A long time ago, Angie and I had lunch at Perry Street and the only memorable dish was a Blue Fin Tuna Burger. I’ve been wanting to recreate it, or at least a simplified version of it. It took me more than 8 months but it was worth the wait.
Tuna Sliders
~makes 5 appetizer sized burgers
Tuna Burger
- 10 ounces diced tuna – 2 cups
- 1 large egg
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch
- 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
Wasabi Mayo
- 2 1/2 teaspoons wasabi powder
- 2 1/2 teaspoons water
- 1/4 cup mayo
- 10 pieces of 3″ round white bread
- 15 slices of peeled cucumber (ultra thin – I used a mandolin)
1. Put tuna, egg, soy sauce, corn starch, and sesame oil in a food processor and pulse just a few times. It should be easy to form patties. Make five 3″ patties. Set aside
2. In a small bowl, mix wasabi powder with water to form a paste. Mix in the mayonnaise, until even. Set aside.
3. Lightly toast the bread rounds.
4. Heat a non-stick pan with non-stick spray on medium-high heat. Place the tuna patties on the pan and sear each side for less than a minute. Set on a plate to rest for 5 minutes. A little liquid may come out.
5. Form sliders by placing one bread round on the bottom, a tuna patty on top, then a dollop of wasabi (you won’t use all of it), 3 slices of cucumber on each, then the top bread round.
We both really enjoyed these Tuna Sliders and the only thing I would change is to marinate or pickle the cucumber slices next time, as an extra nice touch.
Since we had tuna, Lon played around with it too. Unfortunately, getting him to write down a recipe is like pulling teeth. His dish was so awesome though: diced tuna tossed in a spicy mayo dressing, some seaweed mixed in, served with rice crackers. It’ll be perfect for our next party!
Mmm… last night’s dinner was tuna heaven! Spicy tuna is one of my all time favorite sushi preparations, so I’ve practiced it. I can’t tell you the exact amounts of what I included but the basic recipe is: diced raw tuna (or the best is to pull scrapings of tuna off the bone), Sriracha (chili garlic sauce), a bit of sushi-rice vinegar, literally one drop of sesame oil (too much instantly kills the whole dish), cayenne pepper, and granulated garlic. Toss it together and let it sit for at least 10 minutes, 30 minutes is preferable.
You can garnish with sesame seeds if you like. In this recipe I also added a type of seaweed and sesame snack from Japan, although I don’t know what it’s called. And then served on top of Ka-Me Black Sesame and Soy Sauce Rice crisps. It’s the first time I’ve tried that flavor, but all the other flavors are awesome, so how could this one not be? They didn’t disappoint.
spicy tuna is one of my favorites too. where do you get your sashimi-grade tuna?
oh and what’s granulated garlic?
What a cute idea! Looks great!
Yummy! I love the sliders and I love the spicy tuna on crackers.
Sheng, we got the tuna at some new Chinese supermarket on Roosevelt in Flushing. I’m not sure it was sushi-grade though so we might die but….
Granulated garlic is small granules of dehydrated garlic so it’s a bit bigger than garlic powder.
Thanks Admin and JS! It was a super fun meal to eat.
To be honest I was slightly skeptical of tuna sliders, not really sure why. But today I went to Hog Island Oyster Bar (SF) for lunch and they were serving them. SO…I am definitely going to try this recipe.
manger la ville, I’m excited for you. Let me know what you think.