Thai Tuna Salad

I go to several restaurants and cafes around my office on a regular basis during my lunch hour and I always get the same thing at each. I always fear that if I try something new, I’ll regret not getting what I usually get, but then I always feel I’m missing out on other great offerings if I continue to get what I always get. Tough decision, huh? Man, eating sometimes is just so hard, haha =P

One of my favorite things to do is to re-make restaurant favorites at home. It’s fun to try to dissect all the flavor and ingredient combinations and try to mimic the restaurant. I love sitting in a restaurant with Jason and being so into a dish to the point where I’m whipping out my iPhone to write down what ingredients would go into the dish and how I’d remake it. I know, I’m such a nerd foodie, aren’t I?

That’s what I’ve done here. There’s this cafe near my office that has this Thai tuna salad and it is so.freaking.addicting. My coworker actually introduced me to it. She told me that I “have to try it” and that our manager raves about it. I didn’t understand why until I went to get it.

Oh.my.gosh. It’s like an Asian symphony of flavors dancing in your mouth. It’s full of sesame flavor but the cucumbers, peppers, and red onions just play so well with the tuna and sesame oil. It’s a fairly light dish but it’s so filling because of all the protein you get from the tuna. Omega 3′s anyone?

I made a huge batch of this and we put it atop crostini. There’s so many other ways you can serve this. You can serve this over a bed of lettuce or spinach leaves or you can serve this atop cucumber slices as mini appetizers for a party or even on beds of endive or celery sticks.

I don’t know why it’s called a Thai tuna salad. Again, it’s a restaurant remake and I’m just naming it what the restaurant called it.

Thai Tuna Salad

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Yield: 4 servings | Prep Time: 5 minutes | Cook Time: 5 minutes

Ingredients:

3 cans of tuna, drained

1 medium red bell pepper, diced

1/2 red onion, diced

1 cucumber, sliced thinly and diced

3/4 cup sesame oil

Juice of 1 lime

Salt and pepper, to taste

Sesame seeds, as garnish

Instructions:

1. In a large bowl, break up the tuna into smaller pieces.
2. Mix in the red bell pepper, red onion, and cucumber. Pour the sesame oil on top and stir to combine everything. Lastly add the juice of 1 lime and stir again to combine.
3. Salt and pepper to taste and garnish with sesame seeds before serving.