recipe: japanese tuna salad

in the winter of 2007, i was visiting new york city for the umpteenth time and ate a izakaya restaurant (yakitori taisho, to be specific) where i first tried onigiri. while i was thoroughly enjoying my asahi beer and right-off-the-grill meats, friends at my table were putting in orders for japanese rice balls. i had never heard of these while living in texas and when i think back upon my japanese food experience, the closest item that came to mind were those spam musubi snacks sold in the abc shops in hawaii. curious, i placed an order for the umeboshi variety and was in for a treat. the powerful flavor of the pickled plum was quite unexpected. it was slightly sweet, mouth-achingly sour yet savory at the same time. i liked it. i was glad to have an abundance of rice to accompany it because i could only take small nibbles of the plum at a time. since moving to new york, i've been able to try the other flavors as sold in the many east village japanese stores but i'm always disappointed at the amount of tuna or salmon they put in those varieties. the flavors aren't as strong and you feel like you just end up eating a whole bunch white rice. tonight, i decided to create a very simple dinner using similar ingredients as my favorite onigiri: tuna. i served mine with a handful of boiled and salted edamame.



japanese tuna salad
(serves 1)

ingredients:
1 serving of cooked japanese white rice (room-temperature or slightly cold)
1 can (6 oz) tuna in water, drained
1/2 tsp sesame oil
1 tbsp japanese mayonnaise *
1/4 tsp soy sauce
1 tbsp of your favorite furikake rice seasoning **

instructions:
in a small bowl, combine tuna, sesame oil, mayonnaise and soy sauce and mix thoroughly. add the tuna mixture on top of the cooled bowl of rice and sprinkle the furikaki seasoning on top.

notes:
* "kewpie" is the most well-known brand
** can be found in your local asian grocery store; see wiki entry here