“Tuna” Gunkan Maki Sushi (Vegan)

I’ve made the Watermelon Tuna multiple times in the past few weeks, but every time I do, it still blows my mind. These oven roasted, soy-marinated watermelons achieve a total change in texture and taste, making them a good substitute for tuna. Get seated, It’s time for some plant-based omakase!

The Watermelon “Tuna”

Let’s get straight into what kind of magic I’ve done to the watermelon to transform them into tuna. The process involves three main steps: 1) Marinate. 2) Roast. 3) Marinate.

Okay, that’s only three words. But if you really took your time, you can do this for a few days, especially the marinating part (granted, the more you marinate, the more tender & flavorful your watermelon will become!). The initial marinade consists of soy sauce, sesame oil, mirin, and seaweed flakes — it’s meant to help you infuse all those familiar umami and briny flavors into the watermelon.

Roasting Watermelon

Yep, you read that right. We’re roasting the watermelon to give it that slightly squishy yet firm tuna texture. The roast is a very slow one — the low temperature will slowly tenderize the watermelon without charring or caramelizing it, so as to retain that raw look.

Finally

The final marinade is a brief but important one. After a couple of trials, I realized that when you place the hot watermelon (after roasting) back into the cold marinade, you not only allow the watermelon to cool down quicker, but allow the watermelon to re-absorb all that umami flavor from the marinade.

Once you have this final product, the limits are endless! For instance, you can make this Poke Bowl with just some fresh vegetables and a vegan wasabi mayo.

Tuna Gunkan Maki Sushi

5 from 12 votes

Recipe by George L. Course: LunchCuisine: JapaneseDifficulty: Medium

Servings

2

servings

Prep time

5

hours 

Cooking time

10

minutes

Oven-roasted, soy-marinated watermelon that achieves texture just like tuna.

Ingredients

• Watermelon “Tuna”

• 200 grams watermelon, cubed

• 4 tablespoons soy sauce

• 3 tablespoons sesame oil

• 1 tablespoon mirin (or rice wine)

• 1/2 teaspoon dried seaweed flakes
  

• 1/2 teaspoon chili powder

• Gunkan Maki Sushi

• 1 cup rice

• 1 tablespoon rice vinegar

• 1 teaspoon sugar

• Watermelon “Tuna,” roughly chopped

• 1 piece nori, sliced into strips

Directions

• Combine all the marinade ingredients and marinate the watermelons in the refrigerator for at least 6 hours (preferably overnight).
• I actually forgot about them and left them in the refrigerator for 2 days… The color is still vibrantly red but I could smell that they’ve taken up all that umami flavor! Preheat the oven to 275 F (135 C) and place them on a parchment paper lined baking tray. Save most of the marinade.
• Bake in the preheated oven for 1.5 hours to 2 hours. Make sure to use a spatula to turn them or move them around once every 30 minutes or so. In the end, the watermelon should become squishy and bouncy. At this point, place them back into the marinade while you prepare your other ingredients.
• Now onto the sushi rice. Take some freshly cooked rice and mix with rice vinegar and sugar with a rice scooper. You should be doing this while the rice is still hot*
• Make oval rice balls in your palm (dampened with water!) and set them aside to let dry.
• Take your “tuna” out of the marinade and roughly chop them. At this point you can remove all the seeds that were buried within the watermelon cubes.
• When everything is prepared, take out your nori and slice length-wise into strips. You want to do this rather fast*. Using dry hands, roll the nori strip around the oval rice balls, and close up the ends.
• Spoon a healthy portion of the minced tuna — enjoy immediately!

Notes

• The hot / warm rice will allow the sugar to melt and be incorporated nicely.
• The reason we’re preparing the nori last is because it absorbs water from the air and becomes soggy very fast — keep the nori in its container as soon as possible!
• Since watermelon “tuna” has more moisture than real tuna, the nori will become soggy very fast once you finish assembling the gunkan maki. So, for best texture, enjoy the sushi as soon as it is made.

Did you make this recipe? I’d love to see your recreations!

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