Learn how to make a plant based version of Maguro Donburi (Tuna Sashimi Rice Bowls) with tomatoes! This tomato ‘tuna’ bowl is easy, refreshing and perfect for the summer.
If there’s one thing I miss the most since going vegan, it’s def fish. Sashimi rice bowls were a summer time fav especially when we visited Japan in smack middle of summer … when it was h o t. 😵💫
🍅 Inspired by a tomato tuna poke bowl I had awhile back, I used a similar concept for these tomato ‘tuna’ rice bowls!
🍚 There are two styles of tuna rice bowls: zuke don & tekka don. Zuke don has marinated tuna pieces over white rice and tekka don is not marinated but served over sushi vinegared rice. So if you prefer a sushi-style bowl you can mix in some sushi vinegar and have sauce on the side.
Ingredients (+Substitutions) for Tomato ‘Tuna’
The ingredients used are very simple and similar to what would be used for traditional tuna sashimi bowls! If you cannot have alcohol, you can omit it but please take note that the flavour will change.
- Roma Tomatoes: Are smooth skinned and long in shape, perfect for making tuna-like shapes.
- Soy Sauce: For umami and flavour. Substitute tamari for gluten free.
- Sake: Helps remove some of that tomato-ey flavour and for flavour. However, it can be omitted.
- Mirin: For a bit of sweetness and flavour. Substitute with 1/4 amount of sugar if needed.
- Neutral oil: Gives it some fattiness and texture.
- Rice vinegar: For flavour.
- Kombu dashi granules: Gives it seafood flavour.
- Nori (seaweed): Again for seafood-like flavour.
To serve, you’ll also need some cooked rice, scallions, toasted sesame seeds and more nori.
How to Make Tomato Tuna
- Make marinade: Add soy sauce, mirin, sake, rice vinegar, neutral oil and kombu dashi granules to a shallow dish and mix to combine.
- Cook tomatoes: Bring a pot of water to a boil. In the meantime, score the top of the tomatoes and prepare a large bowl of ice water. Add the tomatoes to the pot and cook for 45-60 seconds or until you see the peel slightly coming off. Rotate the tomatoes so that it heats evenly while boiling. Do not overcook. Remove the tomatoes and add to the ice water.
- Skin & cut: Once cooled, peel the skin off the tomatoes. Slice into half and then into quarters. You should have a total of 8 pieces (or 10-12 if you have a large tomato). Remove the inside using a kiwi spoon or melon ball scooper. You should have a total of 200-240g of tomato flesh.
- Marinate: Add the tomatoes to the marinade. Then add ripped pieces of nori on top and mix. Cover and chill in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes (or preferably overnight).
- Serve: When ready, add cooked rice into a bowl and top with nori. Optionally, you can slice the edges of the tomatoes to give it a more tuna-like appearance. Place pieces of tomato tuna over the nori rice and then top with scallions and sesame seeds. Serve with a side salad and miso soup, and enjoy!
Serve alongside a fresh salad and miso soup for a complete refreshing meal!
More vegan seafood recipes to try:
- Vegan Unagi Donburi
- Vegan ‘Salmon’ Teriyaki
- Oyster Mushroom Kaki Fry (Fried Oysters)
- Vegan Oyster Sauce
SAVE IT FOR LATER! ↓
If you recreate this Vegan Tomato ‘Tuna’ Sashimi Bowl recipe let me know how you liked it by leaving a comment and rating below or by tagging me on Instagram @Okonomikitchen, I love seeing all of your tasty recreations!
Hungry for more? Be sure to subscribe to my newsletter and follow along on Instagram, Youtube and Pinterest for more deliciousness!
Vegan ‘Tuna’ Tomato Rice Bowls
- Total Time: 16 minutes
- Yield: 1 serving 1x
Description
Learn how to make a plant based version of Maguro Donburi (Tuna Sashimi Rice Bowls) with tomatoes! This tomato ‘tuna’ bowl is easy, refreshing and perfect for the summer.
Ingredients
Tomato ‘Tuna’
- 2 medium roma tomatoes
- 2 tbsp soy sauce (30ml)
- 4 tsp sake (20ml)
- 4 tsp mirin (20ml)
- 1 tbsp neutral oil (15ml)
- 1 tsp rice vinegar (5ml)
- 1 1/2 tsp kombu dashi granules (7g)
- 1 sheet nori
For Serving
- cooked rice
- scallions
- roasted sesame seeds
- nori
Instructions
- Make marinade: Add soy sauce, mirin, sake, rice vinegar, neutral oil and kombu dashi granules to a shallow dish and mix to combine.
- Cook tomatoes: Bring a pot of water to a boil. In the meantime, score the top of the tomatoes and prepare a large bowl of ice water. Add the tomatoes to the pot and cook for 45-60 seconds or until you see the peel slightly coming off. Rotate the tomatoes so that it heats evenly while boiling. Do not overcook. Remove the tomatoes and add to the ice water.
- Skin & cut: Once cooled, peel the skin off the tomatoes. Slice into half and then into quarters. You should have a total of 8 pieces (or 10-12 if you have a large tomato). Remove the inside using a kiwi spoon or melon ball scooper. You should have a total of 200-240g of tomato flesh.
- Marinate: Add the tomatoes to the marinade. Then add ripped pieces of nori on top and mix. Cover and chill in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes (or preferably overnight).
- Serve: When ready, add cooked rice into a bowl and top with nori. Optionally, you can slice the edges of the tomatoes to give it a more tuna-like appearance. Place pieces of tomato tuna over the nori rice and then top with scallions and sesame seeds. Serve with a side salad and miso soup, and enjoy!
Notes
- Helpful Equipment:
- Nutritional Information Disclaimer: Nutrition information is a rough estimate calculated on an online tool (Cronometer).
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 minute
- Category: entree
- Method: stove top
- Cuisine: vegan, japanese
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 serving
Okonomi Kitchen is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. When you purchase something through my amazon affiliate links, I earn a small commission that helps me produce consistent content at no cost to you. Thank you for supporting my plant based kitchen!
This is so tasty! I’ve taken a while to make it as I couldn’t find any Roma tomatoes. 😔 I had salad tomatoes that weren’t going to be used up in time so I decided to just try them in this recipe. I don’t know if texture is a bit different from using my basic tomatoes, but I still followed the recipe the rest of the way and it tastes really nice. Still has a bit of a tomatoey texture but that will probably be down to cooking time of the different tomatoes etc. Didn’t stop it from being really yummy. So the search for Roma tomatoes continues for me. 🙂 X
I’ve made this a few times and it’s so easy and delicious!
Turns out best with really ripe tomatoes, mine were not in season but were still delish! Also you can reuse the mix and try different things with it. I soaked zucchini in it and enjoyed a lot.
Thanks, Lisa! ❤ I would love more “fishy” recipes, cause it’s also something I miss since going vegan.
First of all: T H A N K Y O U! I love all the amazing yummy recipes. They are amazing and I finally found someone who mad great asian cuisine where I can learn to create it at home. This was really delicious. At least I didn’t had sake, so this was my missing ingredient. It was delicious, the texture is good. But the taste was not really close to tuna. but who cares if you have great animal friendly and loving nature food. 🙂
Simple, but delicious! I’m not vegan or vegetarian, but loved this dish and can’t wait to make cook again. Also excited to try more of Lisa’s recipes!
I’ve made this a few times now for temaki and also as spicy tuna and people genuinely can’t believe it’s not real tuna. Plus it’s so easy to make!
The recipe was really easy and fast to make and really tastes awesome! (Not exactly like tuna but really seafood-ish~)
Amazing it doesn’t taste like tomatoes at all and really feels like sushi
Friggin delicious. I was absolutely shook when I tried this as I NEVER expected tomatoes to be able to replicate tuna so well. Try it!!!
I was curious how fresh tomato would go with rice and it blew my mind! The marinated tomato is full of flavour! I marinated rice like sushi and added some wasabi. It was so refreshing and tasty! Also, it’s easy to make too. I marinated tomato day before and just used it for the meal day after or marinated in the morning and used it for dinner.