Tag: Poke

An Easy No-Cook Protein for Dinner: Tuna Poke

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Tuna Poke

Print Recipe
Prep Time 15 minutes
Course Appetizer, Main Course, Snack
Servings 2 people

Ingredients
  

  • 400 g fresh, sushi-grade tuna (~1lb) chopped in small cubes
  • 3 Tbsps light soy sauce
  • 1 tsp fresh ginger peeled and shredded
  • 1 clove garlic peeled and minced
  • 1 small shallot peeled and sliced thin (or half a sweet onion)
  • 1 tsp sesame oil
  • 1/2 Tbsp sambal olek
  • sesame seeds and green onions (garnish)

Instructions
 

  • Chop tuna into small cubes, around 1-2cm big. Mince or shred the garlic. Peel and shred the ginger. Peel and slice the shallots quite thin. Add all the ingredients into a small bowl, mix well and serve immediately, topping with seeds and sliced green onions for garnish.
Keyword Onions, Poke, Sesame, Tuna

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.

Beautiful Multicoloured Salmon and Tuna Poke Bowl

4 Comments

Tuna and Salmon Poke Bowl

Print Recipe
Prep Time 25 minutes
Total Time 25 minutes
Course Main Course
Servings 2 people

Ingredients
  

Rice

  • 1 cup sushi rice (uncooked)
  • 1-2 Tbsps seasoned rice wine vinegar

Salmon

  • 60-110 g sushi grade salmon (cut into 1cm pieces)
  • 1/2 tsp chilli oil (can substitute with hot sauce, sambal olek, or sriracha)
  • 1/2 tsp fresh lemon juice (approx 1/8 of a lemon)
  • 1/2 tsp seasoned rice wine vinegar

Tuna

  • 60-110 g sushi grade tuna (cut into 1cm pieces)
  • 1 tsp soy sauce
  • 1 tsp wasabi paste

Bowl

  • 3 mini english cucumbers (cut into bite-sized pieces)
  • 1/4 cup chopped savoy cabbage
  • 2 Tbsps fresh cilantro (chopped)
  • 1 Tbsp pickled ginger
  • 1/2 sheet roasted nori (cut into matchstick-sized pieces)
  • 1/2 cup edamame beans
  • salt (to taste)

Instructions
 

Rice

  • Cook the sushi rice according to package instructions. Once cooked, sprinkle 1-2 Tbsps rice wine vinegar, mixing in and fanning the rice to cool. Once cool, place in two serving bowls. 

Salmon

  • In a small mixing dish, mix 1/2 tsp chilli oil or hot sauce, 1/2 teaspoon vinegar and lemon juice, then toss the salmon in this mix, sprinkling with a pinch of salt. Place salmon on rice in bowls. (Stack over one part of the bowl, do not spread.)

Tuna

  • Mix wasabi and 1 teaspoon soy in a small mixing dish, then toss tuna pieces in this mix, spoon out into rice in bowls, next to the salmon, allowing excess soy to fall back into small dish. Discard excess soy.

Bowls

  • Arrange the rest of the ingredients around the fish on the rice: cabbage, cucumbers, ginger, nori, edamame, cilantro. Whisk together 2 tablespoons soy, 2 teaspoons vinegar, olive oil, sesame oil, and 1/2 tsp chilli oil or hot sauce. Drizzle the bowls with the dressing. Serve.
Keyword Poke Bowl, Salmon, Tuna

And now for the details…

When I’ve got a protein craving (yes, I get cravings for protein… I am a bit of a protein-aholic), the protein I want most is raw tuna. And so when I was shopping yesterday and walked past the sushi section and saw a dish of tuna and salmon sashimi, I grabbed it, drooling a little, thinking what a delicious treat it would be once I got home. I ended up getting home closer to dinner time, though, and decided to turn the sashimi into the full meal deal, and make a poke bowl.

Poke bowl restaurants exploded in the 2010’s, and you can often find them all over the place. But admittedly, the bowls we get there and what I have created here is not super accurate to its origins. Poke originates from Hawaii, where you can find it everywhere, from poke shops to grocery stores to gas stations. But you won’t usually see the big, colourful bowls, permeated with vegetables and avocados. More frequently, the poke is dished out on its own, or onto rice, in to-go containers and served up with minimal accoutrements. And to be honest, it doesn’t need the accoutrements. Most of the poke we had in Hawaii is so delicious in its own right, it doesn’t need a bunch of stuff to go with it. Knocking my own bowl a little bit? I guess so. The additions I’ve put in do complement the poke, but they are added more to create a balanced meal, rather than be true to origin.

With that, let’s make that bowl!

Start out by cooking the rice. I have used sushi rice, but you could use any rice that suits your fancy. I’ve seen poke restaurants use brown rice, quinoa, or even cauliflower rice. Whichever you are using, follow the package directions to cook the rice. If you are using sushi rice, once it is cooked, sprinkle the rice with 1-2 tablespoons of the rice wine vinegar, carefully stirring the vinegar in, being careful to not break the rice apart. Place the rice in two serving bowls, spreading it so it covers the bottom of the bowl.

Next, we prepare the fish. We are going to use different marinades for each fish, so keep them separate. Cut the fish into small pieces, about 1cm in size. Putting the fish into the freezer for a couple minutes will help make them easier to cut.

First, the tuna: whisk together the wasabi paste and 1 teaspoon soy sauce. Add the tuna pieces, and toss until the tuna pieces are covered. Transfer immediately onto the rice bowl.

Next, the salmon: whisk 1/2 teaspoon chilli oil or hot sauce, 1/2 teaspoon rice wine vinegar, and the lemon juice. Add the salmon pieces and toss to coat. Add a dash of salt to taste, then place the salmon next to the tuna on the rice bowl.

Place the cucumber, cabbage and cilantro around the fish.

Next, whisk the 2 tablespoons soy sauce, 2 teaspoons rice wine vinegar, olive oil, sesame oil, and 1/2 tsp chilli oil or hot sauce with a fork until well blended. Sprinkle the dressing over the bowls, getting it over the veggies and rice. Finally, place the edamame, ginger and nori, then serve!

(No pickled ginger in the house? No problem, neither did I! This recipe from the New York Times is a super fast, super easy way to put pickled ginger together, with only an hour resting time!)

Happy eating.