Asian Style Tuna Salad
Let’s kick lunch up a notch! Think sushi meets tuna salad. This is for those times when you’re craving something quick, easy, and packable, but not boring. This salad includes extra veggies for some crunch, and filling fiber. Combined with the tuna’s protein and avocados healthy fats, this lunch will leave you feeling full and satisfied.
This salad is as easy as chopping a few veggies, halving an avocado, opening a can of tuna, and mixing with dressing ingredients. You could easily substitute cucumber and radish for other crunchy veggies you have on hand, maybe celery or carrots!
Kitchen Tip!
Have you ever rolled sushi before? What about a burrito? Use the same concept when rolling this Asian Style Tuna Salad into wraps! You can place the tuna salad in a line either diagonally across the nori sheet (shown below), or along one edge of the sheet like sushi. If placed diagonally, you can fold one corner on the long side of the filling over, then fold both corners on the edge to keep salad from spilling out the side and continue to roll tightly. Like a little tuna salad sushi burrito! If tuna salad is placed along one edge of the nori sheet, you can roll it all up and slice like you would sushi, for cute and tasty little tuna salad bites.
Health Benefits!
Both the tuna and avocado in this salad provide those healthy fats we are aiming to get more of in our diet. Are avocados a fruit, vegetable, or fat?! All three! Botanically speaking, avocados are the fruiting body, however in the world of nutrition, avocados are typically considered a vegetable due to their lower sugar content. When we are aiming to build balanced meals, avocados provide healthy fats.
The types of fats that avocados contain are called monounsaturated fats, primarily oleic acid to be precise. This is the same types of fats found in olives. Olive oil as well as avocado oil are liquid at room temperature, which is a good rule of thumb when determining if fats are primarily unsaturated (more heart healthy), or saturated which are solid at room temperature. Proportionally, we want to aim to include more unsaturated fats from plant sources, like those from avocados than saturated fats in our diets. These types of fats derived from plant sources have been shown to be associated with significant reductions in mortality and CVD risk.1 Combined with fiber from the vegetables, and omega-3’s from the tuna, this dish is a heart healthy stand out!
Asian Style Tuna Salad
Ingredients:
- 1 5oz can tuna
- 1/2 medium avocado
- 1 Tablespoon mayonnaise
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- 1/2 teaspoon soy sauce
- 1/2 to 1 teaspoons sriracha
- 1/3 cup diced cucumber
- 1/4 cup diced radish
- 1 scallion, sliced
- 1 tsp sesame seeds (optional)
- 2 nori sheets (optional)
Instructions:
- Add all ingredients except nori sheets into a medium bowl. Using a fork, mix until avocado is mashed, tuna is shredded, and all ingredients are distributed well.
- If using nori sheets, place tuna salad in a line along one side of the nori, as you would if you were rolling sushi or a burrito. Fold one side of the nori over and roll tightly around fillings. Slice and eat!
- Alternately you can slice nori into strips to top tuna salad and enjoy atop crackers, salad greens, or in a sandwich or tortilla.
Resources
Guasch-Ferré M, Zong G, Willett WC, et al. Associations of Monounsaturated Fatty Acids From Plant and Animal Sources With Total and Cause-Specific Mortality in Two US Prospective Cohort Studies. Circ Res. 2019;124(8):1266-1275. doi:10.1161/CIRCRESAHA.118.313996
