Fried Onion Tuna Salad with a Miso-Mustard dressing

Tuna salad isn’t a new invention, in fact I’m sure everyone has their own version of it. Especially on that last day before grocery shopping, when you’re scanning the pantry and the fridge, realizing that tuna tin could hold you over til you come home with fresh goods if you just mixed it with some fridge staples.

This tuna salad has a Miso-Mustard dressing, coating every piece of tuna without it going too creamy with mayo. It becomes perfectly dressed with Japanese kewpie and honey. Plus, the most important part — crispy golden fried onions on top. It feels like the luxury that tuna salad needs.

Personally, I love a tuna salad. Though, I have some rules. Firstly, I don’t want it to be too mayo-y. I’m sure a lot of people feel that way, it’s just too creamy when it’s covered in tons of mayo. I love to use Kewpie, a Japanese mayonnaise which is just superior and tastes better.

I love lots of fresh herbs, crisp celery, cucumber, spring onion, essentially crispy things that add texture and bite.

This tuna salad is Japanese-inspired with kewpie, spring onion, seaweed and a miso-mustard dressing. It’s a twist on a classic tuna salad with extra crispy fried onions that go sweet once fried. They are the perfect texture bomb that this salad needed.

Prepare this salad for lunch on the day of, as the fried onions and roasted seaweed are best eaten straight away. The rest of the salad keeps well for up to 3 days in a properly sealed container in the fridge. If you’re prepping for lunches ahead, just store the fried onions and seaweed in a separate container and sprinkle on your tuna salad just as you’re about to dig in.

Do you know what would be amazing with this, too? If you made a tuna sandwich from this tuna recipe and added the fried onions inside for that crunch. It reminds me of when I add potato chips into my rolls or subs for lunch. That potato chip, or in this case, fried onion crunch just takes that sandwich to the next level. Especially with tuna salad sandwiches, because they’re just mush in between two slices of bread. Well, not here they’re not! If you make this, let me know how you go!

Ingredients:

4 x small tins of tuna, approx. 380g, drained

3 tbsp kewpie

1 tbsp white miso

1 tbsp rice wine vinegar

1 tsp honey

1 tsp dijon mustard

juice of half a lemon

zest of a lemon

pinch of salt

2 stalks celery, diced

handful of green spring onions, sliced

1 packet roasted seaweed, 5g, crumbled

1/2 red onion, sliced

1/2 yellow onion, sliced

1 tbsp corn starch

1/2 cup neutral oil for frying, such as rice bran oil

Method:

Frying the onions: In a large pan, add in oil and turn to medium heat. Slice half a red onion and yellow onion into thin strips. Place in a mixing bowl and coat in corn starch. Once they are equally coated, drop one onion into the oil and see if it fizzles. If nothing happens, it’s not ready yet. If it fizzles, drop in the rest and spread them out so they are not crowded. It’s important to use a large, wide pan so the onions don’t fry too close together and clump into one giant fried onion pancake, which isn't so bad, but it’s just not what we need for this recipe. Once they are very lightly golden brown, strain off the oil and add to a paper-lined plate to cool, crisp up and absorb excess oil.

Making the tuna salad: In a small mixing bowl, add the kewpie, miso, honey, rice wine vinegar, lemon, dijon, a pinch of salt and zest. Whisk until creamy and incorporated. Add in tuna and mash with a fork until you get flakey, small tuna pieces and it’s all mixed in with the dressing. Add in celery and spring onion and mix through. Crumble a packet of roasted seaweed over top with your hands, not mixing through. Do the same with the fried onions, not mixing them through, just sitting them on top.

Enjoy.