think all cooking is an art form in itself, there’s something remarkable about sushi. The way it is prepared, served and meant to be enjoyed slowly is ceremonious. It’s the kind of food that instantly puts me in a good mood. While the term sushi is ambiguous and somewhat loosely used, for me it encompasses a certain flavor and taste and I take liberties with it.
When the lovely owner of St. Jude Tuna reached out to me about working together again, I was delighted. I don’t believe in product pushing and I’m not interested in just throwing anything at my readers and hoping it sticks. But truthfully when I believe in something, I get pretty excited about it and want to shout it from the roof top or my blog page in this case.
This time the request was for me to create something with their smoked tuna. Wait a minute, what? I’ve had smoked salmon before but honestly never got my hands on canned smoked tuna so this was a new venture. I could sit here and tell you that just simply eating it out of the can would be pretty damn delicious but I wanted to give you something a little more creative.
Recipe testing was adventurous and messy and while I had a vision of what I wanted to make, I had to fine tune it along the way. Before the package even arrived, I was set on some form of spicy tuna sushi roll. The combination of creamy salty, spicy and smokey flavors sounded pretty great.
The caveat with this recipe was that it had to be paleo and Whole 30, which of course works for me. But while paleo is sometimes flexible with rice, Whole 30 is not and grains are strictly off the table. And traditional sushi is well, made with rice. But fear not as in comes cauliflower rice to the rescue. Also, if you’re not whole 30, feel free to use regular sriracha but if you’re strict, you can find Wildbrine sugar free sriracha.
I played around with making a sushi roll with the spicy tuna but frankly I wanted more. My vision was a pile of vegetables and lots of flavor so I decided to scrap the roll and just go with the bowl. This would give me the liberty to create exactly what I envisioned. A tuna sushi bowl makes for a perfect lunch or dinner.
PHOTOS BY DANIELLA @calmeats
This recipe and photo collection is by Daniella Modesto @calmeats. Beautiful!!!
smoked spicy tuna sushi bowl
- prep time: 15 minutes
- cooking time: none
- yields: 2 servings
Ingredients
For rice
- 1 cup cooked cauliflower rice
- 1/8 tsp sesame oil
- 1/2 tsp coconut aminos
- 1/4 tsp toasted sesame seeds
For smoked spicy tuna:
- 1 can St. Jude’s smoked tuna
- 3 tbsp mayo
- 2 tsp sriracha sauce (Wildbrine makes sugar free)
- 1 tsp coconut aminos
For vegetables
- 1/2 sliced avocado
- 1/4 peeled cucumber cut into slivers
- 1/2 carrot cut into slivers
- 3-4 sliced radishes
- 1/4 red bell pepper sliced
- optional: pickled ginger
- optional: sprouts of your choice
- optional: toasted sesame seeds
- optional: scallions for garnish
For speedy spicy mayo:
- 4.5 tsp mayo
- 1 tsp sriracha
- 1/2 tsp coconut aminos
Equipment:
- small mixing bowl
- medium mixing bowl
Directions:
For rice: If you’re not whole 30 or paleo, feel free to use regular rice. But otherwise, combine all ingredients under rice and set aside.
For spicy mayo: Combine all ingredients under spicy mayo in a small bowl and set aside.
For smoked spicy tuna: In medium mixing bowl break up the tuna with a fork until flaky. Add the rest of ingredients and mix well.
To assemble: Layer the rice on the bottom of the serving bowl. Add tuna and vegetables in any fashion you wish and drizzle with spicy mayo and top with toasted sesame seeds.
TunaTuna 
