Vegan Tuna Crispy Rice Bites
Sweet, juicy watermelon marinated in soy and sesame, layered over shatteringly crispy rice, finished with avocado and spicy mayo. This is your new favourite summer appetiser!
Ingredients
For the watermelon tuna
- 2 cups watermelon (sliced in wedges/ cubes)
- 4 tbsp light soy sauce
- 1 tbsp vinegar/ lime juice
- 1 tbsp sesame seeds, toasted
- 2-3 tsp honey (optional)
For the crispy rice
- 1½-2 cups cooked short-grain rice (sushi rice/ jasmine rice)
- 1-1½ tbsp chilli oil
- 1-2 tbsp vinegar
- oil of choice (for cooking)
To assemble
- 1 avocado, sliced
- spicy mayo (see notes below for preparation)
Instructions
Marinate the watermelon
- In a large bowl, mix together the light soy sauce, lime juice/ vinegar toasted sesame seeds and honey.
- Add the watermelon wedges/ cubes to this marinade, turning them gently until they’re completely coated. Refrigerate for at least 4-6 hours/ overnight.
For the crispy rice
- Mix together the cooked rice, chilli oil and vinegar in a bowl.
- Line a loaf tin with cling film and spoon the rice mixture inside, flattening out the surface completely. Freeze overnight. Once ready to use, slice the frozen block into individual pieces.
- You can bake/ air-fry or shallow-fry these crispy rice blocks in a hot pan until crisp and golden. Do remember that the rice will release chilli oil when cooking, so you don’t need to add too much oil to the pan if shallow-frying.
Assemble
- To assemble, layer the crispy bites with avocado, the vegan tuna, spicy mayo (literally just mayo mixed with hot sauce!) and sesame seeds… and DIVE IN!
Notes
For the spicy mayonnaise, just mix together your hot sauce of choice (I love Sriracha) with mayonnaise.