Poke

I love coming back from vacation with a new food discovery. During our recent trip to Maui, that discovery was poke. Pronounced pok-eh, it's a traditional Hawaiian dish usually made from cubed raw fish and other ingredients. While we were in Maui, most of the poke we saw was made with ahi tuna (although some also contained octopus). The "other ingredients" could mean anything from onions to kukui nut, usually mixed with soy sauce. Just about every restaurant we ate at served it in one form or another, and all of the grocery stores we visited had multiple versions available in their prepared foods sections.

We've made poke twice now since getting back from our trip, using various recipes we found around the Internet as a basis. The first time we made poke, it was good, but we used way too much ahi for the two of us, and the dish was overly salty (it called for both sea salt and soy sauce). Our second attempt, however, was much more successful. We used a recipe we found on several different web sites as a starting point. What we ended up with looked something like this:

  • 3/4 lb sashimi grade ahi cut into 1/4 inch cubes
  • 1/4 cup sweet onion, minced
  • 1/8 cup green onion, sliced
  • 1/2 cup lite soy sauce
  • 1 tablespoon sesame oil
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons white truffle oil
  • 1/2 tablespoon sambal olek
  • Pinch of brown sugar
  • Fresh ground pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients in a shallow bowl and allow to marinate in the refrigerator for a minimum of one hour. Garnish with sesame seeds before serving.

Comments
Little Lea's Gravatar ooohhhh yes! My local fish market has started carrying sushi grade tuna, and I've been absolutely hopeless coming up with ideas of ways to use it... I'm not a hug fan of seared tuna, but I do like it raw.... This recipe looks perfect! Thanks for sharing!
# Posted By Little Lea | 5/17/06 3:41 PM
Trisha's Gravatar Funny Poke is one of my favorite dishes! I had no idea that you had never had it!!! I also got hooked on in Hawaii and have had it prepared several ways. Some was too spicy or as you mentioned too salty. I’ve never attempted to make it at home and should give it a try! The best I've ever had is at a small sushi, Sushi Coast, in San Jose. I believe the owners are Taiwanese but lived in Hawaii for awhile. Anyway, they make it for me with both Ahi Tuna and Salmon and they add the octopus, but the best part is the fish flakes on top - - it’s amazing. I'll have to take you next time you visit.
# Posted By Trisha | 5/17/06 10:42 PM
Trisha's Gravatar By the way, what is sambal olek?

Trisha
# Posted By Trisha | 5/17/06 10:45 PM
Rob Brooks-Bilson's Gravatar Trish, I'll have to take you up on that. Is the place in Japan Town?

Sambal Olek is a chili paste that's nice and spicey ;-)
# Posted By Rob Brooks-Bilson | 5/18/06 12:56 AM
Rob Brooks-Bilson's Gravatar Hi Lea,

Thanks for dropping by. I hope you give the poke a shot - and enjoy it!
# Posted By Rob Brooks-Bilson | 5/18/06 12:58 AM
LittleLea's Gravatar oohh.. I ALMOST made it last night... but the fiance wasnt feeling well and didnt want anything too "out of the box" =( So I had to settle for pasta and chicken.. sigh.

Maybe tonight. ;-) Cant wait to try it~ mmm Plus, I'm always looking for an excuse to go to my Asian market.. and I dont have any sambal olek ;-)
# Posted By LittleLea | 5/19/06 7:32 AM
Rob Brooks-Bilson's Gravatar Lea,

Hopefully you get a chance to make it soon. We have an awesome Asian market here in the Phoenix area (actually two). One's pretty close to my office, so it makes for a good lunch time excursion.
# Posted By Rob Brooks-Bilson | 5/19/06 9:06 AM
LittleLea's Gravatar Heya Rob!

I made the poke last night.. it was a big hit! And soooo delish! Thank you SO much for sharing this recipe!
Posted my results on my blog with a pic =)
http://copperpots.blogspot.com/
# Posted By LittleLea | 5/23/06 8:37 AM
LittleLea's Gravatar FYI.. we had this.. at the fiances request.. for dinner again Friday! My fiance has never specifically requested anything for dinner! O_O
# Posted By LittleLea | 5/30/06 7:36 AM
Rob Brooks-Bilson's Gravatar Wow Lea, I'm glad it was such a hit. Now the pressure's really on to post something else you are interested in making ;-)
# Posted By Rob Brooks-Bilson | 5/30/06 8:53 AM



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