Tuna Bites
This recipe is perfect for those days when we just feel like a salty pastery. They are much healthier than traditional salty pasteries and are super crispy and delicious. They are a great starter for a friends dinner or a tapas style dinner. Another alternative is to use them as a snack for the whole week.
Portions: 25 balls
Ingredients
- 4 batatas doce médias
- 1 can can
- 4 large onions
- A pinch of salt
- 2 tbsp grated cheese optional
- flour to taste can be of wheat, oats, spelt, etc.
- 1 beaten egg
- panko to taste or breadcrumbs
Instructions
- Start by preheating the oven to 200º.
- Wash the sweet potatoes well and cut them in half.
- Place them on a tray, with the peel facing down and take them to the oven for 20 min or until they are soft inside.
- Let them cool a little and remove the pulp with the help of a spoon.
- Put it in a big bowl, together with the tuna and reserve it.
- Heat a frying pan with olive oil and add the onion cut in half slices.
- Let the onion start cooking and add the salt. Mix well.
- In the middle of the process, add some water so that the onion is soft and caramelized.
- As soon as the onion starts to get a brownish color, turn off the heat and add the onion to the sweet potato and tuna bowl.
- Add the grated cheese.
- Mix everything very well, crushing the ingredients.
- Make little balls with the help of the ice cream scoop and crumble them by rolling the tuna bites into the flour, the egg wash and the panko (in this order).
- Place all the tuna bites on a tray. If you want them to be even crunchier, pour a drizzle of olive oil on top.
- Bake for about 20 to 25 minutes or until crispy.
- Serve with a good mustard, a little ketchup or do as I do and serve with curry ketchup.
Notes
You can use white potato or pumpkin instead of sweet potato, using the same logic of baking them in the oven first, because if you boil them in water they'll get excess liquid.
Add spices and herbs, it tastes great! I didn't add them because I wanted this recipe to be very simple to prepare, but add oregano, coriander, basil or even mint.
You can add grated carrots which also taste great or even grated zucchini (but remove excess water).
Finally, you can fry the tuna bites, no problem. But remember that it is not so healthy.