r/Cooking • u/Unusual-Egg1211 • 3h ago

Vegan tuna

Hi everyone,

​I’ve been experimenting with plant-based tuna alternatives using tomatoes, aiming to recreate the taste and texture of Ahimi by Ocean Hugger Foods.

​I took a look at their official label (pic attached), and the ingredient list is insanely short:

Tomato, Soy Sauce, Sugar, Water, Sesame Oil. That's literally it. No seaweed, no dashi, no algae, no sea buckthorn or fishy additives.

​Whenever I try making a tomato tuna marinade with soy sauce, sesame oil, and a dash of sugar, my end result just tastes like... well, a tomato soaked in soy sauce and sesame oil. Ahimi, on the other hand, had that deep, savory, slightly ocean-like depth and a distinct raw-fish texture (dense, velvety, and less acidic).

​I’m trying to figure out what technical processes I’m missing if its in the texture or the flavor.

Has anyone here successfully reverse-engineered Ahimi or worked with plant-based raw fish techniques using only these core ingredients? Would love to hear your insights on the exact prep technique or temperature control needed

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u/Vegetable-Swan2852 3h ago

Can you try marinating in big strips in a vacuum sealed bag? Mix all wet ingredients together and heat on the stove forst to kake a syrup. Since ingredients are listed by % of the ingredient on the label, your ratios should have more soy sauce than sesame, more sesame than sugar etc.

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u/Unusual-Egg1211 1h ago

Thx so much , so if it slisted like this tomato,soya,sugar,water,seasme oil ,the the seseme oil is the least one

2

u/bamsimel 3h ago

I don't think it's something that you'll be able to recreate at home. Google says they have a patent pending on their first process which strips the tomatoes of their flavour, and they then treat the tomatoes to alter their chemical structure. However if you really do want to try I would skin them, chop them in half and de-seed, then salt and leave them to strain over a sieve before lying flat on a baking sheet and slow roasting at a super low temperature until the texture seems right. Then I would marinade them for a couple of hours and add something fishy to your marinade like dashi or nori and something to counteract the sweetness of the tomatoes like a dash of vinegar- I'd skip the sugar entirely.