Canned Tuna Cold Dish with Bean Sprouts and Shio Kombu

There are about four canned tuna left since the last time I made some pasta with it, pasta al tonno if you're interested. So I'm slowly digesting the remaining canned tuna. This time around, I managed to use up one more stock by making a simple cold dish.   

Canned tuna cold dish with bean sprouts and shio kombu -

Ingredients?

• 3 cups loosely-packed bean sprouts
• 1 canned tuna (about 140 grams solids)
• 30 grams shio kombu 塩昆布 (less salty version)
• 2 long and skinny cucumber
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon granulated sugar
• Some red chili sauce (optional)

How?

Pick out the stems for the bean sprouts. Sometimes you can find already trimmed bean sprouts at the market, if you see such item, even with a slightly more expensive price tag, just do it. Never a big fan picking the stems out myself, it can be quite strenuous.

Bring a pot of water to a boil and cook the bean sprouts, about one minute will do. Once done, drain and set aside till completely cool down. You can also store cooked bean sprouts in the fridge to speed up the cooling time. Once cool enough, transfer the bean sprouts to a big mixing bowl.

Destem and slice the cucumbers to threads. Add the cucumber threads to a bowl and sprinkle 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Give it a nice massage to rub in the salt. Rest for five minutes.

The salt will help drawing out some liquid from the cucumber. Squeeze "very hard" to remove any excess liquid then transfer to the big mixing bowl.

To the mixing bowl, add in drained canned tuna along with 1 tablespoon of sesame oil, 1/2 teaspoon of sugar, and some chili sauce if preferred. Mix till evenly blended. 

Taste and see how much shio kombu need to be used here. I added 30 grams of the less salty variety here. Reduce the amount used if the mixture is already on the salty side.

Mix till evenly blended again. Plate and serve as it is.

Even though this recipe is originally designed to serve cold, but I actually heated up the very last bit and ate together with some rice, not bad either.

Other recipe using canned tuna:

• Pasta al tonno (pasta with tomatoes, capers, and canned tuna)