Her method is to microwave the carrots, onion, garlic, and oil in a bowl covered with plastic wrap for about a minute and a half. Since I don’t have a microwave, I did this in a pan and it worked out great. The tangy dressing goes well with the sweetness of the carrots and the addition of tuna makes it feel substantial. It’s really my kind of salad—great texture and a good amount of protein. I know it’s only January, but with LA weather in the 80s, I’m already thinking this would be perfect to take on a picnic.

Carrot and Tuna Salad
Adapted from Your Japanese Kitchen 2
Makes 4 servings

4 medium carrots (about 7 oz./200g), cut into matchsticks
1/4 small onion, finely chopped
1 large clove garlic, finely chopped
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 can solid white tuna, drained

1 Tbsp red or white wine vinegar
1 Tbsp Dijon mustard
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1/4 tsp shoyu
ground pepper

In a small bowl, combine the vinegar, mustard, lemon juice, shoyu, and ground pepper. Mix well and set aside.

In a pan, heat the oil over medium heat and add the onion. Cook until soft, stirring occasionally, about 3 to 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add carrots and stir well. Cook until the carrots are “al dente”—soft, but not mushy, about 5 minutes. Transfer to a large bowl.

Add the tuna and the dressing to the bowl and mix until thoroughly combined. Let sit at room temperature or in the refrigerator for about an hour to let the flavors meld before eating.

Sometimes it’s hard to modernize traditional dishes successfully, but this is a good example of it. Even though this isn’t a typical chirashi, it manages to keep the essence and spirit of the original dish. I picked this recipe only because the ingredients were accessible, so I was surprised at how much I liked it. This dish would go well with miso soup and a simple nimono (stewed or braised dish). I hope you have a chance to make it!

Tuna Chirashi with Snow Peas | Tsuna Soboro to Kinusaya no Chirashizushi
Adapted from きょうの料理ビギナーズ（2010年３月号）
Makes 2 servings

15 snow peas
1 can solid tuna packed in oil, drained
1/2 tsp. curry powder
1 tsp. shoyu
pinch of salt
pinch of finely ground pepper
14 oz. sushi rice (recipe below)

Blanch the snow peas by cooking in boiling water for 1 minute, drain, then shock them in a bowl of ice water. Drain well and pat dry with a paper towel. Trim ends and cut diagonally into 1/2″ pieces.

In a small pan, cook the tuna over medium heat. With the back of a wooden spoon, break up the pieces of tuna into small flakes. Add the curry powder, shoyu, salt, and pepper. Mix until well combined and then turn the heat off and set aside.

In a large bowl, add the sushi rice (you can use the bowl you were using to mix and cool the vinegared rice) and the tuna. Mix until well incorporated, then add the snow peas and fold in.

Sushi Rice
14 oz. cooked short-grain rice
2 Tbsp. rice vinegar
1 2/3 tsp. sugar
2/3 tsp. salt

Heat the vinegar, sugar, and salt in a small pan over low heat and whisk until the sugar and salt is dissolved. Set aside to cool.

Put the hot rice in a large bowl. Take the rice scoop and hold it over the bowl with the flat side parallel to the counter. Slowly pour the vinegar mixture onto the scoop and rotate around so the vinegar mixture pours evenly around the rice. Mix the rice quickly to combine, then fan the rice to cool. Don’t mix the rice too much at this point, otherwise the rice will become mushy. I mixed the rice a total of 2-3 times when fanning, just to make sure the rice was completely cool. When you mix, do it in a folding/cutting motion, being careful not to crush the rice. The rice is ready once it has completely cooled.

I usually buy the Trader Joe’s brand albacore tuna in water because it’s relatively inexpensive and the meat is nice and dense. Recently, we bought Chicken of the Sea, and though it’s cheaper, the meat was mush. For this recipe, you want to end up with a very dry and flaky tuna, and it took this brand a lot longer to cook the moisture off.

I finished it off with shichimi, but next time pickled ginger would give it a more appropriate punch… oh, and some tobiko would be divine.

Tuna Avocado Donburi
Makes 2 servings

½ tsp oil
1 can tuna, drained
1 tsp shoyu
1¼ tsp sugar
1 tsp sake
½ sheet nori, cut into thin strips with kitchen shears
1 avocado, mashed
steamed rice
shichimi

Heat the oil over medium high heat. Fry the tuna in the pan for a couple of minutes until the moisture has evaporated. Add the shoyu, sugar, and sake and continue to cook until the liquid has cooked off and you’re left with dry, flaky tuna.

Assemble the donburi with hot rice on the bottom, then add nori, tuna, and avocado. Sprinkle with shichimi and serve.

Download recipe (PDF)