Mini Potato and Tuna Burger

I’m  starting a series of recipes for food items that can be cooked and stored in volume for packing future speedy bento boxes!   This  first one is for Mini Potato Tuna Burgers as featured in this bento lunch.

These cute little burgers are easy to make and can be frozen in quantities and not just for bento use!  They’re so yummy that you’ll find yourself munching on them right out of the pan.    But these are not restricted for  bento…cook them for any meal and the smaller size makes for healthy after-school snacks too!

Ingredients:

1 can of water packed tuna ( I use albacore)

1/4 cup potato starch ( Japanese type is called  katakuriko)

1/2 cup of mashed skinless cooked potato

1/4 cup chopped green onion

1 tsp puréed or minced ginger

1 tsp sesame oil

1 tsp or more of shoyu

salt and pepper to taste

Another 1 tsp sesame oil for cooking is optional

Preparation:

Drain liquids from the canned tuna and thoroughly mix all ingredients together making sure that the tuna chunks have been broken up and the mix is smooth.   Form small even sized patties (about 2-3 inches in diameter) and set aside.   I was able to form a dozen smaller patties with this single recipe. 

Heat up a  non-stick skillet on med-high .  When the pan is hot you can either cook  with or without more sesame oil depending on your own personal tastes.   For this batch I skipped the additional sesame flavor. 

Cook on one side until browned  then flip over.  I like to cover the pan to keep the heat in and speed up the cooking.

These mini burgers have a more of a dumpling texture and you could almost  call  them “lazy oyaki” or “easy oyaki“.  ” Oyaki ” being the traditional Japanese dumpling- bun that stuffed with a filling of your choice then grilled.  I skipped the stuffing part and just mixed the whole thing together. 

Let them cool completely before packing in your bento box or freeze them in a single layer first then wrap them up for adding to your bento-stash.   

If you’re like Saba Man and eat them as soon as they’re cooked…make a quick sauce of  2 parts shoyu and 1 part rice vinegar for dipping.   You can also pack a small squeeze bottle of the same for your bento too!

Oh… the bento at the top of the article contains besides the mini burgers… saffron rice, watermelon radish sunomono, stir-fried broccoli,carrots  and tomatoes.