Raw Sunflower Seed Tuna Wraps are the perfect meal for those hot summer days when it’s too hot to cook!
It’s cooled down a little here in NJ, but 90 degrees only seems “cool” after a few days of 100+ temperatures. I’m still not thrilled with it, but I’ll take it over last weekend’s extreme heat wave. In keeping with this week’s Too-Hot-Too-Cook-So-I’m-Eating-Raw-Food theme, I thought it would be good to share one of my favorite summertime raw lunches. I like to make this sunflower seed tuna salad and eat it with sliced veggies wrapped up in a collard green leaf. Collards are one of the most nutritious foods on the planet, and they’re tough so they hold up nicely in the place of a slice of bread or a tortilla.
Tuna salad sandwiches were a mainstay in my diet throughout my younger years – especially when I was a teenager and figured out how to make it on my own. It was also one of the first foods I gave up for ethical reasons. After reading about the dolphins being caught and killed in the tuna nets, I stopped eating it. (I’m not sure why I was concerned about dolphins and not tuna fish, but we all have to start somewhere, right?)
I’ve impressed many omnivores with this sunflower seed tuna. The dusle flakes give it a little bit of a fishy taste, but if you’re not a fan of seaweed, you can omit it and just add a little more dill.
Raw Sunflower Seed "Tuna" Wraps
Ingredients
For the Mayo
- ½ cup water
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1/3 cup lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 3/4 cup raw cashews
- 3 tablespoons stone ground mustard
For the Salad
- 1 cup raw sunflower seeds soaked for at least four hours, rinsed and drained
- 2 celery stalks diced
- 2 scallions sliced
- 2 teaspoons dulse or kelp flakes
- ¼ cup fresh dill chopped
For Serving
- 8 large collard green leaves
- 2 carrots julienned
- 1 red bell pepper julienned
- 1 avocado thinly sliced
Instructions
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Add all of the mayo ingredients to a food processor or high-speed blender and process until smooth and creamy. Set aside.
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Add the sunflower seeds to the bowl of a food processor fitted with an s-blade. Process until they’re ground into small pieces. Add the celery, scallions, dulse, and dill pulse a few times to mix everything together.
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Place the sunflower seed mixture and mayo in a large bowl and mix to combine.
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Take a large collard leaf and cut off the stem. Using a sharp knife, carefully shave off the thick part of the stem from the back of the leaf, making it easier to roll up. You can also use the knife to score what’s left of the stem, making it more pliable.
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Place the sunflower seed mixture, some of the red pepper, carrots and avocado l on the leaf, towards the top.
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Starting with the top edge that has the filling, carefully roll the collard leaf, as you would a tortilla, tucking the sides in as you roll.
[…] VeggieGirl, Dianne, has a wonderful different version of faux tuna salad for you to try. Her Sunflower Seed “Tuna” Salad is made of – you guessed it – sunflower seeds! She also adds some seaweed to give it the flavor of the ocean. […]