Even though we’ve got pretty great weather year-round here in Honolulu, I’m certainly not immune to a little spring fever. The longer, warmer days mean even more frequent trips to the beach and, more importantly, more frequent beach picnics.
While I’d love to be the kind of person who can put together a magazine shoot-worthy picnic set atop a chic table in a bag, more often than not, my picnics consist of several friends huddling around a cooler, passing around Pyrex containers of food. While I may fall short when it comes to providing ambiance, I’d like to think I can put together a mean assortment of food. And this curried tuna salad? I can assure you that it’ll probably be in just about every cooler I pack this summer.
In this quick and easy dish, canned tuna is combined with sauteed onions, garlic, ginger and a hefty dose of curry powder while some sliced Serrano chile pepper provide a bit of heat . I’d happily eat this stuff plain with a fork, with crackers or in a sandwich. Hot, warm or cold. With mayo or without. Honestly, it’s hard to go wrong here.
Although I kept the salad plain and simple this time, I imagine the same sort of extras that you’d find in curried chicken salad (grapes, raisins and/or chopped apples) would all be welcome additions here as well.
Curried Tuna Salad
Yield: 3-4 servings
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 15 minutes
Ingredients:
* 1/4 cup oil
* 1 medium yellow onion, finely chopped
* 4 cloves garlic, minced
* 2 teaspoons finely minced or grated fresh ginger
* 1 Tablespoon curry powder
* 3 cans (6 ounces each) tuna, drained
* 1/2 Serrano chile pepper, finely sliced
* salt
* pepper
* 1/2 cup chopped cilantro leaves
* mayonnaise (optional)
Other optional add-ins: cut grapes, raisins and/or chopped apples
Directions:
Heat the oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened. Add the garlic and ginger and cook, stirring frequently, until the mixture begins to turn golden. Add the curry powder and stir to coat.
Add the tuna and Serrano chile pepper and cook, stirring occasionally until heated through. Add salt and pepper to taste and then stir in the cilantro leaves. Add in the mayonnaise, if desired. Serve hot, at room temperature, or chilled.
I’ve decided that I don’t pay enough attention to sauces, often considering them nothing more than an afterthought. Bad call on my part.
But now I know better. It was actually Cambodian food that made me see the light, specifically this 
Although we’re experiencing a minor cold snap out here in Hawaii, it seems like the rest of the country is finally starting to warm up. So it’s a good bet that many of you are starting the transition from hearty soups to lighter fare.
Your favorite filet of fish is poached in lemongrass-infused water (or if you’ve got some leftover fish to use up, feel free to use that instead), flaked, and then combined with plenty of shallots, chili pepper, and herbs. The mixture is then tossed in a shallot and lime juice dressing. It’s refreshing, lightly spicy and filling without being heavy.
When I went gluten-free, my burger consumption plummeted. No longer being able to eat the gluten-filled versions at Nico’s Pier 38 meant that burgers became something of a complicated meal to make at home. Gluten-free buns had to be procured from the vegetarian health food store. The ground beef and all the other fixings from another market, etc.
But it occurs to me that maybe I’ve been going about gluten-free burgers all wrong. Instead of making a bland patty that needs to be dressed up with condiments, why not pack all the flavor into a compact, little package and skip the bread altogether?
Infused with a shallot, garlic, ginger and lemongrass paste, these sliders are simple to make, but just as good as those cheeseburgers that I used to enjoy so much. A bit of rice is mixed in with the ground beef to help bind the mixture and provide some starchy goodness.
My first experience with carrot salad? The grated version that’s loaded with raisins and walnuts and drowning in a super-sweet dressing. It was perfect for my tween palate, but these days I’m looking for more depth than that overly sweet, kid-friendly dish.
For fans of Thai or Vietnamese green papaya salad, this carrot salad has a very similar texture and flavor. That’s great news for any of you who love the taste of green papaya salad, but don’t have access to an extremely well-stocked Asian market. No green papaya? No problem.
With the exception of a great 
Although this Burmese rice cake is made with whole sticky rice, as opposed to sticky rice flour, both desserts are sweetened with palm (or brown sugar), which gives the cakes a nice, caramel quality and flavor. It also couldn’t be much simpler. Just toss a bunch of ingredients in a rice cooker (or saucepan), cook until the rice is done, press into a pan and sprinkle with coconut. Easy.
When I get invited to a potluck or dinner at a friend’s place, it pretty much goes without saying that I’m the one responsible for bringing dessert. And more often than not, my dessert of choice is cookies. They’re easily portable, I can prep the dough ahead of time, and they don’t require any fuss (plates, utensils, etc.) on location.
I take a certain amount of pride in the fact that they’re always a hit, regardless of whether the other guests are gluten-free or not. But there’s always a faction of people that leave me totally exasperated: the people who don’t like sweets and avoid the dessert altogether.
These candied bacon chocolate chip cookies are my strategy in curing those seemingly odd ducks. The cookie dough is made with butter and bacon grease, which infuses every bite with a faint porky, savory goodness. And plenty of candied bacon is mixed in along with a generous amount of chocolate chips.
I went to my favorite fish market a couple weekends ago, all set to follow through on my resolution of getting more Omega-3 fatty acids in my diet in 2013. Unfortunately just about everybody else must have had the same idea because the only fish available for less than $20 per pound were these salmon filets.
But since two of the ingredients in my beloved fish and furikake bowl are temporarily off-limits (rice, mayonnaise), I had to come up with something a tad healthier.