A Tropical Twist to My Mother's Easy Tuna Salad Recipe

My mother made a tuna fish salad that I always loved. In her recipe, she used eggs, mayonnaise, sweet gherkin pickles, and the juice from these pickles. Sometimes she would cut up some sweet Red Delicious apples in place of the gherkin pickles. These ingredients and the way she made it have served as general guidelines for my making of tuna fish salad, as I have adapted to the available ingredients in Costa Rica.

Below, I give the easy instructions on how to make this quick meal, including the nutritional value, serving suggestions with photos and some variations that I sometimes enjoy. Please note that this recipe uses canned tuna in water, but you can choose canned tuna in light oil, if you wish. Even better would be to have cooked fresh tuna if it is available!

Cook Time

Prep time: 15 min

Ready in: 15 min

Yields: 5 servings (five sandwiches)

by Randy McLaughlin

Ingredients for Easy Tuna Salad

* 2 cans tuna fish chunks, 6-ounce cans, drained

* 4 eggs, medium, hard-boiled

* 3/4 cup mango, ripe, chopped fine

* 2 tablespoons onion, white or yellow, chopped fine

* 2 tablespoons Salsa Lizano, (or Salsa Inglesa)

* 1 tablespoon Tapa de Dulce (cane syrup), (or you can substitute honey)

* 1/2 cup Sandwich spread, (Hellman's or equivalent)

* 2 tablespoons cilantro leaves, chopped fine

Instructions

1. Boil the 4 eggs for five minutes so they are hard-boiled. Then take them out and place in a pot of cool water.

2. While the eggs are cooling, cut up the mango and the onion.

3. Remove the shells from the hard-boiled eggs and chop them up into fine pieces into a bowl. Add all of the remaining ingredients and mix.

4. Place the tuna salad in the refrigerator for 30 minutes or so before serving to let the flavors mingle.

Click here for Randy's serving suggestions and more.