Spicy Salmon Lettuce Cups

There’s been a viral trend floating around on the internet involving reheated salmon, kewpie mayo, sriracha, rice, and seaweed snacks; and those are the flavors we’re calling upon today. But instead of making this a dish that’s heavy on the rice like the original, we’re going to tone that down and stuff everything in big ol’ leaves of crisp lettuce.

And let me tell you, it’s just as epic as the original if you ask me. So, let’s get to it!

Let’s start with the salmon. We’re going to keep things super simple by seasoning the salmon with some salt and pepper then roasting it in the oven until it’s cooked through. Easy breezy. But from there, we want to let the salmon cool down before we start working with it. We are going to stuff our creamy salmon into lettuce, so we don’t want it to be so hot that it wilts the lettuce cup.

Once our salmon has had a chance to cool, we’re going to break it up a little and add it to a bowl with lots of goodies to turn this into a salmon salad type texture. To the salmon, we’re going to add some kewpie mayo, sriracha, soy sauce, and furikake seasoning. Now these may seem like exotic ingredients, but they’re actually pretty readily available in the international section of most grocery stores.

Kewpie mayonnaise is a Japanese mayo that’s made using only eggs yolks as opposed to the whole egg like regular mayo. As a result, it’s a little thicker, a little tangier, and a tad sweeter thanks to the type of vinegar used in the emulsion. Regular mayo can certainly be substituted in a pinch, but get the kewpie if you can. Sriracha is a spicy chili sauce that’s loaded with flavor. When you’re deciding how much to add to the salmon mix, add the heat level that you’re comfortable with. Taste as you go, but remember you can always add more but you can’t take away. Furikake seasoning is a seasoning blend that usually consists of seaweed, sugar, sesame seeds, and salt. It’s what give the salmon a sushi like vibe without having to deal with technical skills required for sushi.

After we have our salmon mixed with all the goodies, that’s basically all the work we have to do. We’ll cook up some jasmine rice and let that cool a bit too. Then, it all gets layered into some jumbo lettuce leaves. I like using bibb lettuce for this, because the leaves are nice and big, not too tough, but sturdy enough to hold everything we’re filling it with. You could also use Boston lettuce or even romaine lettuce if you can find some extra large leaves. At the end of the day, we’re looking to maximize the surface area so we can stuff these to the brim with delicious salmon.

To finish it off, we can top our cups with some extra sriracha, extra furikake, and black sesame seeds for additional color and flavor. Or, you can forget all of that and dig right in. It’s totally up to you!

There’s definitely merit to these trending foodie hacks that we encounter on the internet. And, I’m loving trying them all. Make sure you’re following along in Instagram to see my upcoming review of another big trend.

I hope you guys enjoy this one. And, let’s eat!