NEW Melissa’s Costa Azul Sir-a-cha Style Hot Sauce + Spicy Tuna Poke Recipe

The Costa Azul Sir-a-cha Style Hot Sauce in this post was provided by Melissa’s Produce but the opinions expressed here are my own.

Melissa’s Produce unveiled their new Costa Azul Sir-a-cha Style Hot Sauce to the media last week, so I had a chance to try this exciting new hot sauce firsthand. It has a rich and smoky flavor profile with slightly sweet undertones and healthy amount of tang. The hot sauce is made from red jalapeños grown at the southern tip of Mexico’s Baja Peninsula. The climate and rich soil produce a unique flavor in this pepper. Red jalapeños are green jalapeños that have been left on the vine to mature. The additional ripening time produces more capsaicin for a spicier pepper and makes the pepper sweeter.

Melissa’s Costa Azul inspired a recipe that reminds me of home, Hawaii. Sriracha sauce is a common condiment and ingredient in Hawaii, which is part of the melting pot of cultures in the islands. Poke is one of my favorite comfort foods and readily available at any supermarket or grocery store. This is not something you will find in these mainland poke shops. This is the real thing!

Costa Azul Spicy Tuna Poke by OC Food Diva

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cook time: 20 minutes

Servings: 4

Ingredients:

2 cups Calrose rice

2½ cups water

½ lb sashimi-grade tuna

¼ cup Best Foods Mayonnaise

2 tbsp Melissa’s Costa Azul Sir-a-cha Style Hot Sauce + 4 tsp for garnish

1 tbsp tobiko (flying fish roe)

¼ tsp Ajinomoto (monosodium glutamate)

¼ tsp Hawaiian salt, fine grind

8 Nori strips (dried seaweed used in sushi)

2 tsp furikake for garnish (Japanese rice seasoning)

Directions:

1. To make rice: Place rice in cooking pot and rinse 3 times. Add water and cook in a rice cooker. (If you don’t have a rice cooker, you can cook it on the stove top. Start sticky rice by rinsing rice 3 times until water is almost clear. Combine rice and water into a covered pot to boil on high heat, about 5 minutes. Reduce to low heat and cook for 5 minutes. Remove pot from heat and let sit, covered, for 10 minutes. Fluff rice and cover to keep warm.)
2. While rice is cooking, chop up tuna into ¼” cubes. Set aside in a glass or plastic medium bowl.
3. In a small bowl, combine mayonnaise and hot sauce. Add combined sauce, tobiko, ajinomoto, and Hawaiian salt to tuna. Gently fold together with a plastic spoon or spatula until tuna is completely coated. Refrigerate until rice is cooked.
4. To assemble, make an “X” of the nori strips on a plate. Using a 3” ring mold, pack rice into mold. Place in the middle of the “X” and gently release. Fold nori strips up along the sides of the rice and gently tack it on top. Don’t worry if the strips don’t overlap because you will be covering it with the poke. Place a ½ cup of the spicy poke mixture on top of the rice. Zig zag about 1 tsp of Costa Azul on top of poke. Sprinkle about ½ tsp of furikake on top. Ready to serve!

For more information:

Melissa’s Costa Azul Sir-a-cha Style Hot Sauce

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