Try this fish substitute if you’re trying to cut back on seafood!
The world has come a long way in terms of meat substitutes, with beef-free bowls, soy-based fried ham cutlets, and plant-based burgers readily available in restaurants around the world . But what we didn’t see was beautiful no meat substitute for fish. At least, not until now.
We happened to be shopping online when we saw this “Future Fish Marude Fish Maguro” (“I Can’t Believe It’s Not Fish! Tuna”), which looks exactly like real raw tuna. Of course, being huge fans of sushi, we absolutely had to try it.
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Wrapped tightly in a clear vacuum-sealed pack, Marude Sakana Maguro arrived at our door frozen, so we put it in the fridge to defrost for about a day. When it’s ready for consumption, we remove it from its pouch and pat it dry with paper towels. The result is so it’s like a real slab of raw tuna meatwe can’t believe it’s not!
It was a deep red color with white sinew lines and a slight sheen that made it look very convincing. We couldn’t help but wonder what could be made, so we looked at the ingredients. The first three are konjac flour, salt/gelling agent, and trehalosean ingredient to add sweetness and enhance flavor.
Konjac flour…interesting. Konjac is a starchy root vegetable, which in Japan is ground into flour and used to make the popular jelly-like slabs in Japanese cooking known as “konnyaku”. Using it as a tuna substitute made us wonder if it would taste like konnyaku instead of tuna.
Only one way to find out!
We decided to prepare it like we do ordinary fresh tuna: as sashimi. When we cut it, it held its shape, just like real tuna would. It’s so convincing that we really wouldn’t have believed it was made from konjac flour if we didn’t already know.
Like real tuna sashimi we dipped it in soy sauce before tasting.
Because it looks like tuna sashimi, we are physically and mentally prepared to eat tuna sashimi, even though we know we shouldn’t. So while the texture was pretty close to what we expected, the taste was a little confusing. It lacks that kind of gooey umami tuna that we know and love, so it takes a while for our taste buds to catch up with what our brain knows: that it is not, in fact, real tuna.
It was a unique experience.
Sashimi-style Marugoto Sakana Tuna is a bit messy, so we decided to try a preparation method recommended by Green Culture, the product’s retailer. “Eat it with avocado in a Zuke-don (Marinated Fish Bowl), or on a California Roll!” they said on the product page.
Zuke-don this is! We marinated our fishless tuna in soy sauce, heated mirin, sake, and garlic for 30 minutes. Then we put it on top of some white rice along with avocado slices.
As usual, we were really taken aback by its looks. How could this not be real tuna?!
A taste test revealed this Zuke-don is a far better way to eat Marugoto Sakana Maguro. Because the sauce completely penetrates the fake meat, it is more difficult to distinguish this substitute from real tuna. Pairing avocado makes a big difference, too. It’s totally weird, but definitely delicious.
This fish substitute would work perfectly in a Hawaiian poke bowl, or prepared like Korean yukhoe (seasoned raw beef) without eggs, or even in temaki, combined in a disappearing cone of seaweed with other sushi ingredients. As we ate, we dreamed up many ways to use it!
You can find Marude Sakana Maguro from the Green Culture Online Store for 990 yen (US$6.57) per package, excluding shipping. If you are on a plant-based diet or can’t eat fish, raw or cooked, this could be a great option to add to your repertoire! Just be aware that unlike real tuna, it has very little protein in it, so be sure to get your daily needs from somewhere else.
Green Culture Online also has other plant-based products, including Marude Sakana Salmon, Marude Negitoro (raw tuna and onions), and meatless chicken nuggets and sausages, so it could be a good resource to expand on. your weekly meal plan. And if you’re trying to cut back on meat, be sure to also check out this Tokyo restaurant that serves food eaten by Buddhist monks. Almost turned our meat-loving reporter Mr. Sato!
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