Raw by Necessity: Nori Wraps with Spicy Tuna

I live in a glorified camp cabin, it’s true. And while I love my little jungle shack for its personality and rustic charm, total privacy and great outdoor space (I get to grill whenever I want) sometimes things happen that make me miss the upgraded creature comforts of my last living space: a boring, white-walled, two-bedroom that wreaked of my downstairs neighbor’s cigarette smoke. I don’t miss the white walls and the cigarette smoke, mind you, but I do sometimes miss the central air, stainless steel appliances and ease of use.

The shack had some wiring issues a few months back that led to evening power outages more than once. Actually, more than three times in one night. That issue has since been fixed. There was the horror movie-grade ant infestation of early January–also taken care of–and of course, the critter that lives in the tree outside my bedroom who likes to throw things at the window while I sleep. Nothing to be done about him/her. Now, my oven is cold.

My oven is cold because the large propane tank that fuels it is empty. This should be an easy fix: call the gas man, gas man comes, fills the tank, problem solved. But no. Apparently, the gas tank is too close to the wall unit AC that is hanging out of my kitchen window. Apparently, it is the law that propane tanks must be at least 10 feet away from wall unit ACs and this law has been on the books since the mid70s but nobody saw fit to let my landlady know about this until two days ago when I realized my tank was empty and I couldn’t boil water for tea, or make an omelette or roast sweet potatoes.

My landlady now has to get someone over here to move the propane tank before it can be filled and I can cook again. While I am TOTALLY in support of the move–anything that will make the shack a little less of a standing tinderbox is alright by me–this is more than mildly inconvenient since a) I am a person who cooks her own food, b) I don’t have a microwave and c) I have a guest coming for the next five days. I would like to be able to feed this person more than cold salads.

OK so this guest is pretty low maintenance. And she’s a veg-head so I can likely get away with feeding her cold salads. And I do have my grill and an electric hot water heater so we’re set if she wants a veggie burger and/or tea. I guess maybe things aren’t really that bad. And the lack of heat has forced me to get creative with the raw stuff. Last night, my dinner consisted of a spinach and grapefruit salad and three rice cakes with hummus, tomatoes and sliced turkey breast. It was a pretty decent meal. But today’s lunch was awesome.

Last year, my friend Marisa wowed me with her nori veggie “wrap.” It was basically a nori burrito filled with raw cabbage and avocado and dulce flakes and other things and I’d been meaning to recreate it since the first bite. I just bought some nori this weekend and my lack of fire made for perfect timing. I skipped the dulce only because I have none–it really is a delicious addition–and made my wraps with chopped napa (pictured above), red peppers and cucumbers (pictured below)…

…and garlic chives, cilantro and lemon balm fresh from my garden, which continues to yield certain herbs despite my poor treatment of it. These three are the hardiest, along with the rosemary and (surprisingly) arugula. Something outside is eating my basil and the mint is pretty much dead. Ay me.

I also threw in a can of water packed albacore, which I guess makes this dish technically not raw. I wanted the protein. So sue me. I made a dressing with fish sauce, rice vinegar, sambal and lime juice. I tossed it all, then rolled portions of it up in the nori.

Hot damn this was delicious! The nori was a little busted so it all kinda fell apart but it didn’t matter. This is a solid diet dish as it’s insanely in low calories but still packed with tons of protein and veg and complex carbs and, above all else, FLAVOR! Oh and you don’t have to turn on the oven to make it so it’s easy as pie even if it doesn’t satisfy the same cravings. The possibilities with this one are endless. I mean, you could fill your nori with whatever your little heart desires. Mushrooms, shredded carrots, hummus, roasted pepers, and on and on and on. I’ll be making these long after my shack is restored to full power.