How To Make DIY Spicy Tuna Sushi

Since I am watching my finances these days like most people, I've been making a lot of food at home, including my own sushi. One of my favorites is spicy tuna, and with a little experimentation, I figured out how to make my own!

DIY Spicy Tuna Sushi

Ingredients:
1 slab of raw sushi-grade tuna OR 1 package (about 1 cup) of preground raw tuna belly - sometimes Japanese markets have these. If you can't buy sushi-grade tuna near you, order it from Catalina Offshore Products.
2 scallions, finely chopped
2 tablespoons mayonnaise (use Kewpie if you can find it, if not, regular mayo is fine)
Chili oil or Sriracha sauce to taste - add 1/4 tsp at a time until you reach your desired heat level

Preparation:
Dice the tuna in small pieces and then chop it as finely as you can. Place it in a bowl and mix in the scallions, mayonnaise, chili oil or sriracha, and mix well. And that's it! From here you can serve it over rice and have a spicy tuna bowl, or roll it into maki sushi rolls or hand rolls. You can even just make the spicy mayonnaise on its own by combining everything above except the fish, and add the mayo to other fish such as salmon, yellowtail, scallops, mussels ... remember, the spicy mayo is the key ingredient in many sushi items called "Dynamite" and "Volcano." Sushi chefs put the spicy mayo in a squeeze bottle and decorate dishes with fancy swirls of it. Try searing some ahi tuna and squeezing a few lines of spicy mayo around it.

(Image: Kathryn Hill)

Comments (15)

You can use this same recipe and sub cooked crab--even cheaper!

Aren't ALL recipes understood to be "DIY"?
Your headline perturbs me. Just because an item is exotic does not mean you're revolutionary and being all bad with your DIY self by making it, it just means you're expanding your horizons. Golly.

That sounds so simple and delicious! Thanks for the tip about Catalina fish - I'm going to check it out. Ever since I moved to the country I have missed sushi soooo muuuuuch.

@Applefaerie, The Kitchn has a general convention of adding the DIY tag to recipes that many people wouldn't think to make at home. Sushi, jam, butter, other products we often buy prepared or out at restaurants. We definitely want to encourage people to broaden their culinary horizons, and the DIY tag is a way to signal those recipes and posts.

Hmmmm. Perhaps I am just far more adventurous than most. CARRY ON!

Fantastic post Kathryn! I'm gonna have to start making hand rolls more often!

a couple of drops of toasted sesame oil really rounds out the above recipe.

I add a small amount of hon-mirin or aji-mirin to mine. It really brings out a fuller flavor. But I start with mayonnaise that has no sugar it in, so YMMV if you're starting with a sweeter mayo.

I love that you use sriracha here. It's pretty well our favorite condiment around here. Recipe sounds delicious and so easy (and convenient) to prepare.

@applefaerie there is no need to be rude. What perturbs me is people talking down to other people just because they don't agree with something that has been said.

Sounds great! I just had sushi last night (finally, after a long dry spell), and enjoyed a new concoction: crab mixed with spicy mayo and smelt roe, wrapped with a thin slice of raw tuna. Unbelievably good. I might have to try it now!

wondering what you could possibly substitute mayo with? any ideas?

One fairly basic seasoning that's missing from this version is togarashi ichimi, which is dried, ground up, red chili of what I presume to be a special Japanese variety. Though I too use a bunch of sriracha when I make spicy tuna, I liberally sprinkle on the togarashi as well. Odds are, if any market near you carries sushi grade fish, it also carries togarashi.

Had a spicy tuna roll last night and as much as I try to appreciate people using mayonaisse in their rolls, it's not necessary. The spicy tuna roll I usually have at many places, do not use mayonaisse and I am very grateful for that.

On that note, I too have been wanting to try making sushi rolls, nigiri and sashimi at home. So when I sat at the sushi bar last night I finally asked the chef "what do you put in the spicy tuna roll? It is soo good!" He smiled and said "Tuna, sriracha, japanese chili powder, chili oil and that's it." I looked at my husband and said "That's it?! Oh I am soo gonna make these at home!"

So, for me no on mayo but for others, go for it! Either way, thank you for putting up this post. Hopefully it will encourage others to explore their sushi and knife skills at home!