ZooRun Recipe: Spicy Tuna Cucumber Roll

(VIDEO:  Chef Eddie demonstrates how to make a sushi roll packed with taste and protein.)

Food and fitness often go hand-in-hand when runners and walkers prepare for a race, like those taking part in this weekend’s ZooRun5K and ZooKidsDash, 7 a.m., Saturday, October 5, at Zoo Miami.

Try this tasty and refreshing high-protein, low-fat recipe to fuel up before or replenish after the race, says Chef Edgardo Llopiz Rivera, executive chef at West Kendall Baptist Hospital.

The Baptist Health South Florida News Team joined Chef Eddie in the kitchen. Watch it now.

Spicy Tuna Cucumber Roll

Serves 2

Ingredients:

• 1 cup cooked bamboo rice
• 1/4 piece English cucumber, peeled and sliced thin lengthwise
• 1/8 cup carrots, shredded
• 2 sheets sesame sushi wraps
• ¼ of a red delicious apple
• 1 stem cilantro, chopped
•  1/2 lemon, zested and juiced, no seeds
• 1 teaspoon honey
• 2 tablespoons vanilla Greek yogurt
• 1 tablespoon sriracha
• 1 teaspoon rice wine vinegar
• 1-4 ounces yellowfin tuna steak, seasoned with Mrs. Dash Seasoning, grilled and cooked medium

Preparation:

1. In a small bowl, mix the sriracha, rice wine vinegar and vanilla Greek yogurt.
2. Shred the tuna steak with your hands and add to the small bowl with sriracha mixture. Mix well. Set aside.
3. In a small cup, place the lemon zest and juice. Add the honey and mix well.
4. Cut the red apple into thin slices about 1/8 of inch thick, then dice the slices into small pieces. Add to the small cup with the honey and lemon.
5. Dice the shredded carrot into small pieces and add to the cup with the lemon, honey and apple. Chop the cilantro and add to cup. Mix everything together well. Set aside.
6. Peel the cucumber. Then use the peeler to shave the cucumber into long, thin slices.
7. On a clean and dry cutting board, place the sheet of sesame sushi wrap shiny-side down. Lay the thin slices of cucumber vertically on top of the sesame sushi wrap.
8. On top of the cucumber, on the edge closest to you, place the bamboo rice to form a horizontal log from one end to the other. Fold over the edge of the sesame sushi wrap with the bamboo rice away from you. Keep rolling firmly until you have a sushi roll. With a sharp knife, cut the roll in half and then cut each half into 3 pieces.
9. Place each piece cut side down onto a plate. Use your thumb push the bamboo rice further in. Add a tablespoon of the tuna mixture into each cucumber cup. Then place the carrot mixture on top of the spicy tuna. Repeat until all the pieces are filled and garnished.
10. Serve and enjoy.

Nutritional Information:  Calories 315; Protein 22g; Sodium 153mg; Carbohydrates 53g; Total Fat 0.28g; Cholesterol 22mg.

About Chef Eddie

Edgardo Llopiz Rivera is the executive chef of The Bamboo Café at West Kendall Baptist Hospital. He and his culinary team are the winners of The Miami Marlins Foundation’s 2016 Taste of Miami Food & Wine event Best of Show award. Chef Eddie has worked alongside award-winning Miami celebrity chefs Daisy Martinez, Adrianne Calvo and LeRoy Bautista. Edgardo’s passion for cooking began in his teenage years while cooking with his mother at a neighborhood church for a homeless community of 300.  After attending the French Culinary Institute in New York City, Chef Eddie began his career at The Grand Havana Room, a private club where he cooked for several celebrities, including Alec and Steven Baldwin, Lawrence Fishbourne, Tommy Mottola and Lisa Ray. There he also cooked for corporate and not-for-profit organizations’ fundraising events, including St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and Cooley’s Anemia Foundation.  Chef Eddie has also served as chef at Morton’s The Steak House, Angelique Euro Café and Shula’s Hotel and Golf Club.