The Hawaiian classic, Poke bowl, has been in trend for years. I like its refreshing Asian taste but strangely tend to avoid it when dining out, as I see it as a lack of cooking (takeaway is fine :P). Now that I actually made it, the prep works and effort devoted to it should not be easily neglect — I realised, since fetching all the components requires a bit of attention. Starting from the fish.
No Raw Fish
One of the stars of a poke bowl is marinated raw fish, commonly used tuna and sometimes salmon. In the UK, sashimi-grade fish is not sold everywhere, and getting hold of it has become a hurdle stopping me from making it.
Well, it turned out I chose an easier path — cooked tuna, instead of raw. The texture is noticeably different, and there is no doubt that raw fish is better, so it’s best to use raw if you can. But remember that the absence of raw fish should not be the end of a poke bowl, as the colourful and varied elements are still holding up the key of a poke bowl, giving a balance of flavours and textures.
How to Pronounce Poke Bowl
How do you pronounce ‘poke bowl’? I used to say ‘poki’, but the correct answer is ‘po-kay-bowl’ (surprise?), and please don’t say ‘pocket-bowl’ like you do to Pokemon.
Easier Tuna Poke Bowl Recipe
Here we use cooked tuna to replace raw fish, then assemble it with colourful vegetables on a rice bowl to offer a balance of flavours and textures.
Ingredients
Serves 2
For the Dressing
- 1 ½ tbsp soy sauce
- 1 ½ tbsp sesame oil
- 1 tbsp mirin (sub: 1 tbsp cooking wine + 1 tsp sugar)
- 1 ½ tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 1 tsp chilli paste
- 1 tsp grated ginger
For the Rice Bowl
- 2 bowl of cooked rice
- 200 g diced tuna
- salt
- panko, optional
- pickled cucumber (or normal one)
- 60 g frozen edamame
- ½ small carrot, julienned
- 2 radish, finely sliced
- ½ ripe avocado, diced
How to Make
- Do the rice first. Cook as usual and bear in mind to leave some time to cool.
- Meanwhile, prepare all the vegetables, including boil the edamame.
- For the tuna, season with a generous pinch of salt and coat with panko. Heat 2 tsp of oil over medium-high heat in a frying pan, cook the tuna until fully cooked.
- Place the rice into 2 separate bowls. Arrange the tuna and vegetables on top. Serve in room temperature.
