Poke!

Poke Bowl, Smoked Salmon, Black Rice, Chili Sauce

Before I get on to the whys and whats of this week’s recipe I want to tell you about an event I am running this April in central London.  On the evening of Saturday 16th April I’ll be hosting a yoga supper in the gorgeous Printworks Kitchen alongside yoga teacher Mona Heep.  The event will start with a mindful flowing yoga sequence with Mona and a seasonal delicious 4 course vegetarian feast will follow.  It’s set to be a wonderful evening and we are looking forward to sharing it with you!  Tickets are available here.

So… On to this week’s recipe!  At the beginning of this year, industry trend specialists declared their predictions for what was going to be popular this year. Poke (Poh-key) bowls were one of the hotly tipped trends, and since I’d never really had an opportunity to try one before now, I decided right there and then I had to be a trend setter and get a poke bowl recipe on the blog.  It has taken me till March but hey that’s OK, this is a salad bowl after all and I’m not sure it was poke weather before now.

So what is a poke bowl?   Its a Hawaiian dish.  A bowl of rice topped with marinated raw tuna and all manner or flavourings, often eaten with chopsticks. A great example of a fusion dish inspired by mixing fresh pacific seafood with the origins and flavourings (sesame oil, seaweed, rice vinegar) from Japanese sushi.  Japan and Hawaii are of course neighbours all be it separated by 4,000 miles of Pacific Ocean.

Poke Bowl, Smoked Salmon, Black Rice, Chili Sauce

I decided to mix things up a bit with my Poke bowl after reading this Huffington Post article for inspiration.  First up I’m using short grain black rice as I love the contrast of the black against the fish.  The Nerone (also venus or forbidden) black rice I have used is a wholegrain rice and behaves and tastes much like brown rice, so be prepared for a longer cooking time.  Secondly I’ve switched the tuna for smoked salmon.  A poke bowl usually uses raw fish which is then ‘cooked’ in the marinade, much like a South American ceviche.  However since rare top quality tuna isn’t so common around these parts, I thought it would be much safer and easier to use smoked salmon, which doesn’t need to be ‘cooked’ in a marinade.  I know this isn’t authentic, but I think practicality and simplicity need to be borne in mind when I design my quick and healthy meals, especially if I want to inspire you to get cooking them too!  In my method I suggest that you don’t leave the smoked salmon sitting in its dressing for too long or else it will start to break down, and especially don’t advise to add the ginger till just before serving time.  5-10 minutes in the dressing will be plenty to let the flavours infuse.

The chilli sauce was a bit of an experiment but a good one at that. Two chillies on their own wouldn’t blend into a sauce so I opted to use some tomatoes I had in the fridge which also helped tone down the chilli.   Spicy enough to add some oomph, but creamy enough (along with the avocado) to compliment the tang of the shallots and spring onions in the salmon.  The colour is less radioactive red in real life.

Poke Bowl, Smoked Salmon, Black Rice, Chili Sauce

5.0 from 7 reviews
Smoked Salmon & Black Rice Poke Bowl with Chilli Sauce
 
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Cook time
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2016's new trend - a Hawaiian poke bowl recipe using black rice and smoked salmon for a quick and tasty lunch or supper. You can top it with homemade chilli sauce for extra oomph!
Author:
Recipe type: Main Course
Cuisine: Hawaiian
Serves: 2
Ingredients
  • 160g black rice (Nerone)
  • 200g smoked salmon
  • 2 spring onion, finely sliced
  • 1 large or 2 small shallot
  • 1 tbs toasted sesame oil
  • 1 tsp brown rice vinegar
  • 1 tsp tamari soy sauce
  • 5g ginger, minced
  • 1 avocado, diced
  • 1 tbs sesame seeds
  • a few cherry tomatoes (mine are yellow British ones)
  • seaweed flakes {optional, I used Mara seaweed kombu flakes}
for the chilli sauce
  • 2 red chilli, deseeded
  • 8 red cherry tomatoes
  • 1 shallot, roughly chopped
  • 1 tbs olive oil
  • 1 tbs greek yoghurt or mayonnaise
  • ½ tsp sea salt
Instructions
  1. First rinse your rice then cook it according to type and packet instructions. Black rice cooks much like brown rice, it will take about 30-35 minutes.
  2. Next make up your chilli sauce by blending all the ingredients in a small processor or in the jug of an immersion blender, a large blender won't be able to work on this small amount of sauce. Transfer to a glass jar. It will keep in the fridge for 3 days.
  3. Meanwhile chop your salmon into bite-sized pieces and place in a bowl along with the spring onion and shallots. Then add the sesame oil, brown rice vinegar, tamari and ginger and stir well. If you are making the salmon way ahead of eating don't add the ginger yet as it will break down the fish too much. Just before serving stir through the diced avocado and sesame seeds.
  4. When your rice is cooked, drain and rinse well then pile into a bowl topping with all of the salmon and avocado mix. Pile it high, then add the cherry tomatoes to the bowl, and sprinkle with seaweed. Invite your guests to add their own chilli sauce. It packs quite a punch but really brings the dish together. You will have plenty of sauce left over.

What would you put in your Poke bowl?