Beautiful little wonton with a spicy bite.
I never ate tuna any way other than out of a can until just a few years ago. When we were first married back in 1969 I think I was really into cooking or at least trying to learn to cook. I remember ordering a computerized menu plan for a month’s worth of recipes. I remember trying every one of them. My least favorite and I think that is why I had a mental block against tuna for years was a recipe for Tuna Noodle Rosie Casserole. I have to admit I hate hot tuna casseroles to this day because of this recipe. It was made with noodles, canned tuna, green peas and some kind of tomato soup or sauce. I gag even thinking of that recipe.
In the last few years I have tried more new things from pork belly to veal cheeks and even deer heart (at our day after Thanksgiving feast). So I have started revisiting tuna and if you try this recipe, I don’t think you will be disappointed.
I came across this recipe for Thai Wonton Chips and ALL it had on it was a few slivered vegetables. With a bunch of tweaking, I came up with this recipe. It was a favorite at one of the Christmas parties I catered recently.
I used a 2 1/4″ fluted cutter and stacked several wonton pieces on top of each other and cut several at a time. You could put these flat on a cookie sheet but I put them over mini muffin pans so they sunk down a little making more of a little bowl or cup. Don’t press into the pans though. Brush these with sesame oil and bake in 350° oven until nice and brown. Maybe 10 minutes or so.
You can use any kind of veggies you want. I used Napa cabbage, julienned carrots, a little green pepper and red bell pepper. I think some finely minced green onion would be a great addition.
Marinated tuna grilled 2 1/2 minutes per side. Chilled and then sliced.
I chilled the tuna down pretty quickly by putting on some crushed ice. You would want to marinate, grill, slice and serve the tuna on the same day. I bought this tuna in individual wrapped pieces in our frozen section. Each piece was under $3.00 and probably weighed about 3-4 oz. each.
I made about 160 of these the night of the party so I’m giving you a basic recipe and you can scale it down or up to suit how many people you are serving.
Sit back and enjoy!
Thai Tuna Wonton Chip
Ingredients
- 2-3 pcs. 3-4 oz. each fresh tuna (sushi grade)
- Marinade for tuna see below
- wonton or egg roll wrappers
- sesame oil
- Napa Cappage
- Green and Red Bell Pepper
- Carrot julienned
- Chili Garlic Sauce or Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce
- Sweet Soy Ginger Glaze from Williams Sonoma or make your own
- Tuna Marinade:
- 4 Tbsp. Rice vinegar
- 3 Tbsp. soy sauce
- 1-2 Tbsp. Sirarcha Hot Sauce
- 1-2 Tbsp. white wine
- 1/2 tsp. ginger powder
Instructions
- Cut the wontons with a 2 1/4" cutter. Brush with sesame oil and drape over a mini muffin pan hole. Do not push all the way in. Just let them cup a little making it bow a little. Bake these in a 350° until nice and brown. You can freeze at this point until you need them. I did mine weeks in advance.
- Marinade: Mix marinade ingredients and put the tuna in for about 30 minutes per side. Remove from marinade and sear 2 1/2-3 minutes per side. You will only want about 1/8-1/4" of the tuna on each side to cook.
- For the vegetables, cut the Napa cabbage in half and using a very sharp knife, slice very thin. Peel and zulienne carrots. Either try and julienne the bell peppers (I gave up) or chop finely. Set this aside.
- To assemble, put down the chips, top with a little of the veggie mixture. Put a dot (a dot is more than enough) of the chili paste on top of the veggies, top with small tuna piece then a drizzle of the Sweet Soy Ginger Glaze and finish with a sprinkle of black and white sesame seeds.
4 Comments
Kristi Rimkus
December 29, 2009 at 9:05 pmWhat a beautiful appetizer. I’m with you. My mother used to make tuna casserole with potato chips on top. Yuk! 🙂
Bromography
January 2, 2010 at 1:12 pmWow! A lovely spin on a tuna appetizer.
Sherry
January 2, 2010 at 2:15 pmNot only was it beautiful, it was delicious.
Dawn (KitchenTravels)
January 7, 2010 at 6:51 pmI made something similar to this for a dinner party years ago, and it was a huge hit. Your recipe looks even better, since back then I didn’t know about baking the wonton chips. But – my goodness! – 160? Hopefully I’ll never have to make that many at once! 😉