Zoe Cuisine

Curry Tuna Salad

Curry tuna salad sandwiches are one of my favorites. Flour Bakery and Cafe in Boston's South End and Fort Point neighborhoods makes one of the best that I have found. Definitely check them out if you are ever in the area, they have fabulous homemade sandwiches and pastries served in a casual take-away atmosphere. The issue I have with ordering tuna salad when dining out, is that it is loaded with mayo - typically much more than you would use at home. I wanted to find a way to lighten up this tuna salad treat without sacrificing any flavor. I found a recipe on the Food Network website from their test kitchens that looked pretty good. With just a few tweaks, I came up with a scrumptious tuna curry that you won't feel guilty eating.

 

Ingredients

Two 6 ounce cans white meat tuna packed in water, drained

3 tablespoons minced red onion, soaked in cold water for 5 minutes, drained

1 tablespoon finely chopped cilantro

2 tablespoons diced dried apricots or raisins

2 teaspoons vegetable oil, like soy, peanut, or corn

1 tablespoon Madras-style curry powder

2 tablespoons mayonnaise

3 tablespoons plain greek yogurt - such as Fage (please only use greek and not regular yogurt, the flavor will not be the same!!)

1 tablespoon prepared mango chutney, I like the Stonewall Kitchen brand but any will do

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

1/2 teaspoon fresh squeezed lemon or lime juice

Directions

In a mixing bowl break the tuna up with a fork. Toss with the onion, fresh cilantro, and raisins or apricots.

In a small saute pan, heat the oil over medium heat, add the curry powder, and stir until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Remove pan from the heat and set oil aside to cool. This step enhances the flavor of the curry powder considerably.

Note: Curry powders can vary drastically in their heat. I would try this recipe first with the 1 tablespoon recommendation of curry powder, however you may want to increase the amount depending on the type of spice you like. The amount listed here will make a very mildly spicy curry. It is better to start light on the curry and add more if needed at the end because you can not take the curry out once you add it!

Pour the curry/oil mixture over the tuna, then add the mayo and yogurt one tablespoon at a time until you reach your desired consistency - you might not need it all or you may want to add more. Add the lime juice, salt and pepper and mix thoroughly. You can serve this on your favorite bread as a sandwich, or over greens as a salad. It is also very nice topped with some toasted slivered almonds.

Yield: 3 to 4 servings

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Better Egg Salad

I don't know about you, but I have never been a huge fan of egg salad. Typically prepared with mostly just mayonnaise and chopped hard boiled eggs, I would always pass it over when contemplating a sandwich since it seemed like such an unhealthy option. Seeing those bins of it in the deli counter with a film over the top never helped the matter. However, I absolutely love deviled and hard boiled eggs, so I figured maybe I could try my hand at egg salad at home and come up with something that wasn't so scary. I love the result I came up with, I hope you do too!

3 hard boiled eggs, peeled and diced

1 heaping teaspoon mayo

1 heaping teaspoon whole grain mustard

1/2 teaspoon (or just a squirt) of lemon juice

1 teaspoon capers, drained of juice

dash of tobasco sauce

dash of cayenne pepper

salt and pepper to taste

Mix everything together and serve on your favorite bread or on top of a salad. This makes enough for one very generous sandwich.

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