The most genius idea we saw this week had to be the watermelon sashimi we ate at Onaka ARC just a few hours back. Curious how Chef Jason came up with this idea, we decided to google and found a few links to making this “fake tuna” healthy raw sashimi. Here they are: baked watermelon steak, cured watermelon crudo and here is a step by step tutorial taken from this site to make Vietnamese compressed watermelon sashimi.
For this recipe you will need:
- Watermelon
- Japanese daikon
- Shiso leaves (labeled ooba or aojiso, also known as perilla leaves)
- Nuoc Cham Ga (sweet chilli sauce)
- Fish sauce (For vegans to not include this as I believe it just adds that fishy taste to the melon) to replace with soy sauce
Instead of cutting a watermelon in half in the usual fashion, begin by cutting the ends off. This provides a flat base to stand the watermelon up vertically.
Slice off the rind, exposing the whole watermelon.
Next, chop the watermelon into thirds, lengthwise. Reserve the two rounded parts for later.
Cut the thick watermelon slab into thirds again. Again, reserve the rounded parts. We’re left with a rectangular block from the seedless inner watermelon core.
Trim the watermelon core into a steak so the edges are about 2.25″ x 1.25″.
Slice the steak into sashimi about 0.25″ thick.
Place the sashimi into a vacuum bag and add the Nuoc Cham Ga and fish sauce. I added about 0.5 tablespoons of each sauce. Coat each piece with sauce. We will definitely be omitting any sauces for this step.
Here’s a comparison of the watermelon before (right) and after (left) using the chamber vacuum sealer. It really transforms the color and texture.
Lastly, shred some daikon and garnish with shiso leaves.
Mr & Mrs Vegan 
Hey guys! Thanks for leaving comments on my blog~ Yours is lovely too! And wow… It’s nice to see what the process of making the watermelon sashimi is like~ Hahaha! I was at the gathering yesterday as well! 🙂
We must definitely bump into each other in person the next time! Thanks for dropping by ours:)