What is Mexican Tuna Salad?
Mexican tuna salad is a spicy spin on this classic dish. Diced jalapéno peppers add heat, while cilantro and lime juice offer a refreshing kick. The tuna is mixed with these ingredients, plus onions, cucumber, and oil as the dressing. The tuna is used for wraps, sandwiches, and other savory dishes.. The flavors are hot, salty, and savory, with a medium-soft texture.
Ingredients
Albacore tuna is a canned fish product made from chunks of albacore tuna and preserved in water and salt. The tuna has a dry, flaky texture with a color that is white. The flavor is strong and fishy. Albacore tuna is often used in salads and casseroles and can be eaten cold or hot.
Lime juice comes from the citrus fruit of the lime tree. Limes are round and roughly the size of a small plum, but can vary. Limes have a firm texture with green rind. The pale green flesh of the lime is firm, pulpy and juicy, much like a lemon, but harder. The juice is squeezed from the flesh and is a pale green color with a sour and refreshing taste and is used in drinks and food items, including sauces.
The cucumber is a vine-growing vegetable with a shiny, smooth green skin and a long round body. Cucumbers vary in size depending on when they were picked and the variety of the vegetable. They can be a few inches, or over a foot long and are wide like a zucchini. Though smooth, they skin may be ridged, or have sparse and tiny rough spots. The flesh is a pale white green with a soft yet firm and crunchy texture that is full of water. Seeds run down the middle of the cucumber. This vegetable has a refreshing and mildly green and watery taste. Cucumbers are best eaten raw.
The red onion is a type of onion and a bulb vegetable, meaning its bulb and not its leaves are eaten. Onions come in many varieties, including white, yellow and red. The onion is usually round and has a thin dry skin around its juicy layers. The skin is a purple/red tone as is the flesh. The body of the onion is made of multiple round layers, that get smaller towards the center. The flavor of onions are sharp and sweet when raw, with an astringent taste. When cooked, these flavors mellow and the sweetness emerges. Onion are a very common flavoring and ingredient for many savory dishes.
The bell pepper is a vegetable by culinary measures, but botanically it is a fruit. Bell peppers grow in warm to hot climates and are somewhat bell shaped, hence the name. They are large, with wide ridges and smooth, shiny, thin skin. The flesh of the bell pepper is thin, crunchy and a bit juicy. They four main colors of bell peppers are red, green, orange and yellow, some are purple. The flavor is sweet, vegetal and mild. The inside has seeds that should be remove before consuming the flesh of the pepper. These peppers are used in dishes, both raw and cooked.
Olive oil is extracted from the fresh olive, which grows on a tree. Many olives are needed in the extraction of the oil. This is done by a mechanical process and sometimes by a chemical process, though the mechanical method is highly preferred. Olive oil is a golden color and changes slightly due to whether it is extra virgin, or first cold pressed. The flavor of olive oil depends on how it was processed. Lower quality oils will taste mild, while high quality olive oils will have a robust flavor that is green, or may have a spicy quality. Extra virgin and first cold pressed or preferred. Olive oil lends a depth of flavor to any savory dish.
Jalapeños are a popular hot pepper with a medium-width body that is short and tapered. These peppers have a shiny thin skin and are often picked while green, and not fully mature. When jalapeños mature they turn red, as do many hot peppers. The thin green flesh of the jalapeño is crispy, with a hint of juice and very hot. Jalapeños also have a mild green flavor and contain extremely spicy seeds in their centers. The uses vary widely and jalapeños can be found in hot sauce, salsa, guacamole, cornbread and more. They are almost always used fresh or pickled.
Cilantro is a leafy herb with a thin green stalk and small, partially fringed green leaves that look similar to a three leaf clover. It has a distinct smell that is similar to a lime and a flavor to match that. In addition, it smells and tastes the same and has a strong flavor with a hint of greens. Due to a genetic trait, some people find that cilantro tastes like soap. This herb is used in many cuisines, particularly from Asia and Central and South America.
Cumin is a spice used in many cuisines around the world. The seed from which cumin is ground is a thin seed with a long body and tapered ends. Cumin is just a few millimeters in length and has a light brown or tan tone, which can look a bit grey. Ground cumin is light brown and has a flavor that is spicy, earthy and a little nutty. When pan heated, the flavor of cumin is both tempered and enhanced.
Salt and pepper is a seasoning mix composed of these two ingredients. Black pepper has a cool and mildly spicy flavor. Salt brings out the flavor in food. This combination is a mix of grey/black and white granules. It is used on many savory dishes to boost the flavor.
