Quick, simple, easy, fresh but filling ! And easy yet very tasty mediterranean twist to tuna salad that fills up hungry stomach at lunch on a school day. Great for my husband’s lunch, loved by my kids!

This is a very Simple salad! Besides cooking the rice (20 min) , prepping and assembling the ingredients takes minutes, even when cooking with your kids!

The goal of this blog is to demonstrate how to make simple, tasty, healthy meals with great DELICIOUS SCENT, COLOR, FLAVOR, TEXTURE with a steam cooker. Make your life easier even on a busy day, like mine, mom of 5 homeschooling mom.

Rice and canned tuna? How boring, you’ll say!

And I agree, fresh or frozen tuna steaks would be tastier, and healthier, but we will do that another time, and cook it differently.  Also, my kids LOVE it. Why? Texture and taste wise, brown rice and tuna go well together. And, I make it interesting. First, I use whole rice. Tastier! More nutrient dense! Second, it’s easier to change it, improvise with what’s in the fridge. I add olives, capers, shaved almonds. I use either tomatoes, or mini cocktail tomatoes (and this year, the ones from the market were SO GOOD!) for the crunch, I’ll add shaved almonds. Third, they make it with me! And they love it. And the plus is, they are so used to cutting by now (under careful supervision!), they are now very independent and don’t cut themselves! So, they REALLY are a help. I’ll make enough for two lunches, and they won’t be tired of it. Just like fried rice!

CANNED tuna?

Yeah, I agree, fresh or frozen tuna steaks would be tastier, and healthier, but we will do that another time, and cook it differently. And it would be excellent ! Another time for sure!

What about mercury?

Here is my perspective: By sweating, you get rid of quite an amount of toxins, because many toxins are stored in our body fat!  So yes, I’ll make sure to get outside and work out, sweat. Besides that, I decided to SWEAT OUT THE FOOD, in my steam cooker. Granted, I don’t have a proof, a study on the fact that steam cooking does sweat out toxins like mercury. However, be aware that studies from a decade ago concluded that many toxines including heavy metals exit our body more through sweat than other detoxification pathways. And although they do exit better through sweat-inducing exercise than sitting in a sauna , I won’t turn down a sauna session either!

If we humans sweat out heavy metals, by extension, steaming your fish may help decrease the level of toxins in the tuna meat. Disclaimer: this is NOT a scientific assertion, just a LOGICAL ONE.  So, until we get a study on that, I don’t feed my kids tuna every day, and for the rest, I steam tuna for about 5 minutes in a strainer, before it goes into the salad. There you go, a bit less worried. Meanwhile, I make sure our diet is rich in selenium, which may help getting rid of mercury in our bodies.

In any case, I will say that most foods I have been cooking in the Vitaliseur steam cooker taste better. If you are interested to buy one, make sure to use my code “steamedcuisine” for a 10% discount! and no European VAT tax.

On olives:

Chose olives in glass jars or vacuum sealed olives over canned olives. Why? If you buy black olives in canned jar, they often are olives that are not ripe enough – hence have little taste! They are not true black olives, they are olives artificially blackened with ferrous gluconate, described on cans as “color stabilizer”. Not sure I want that in my system, when I don’t know what it does to me.

If you are eating black olives because the riper fruit is more nutritionally beneficial, search for wrinkled olives! These are the ones that have been grown on a tree the longest, and their taste is much stronger and interesting! A fruit picked too early is nutritionally deficient compared to a fruit kept as long as possible on its tree. The taste should be a clue. Speaking of olives, I am planning a post on making real creamy tapenade (the chunky olive pieces in a jar is not a thing in southern France, I am sorry to report) in 5 minutes with vacuumed sealed olive mix! So, stay tuned!

Onions

YES, my kids will eat onions. Once upon a time, my then 2-yo oldest child ate them raw! These days, I cook them ( steam them!), but they also like them pickled in apple cider vinegar and water. Either way, that makes the onion taste more interesting and gives the salad a flair!

Shaved almonds:

I love salad in the summer, but in the mix of texture I always like a crunch, something to have under my teeth to chew on. It’s deeply satisfying! It can be almonds ( whole, roasted, shaved, slivered: take your pick), pecans, walnuts, cashews…

I rarely roast them 1) because it takes a bit more time and 2) because I don’t want to damage the healthy fats in nuts! It sure is delicious roasted in a pan on low fire for 5 minutes too!

Note on cooking rice:

Let’s be honest, I do have an instant pot. BUT I do not use it for rice! Why ? It’s often busy with bone broth or yogurt: it’s a pot I use for side stuff.

On an everyday basis when I cook for my kids, turning on my steam cooker and not having too many pots to worry about is easier.

Also, I find the steam cooked rice tastier, because I don’t cook it as long. Know that the longer you cook foods, the higher its glycemic index! So, a mushy rice is going to be a sweeter, but also much more caloric rice. If you have an insulin resistance profile, go for a shorter cooking time, with a slightly crunchy rice!  The texture is also more interesting, and you are forced to chew more, which improves digestion.

NOTE ON EQUIPMENT:

When I cook grains in my steam cooker, I do it in a stainless-steel bowl, preferably, because it does not break. I do choose my bowls with care because it’s a long-term investment and because I use it all the time. I chose stainless steel 18/10 or 18/8 grades because these are the safest health wise.

Only special equipment I use here is my steam cooker, the Vitaliseur which is irreplacable to me – I haven’t seen any one that came close to it, taste and speed wise. It also looks great. Click on Vitaliseur and read an article explaining more specifically what this steam cooker has that others don’t!

MAKE IT FUN FOR YOUR HELPER(S) !

At the end of the rice cooking process, when I make a rice salad, I make it fun for the kids; I turn the rice bowl upside down into the salad bowl and remove the bowl. The rice in the bowl makes a big mountain! They find that fun! After that we put all ingredients around the mountain before we mix.

They love pouring the dressing in, cutting olives, opening cans… whatever it is. The youngest usually gets to hold something for mommy.

I am not saying we do that every single day, but I would say once or twice a week I’ll have all helpers in, or one kid that needs mommy time will spontaneously help me.

And without further ado, here is my not-eaten-every-day rice and tuna salad !

Find Other Family Friendly Gluten Free Entree Salad Recipes On This Website :

• Kale & Quinoa Lemony Goodness salad
• Fried Rice, Steamed Cuisine Style
• Stuffed Peppers, Steamed cuisine Style

Now to the recipe card!

Bon appétit!

Yield: 6 plates or more depending on the amount of rice.

Mediterranean Steamed Rice and Tuna Salad

Print

Quick, simple, easy, fresh but filling ! And easy yet very tasty mediterranean twist to tuna salad that fills up hungry stomach at lunch on a school day. Great for my husband's lunch, loved by my kids!

Prep Time 10 minutes

Tuna Cooking Time 5 minutes

RIce Cook Time 20 minutes

Total Time 35 minutes

Ingredients

• 2 cans of tuna
• 2 cups of dry brown rice ( I love Sukoyaka Brown Rice, Genmai, )
• 12 oz of cocktail tomatoes cut in two, or 3 tomatoes, sliced
• 1 yellow pepper, diced
• 2 green onions or ½ pickled onion (in apple cider vinegar, water and a bit of honey)
• ½ cup capers, or cornichons, sliced
• 3/4 cup green olives from a glass jar, cut in two
• Optional: ¼ cup shaved almonds
• Optional: One cup packed arugula

DRESSING

• 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil,
• 1 tbsp grey sea salt
• 1 tbsp organic dried oregano,

Instructions

1. Fill up the pot of the steam cooker with about 3 inches of water. Turn on your steam cooker/ Vitaliseur
2. If you have a kettle, preheat some water and stop it before it boils (160 F is enough). Meanwhile, rinse the rice, then place the rice in a stainless steel bowl and cover with a volume and a half warm water from your kettle (here 3 cups of rice will cook in 4 ½ cups of water). It should cook for about 20 minutes
3. Meanwhile enroll your little helpers to cut the tomatoes in two or slice them, cut the peppers, cut the green onions in half-inch pieces, slice the olives in three or in two, lengthwise.
4. Once the rice is cooked, use hot pan grabbing tongs  to pick from the steam cooker without burning yourself (like that). Let cool a bit, then move the rice to the salad bowl and turn it upside to transfer the rice all at once into the salad bowl.
5. Transfer all salad ingredients into the salad bowl: tomatoes, green onions, peppers, olives, cornichons or capers, shaved almonds, tuna. Be crazy, add more vegetables! I like adding a little green like cut spinach leaves too, for color and to add more flair and taste.
6. In a jar, add olive oil, oregano , salt, vinegar. Close with a lid, shake! Open and pour across the salad.
7. Mix with salad tongs
8. Serve, enjoy! Bon appétit!

Notes

When I cook grains in my steam cooker, I do it in a stainless-steel bowl, preferably, because it does not break. I do choose my bowls with care because it’s a long-term investment and because I use it all the time. I chose stainless steel 18/10 or 18/8 grades because these are the safest health wise. Here are various sizes of stainless steel bowls and a gripper ( you need one, gentle steam is hot, even if that is not as hot as a hot oven!)

TO purchase a Vitaliseur de Marion, go to this website and use my code "steamed cuisine". Feel free to email me at bernadette@steamedcuisinelifestyle.com if you run into any issue!

Nutrition Information

Yield

8

Serving Size

1
Amount Per Serving Calories 313Total Fat 18gSaturated Fat 2gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 15gCholesterol 13mgSodium 1630mgCarbohydrates 27gFiber 6gSugar 4gProtein 14g

These calculations are computer generated. they indicative, they are not comprehensive and accurate. They do not reflect the quality of ingredients you bring in. Remember your body does not respond only to calories but to the quality of ingredients !