And now for the details…

Hello dear friends. It has been some time since I have posted. Life is definitely busy right now and finding the time to put together a post has been hard pressed. If you follow me on Instagram, you have probably seen all the photos of my food adventures, but I have not been able to take the extra time to share those recipes online. Luckily, I managed to find a little bit of time and will be sharing more food with you in the near future!

This recipe I am sharing today is one of the all-time favourites in our home. We have this quite a bit for dinners, usually at least once a month, more often when the weather starts getting hotter outside and I do not want to heat up the house by turning on the stove or oven. Not only is it fast and easy to put together, but it is also just so flavourful and filling. Options on how to eat this could be to serve it with a side of fresh made rice, or you might jazz it up with a bunch of sauces and accoutrements in a poke bowl, similar to my previous poke bowl recipe, or, my favourite way to eat it, you can scoop it up right out of the bowl with crackers or crisps.

Poke is a Hawaiian dish, and is a marinated fish dish. Tuna poke is definitely one of the more widely known versions of poke, but visit a poke shop in Hawaii and you will have tons of options, all kinds of fish and seafood, like octopus, crab, shrimp, lobster, salmon, and even combinations of these and others. I have visited poke shops in Hawaii, and it can be overwhelming to try and decide what to get, like visiting an ice cream shop and trying to choose only one or two kinds. I can attest that I enjoyed EVERY one that I did try.

For this particular recipe, we are going to just focus on tuna. In regards to the fish, I have talked about “sushi grade” fish in past recipes, but the important thing with this recipe is to ensure you have tuna that has been prepared appropriately to be eaten raw. While we often use the term “sushi grade”, the fun fact about “sushi grade”? It’s not actually a grade at all, at least not in how we think of graded meats. In both the US and Canada, there is not regulating body sending out people to inspect the fish to ensure it is the right “grade”, like what we would see for grades of beef or chicken. What “sushi grade” does mean is that the fish has been held at a particular (cold) temperature for enough time to have killed off any parasites that might exist in the flesh of the fish, so that it is safe to consume without bringing it up to the necessary heated temperature to kill those same elements off. If you are not sure, feel free to ask your local grocer or fishmonger if their fish is sushi grade, and only buy your fish from an establishment that you trust to have handled the fish properly.

Now we get into prep. All you will really need for this recipe is a small bowl, a cutting board, a knife and a spoon. How is that for minimal kitchen effort!

For the cutting board, since we are cutting raw protein, I have a special cutting board that I reserve strictly for cutting meats, fish or poultry. It’s a red coloured cutting board to differentiate it from everything else so both my husband and I know what it was used for and make sure it runs its cleaning cycle through the dishwasher or with high heat water and lots of soap to clean off any uggedy (yes, I said it, uggedy) bits to ensure no cross-contamination of other foods later.

In no particular order, choose what works for you, we will prep the alliums and ginger. Peel the garlic, and mince finely, or you may choose to shred the garlic, and place in the bowl. Peel the shallot and slice it thinly, also placing it in the bowl. For the ginger, a friend of mine gave me a hot tip for peeling the root, which he was taught by his family who make a LOT of ginger beer, so it’s a gooder! Instead of trying to peel the skin off with a knife, use the edge of a spoon and scrape the skin off. It will help release the skin for from all the little knobby bits without running risk of cutting your own fingies. Plus, since its just with a spoon, this might be a good place for kiddos to step in and help if you have any who hover around the kitchen during prep just wanting to be a part of the process! Once peeled, shred the ginger into the bowl, either using a fine grater or a shredding plate.

Cut the tuna into small cubes, about 1-2cm wide. No need to be finicky about exact dimensions here, just cutting the fish to roughly the right size. If your fish is fully thawed, it may be a little… floppy… and it can make this step a challenge. To make it easier, you can put the fish in the freezer for 5-10 minutes to make the fish a little firmer, and then chop. You will also want to make sure that the knife you use it quite sharp. A dull knife will just tear the fish, instead of give you some nice, clean cuts. Place the fish in the bowl with everything else, and give it all a stir.

Finally add the soy sauce, sesame oil, and sambal olek to the bowl, and give the mix one final stir so everything is equally coated. I personally prefer it best if served immediately. If you let it rest a bit before you eat, make sure it is covered and in the fridge. I also find that the longer it rests, the more the fish soaks up the liquids that were added. If you do end up waiting before serving, just before you serve, splash the mix with a little more soy sauce and a little bit of olive oil (maybe about 1 tsp of each) and give it a good stir. Just before serving, top with sesame seeds and sliced green onion for garnish.

Happy eating.