Ahi poke bowl

Units

Temperature

Servings

Ingredients

500 g sashimi-grade ahi tuna, previously frozen, chilled, cut into 2 cm cubes just before serving
45 ml shoyu (Japanese soy sauce)
12 ml toasted sesame oil
40 g sweet onion, Maui-style, very thinly sliced
30 g scallion, thinly sliced, green parts only
20 g toasted macadamia nuts, finely chopped; stands in for inamona
to taste Hawaiian sea salt or fine sea salt
to taste red chili flakes or gochugaru (optional)
10 g ogo seaweed, optional traditional addition, rinsed and roughly chopped (optional)

Chill everything first. Keep the tuna, bowl, and serving plates cold until the last moment; poke should never sit at room temperature. Pat the tuna dry, then cut it into even 2 cm cubes with a sharp knife.
Make the dressing. In a mixing bowl, stir together the shoyu and toasted sesame oil.
Toss. Add the cubed tuna, sliced sweet onion, scallion, and chopped macadamia nuts to the dressing. Season with the salt and, if using, the chili flakes or gochugaru and the ogo. Toss gently with a spoon or clean hands, just until everything is coated; overworking the fish bruises it.
Rest briefly. Cover and refrigerate for 15 minutes so the shoyu seasons the fish without curing it into a firm texture. Taste and adjust salt or shoyu before serving.
Build the bowls. Divide the warm rice among bowls, top with the poke, and arrange the avocado, cucumber, and edamame around it, if using. Finish with a sprinkle of furikake and serve immediately.

Food safety: use only fish explicitly labeled sashimi-grade or previously frozen, bought from a trusted fishmonger or a reputable Asian fish counter, and eat it the same day you buy it. Raw fish that has not been properly frozen to eliminate parasites is not safe to eat this way.
Inamona, the traditional roasted and salted candlenut relish, is the flavor poke was built around long before soy sauce arrived in Hawaii; toasted macadamia nuts give a similar rich crunch, though the flavor is milder.
Poke is meant to be tossed and eaten fresh. Do not marinate it for hours the way you would a cooked dish; the tuna’s texture turns mushy well before that point.
Leftovers are not recommended. If you must store extra, keep it tightly covered and ice-packed in the refrigerator and eat it within a few hours, not the next day.

Sashimi-grade ahi tuna: in Germany, ask a trusted fishmonger for sashimi-grade or previously-frozen tuna, or check the counter at a well-reviewed Asian supermarket; in Canada, look for sashimi-grade tuna at a Japanese or Asian fish market. In both cases, confirm with the seller that the fish is intended for raw consumption before buying.
Inamona (roasted candlenut paste): substitute finely chopped, lightly salted roasted macadamia nuts in both regions; the texture is similar, but the flavor is milder than true candlenut.
Maui onion: substitute a mild sweet onion. In Germany, a mild white or Spanish onion soaked briefly in cold water works well; in Canada, look for a Walla Walla or Vidalia-style sweet onion where available.