Cucumber boats with tuna salad

Servings: 0
The fun thing about cucumbers is how they can transform from subject of a salad to object of conveying said salad from plate to palate! I like to use cucumber boats as a gluten-free option for filling with whatever schmears the bagels get, so whether it’s egg salad, trout dip, or tuna salad like this one, they all get a trip on the gondola. I’ve used cukes here, which are the baby ones, but you could just as easily use small lebanese cucumbers, or slice larger cucumbers into canape-sized pieces. If tuna isn’t your bag, feel free to leave it out for a delish curried egg salad to stuff in your boats.
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Ingredients 

  • 500 g (2 punnets) cukes baby cucumbers
  • 2 eggs at room temperature
  • 95 g (small tin) tuna in springwater drained
  • 1 long celery stalk finely chopped (the closer to the heart, the sweeter)
  • 1 spring onion finely sliced
  • ¼ bunch coriander leaves and stems finely chopped, plus extra to garnish
  • cup (185g) Kewpie mayonnaise or to taste — you do you (or use whole egg mayo if you’re that way inclined!)
  • 1 tsp mild madras curry powder if you’ve got Keen’s in the cupboard, just use that!
  • ½ tsp ground coriander
  • ½ tsp salt flakes

Instructions 

  • To boil the eggs, use a skimmer or slotted spoon to drop the eggs into a saucepan of vigorously boiling water (the spoon means it’s less ‘drop’, more ‘place’). Dial down the boil to more of a simmer and leave the eggs in there for 5 minutes. Scoop the eggs out with your skimmer or spoon and immediately run them under cold water. Once cooled, peel the eggs.
  • Place the tuna, celery, spring onion and coriander in a bowl, together with the mayonnaise, curry powder and ground coriander. Use a masher to combine, being careful not to break up the tuna flakes too much. Add the peeled eggs and mash these in, too. Add the salt and check the seasoning; a bit of freshly cracked black pepper is good, too, if you’d like a bit more ‘devil’ in your eggs.
  • Cut your cucumbers in half and spread 1 tbsp of the mixture over the top. Dress with extra coriander leaves.
  • Any left over tuna mix will last in your fridge for 3 days.

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