Hawaiian Poke (Aloha Poke)
What is Hawaiian Poke (Aloha Poke)? It's a deliciously simple yet impressive dish that will transport your taste buds to Hawaii. No airplane ticket or cooking required.
Servings: 8 appetizers (or 4 main dishes)
Calories: 107kcal
Ingredients
- 1 pound sushi grade tuna, cubed
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil
- ⅓ cup thinly sliced red (or yellow) onion
- ½ cup sliced scallions aka green onions (green part only)
- 1 teaspoon sesame seeds
- ½ teaspoon coarse sea salt (or to taste)
- 2 tablespoons seaweed (optional)
- ½ teaspoon hot pepper flakes (optional)
Instructions
- Cut one sheet of dried seaweed (nori) in half with scissors and cut it in about 1-½″ strips.
- Soak the seaweed in water for a couple of minutes.
- Squeeze out excess water and set aside.
- Cut the tuna into ¾” cubes and mix with all other ingredients in a large bowl.
- Cover the bowl and put in the refrigerator for a minimum of 15 minutes but no longer than 2 hours.
Poke (Bowl) Serving Suggestions
- If served as an appetizer, I like to place the poke on Asian soup spoons. It’s the perfect way to enjoy this simple yet impressive and refreshing dish.
- When served as a main course, place some white rice in a bowl and top with poke and a couple of avocado slices.
- Tip: When serving poke over rice, make sure that your rice has cooled down to room temperature before adding the poke. Otherwise, your tuna will start to cook.
Notes
- Tip for buying fresh fish: A fresh saltwater fish should never smell fishy; it should smell like the sea. The best way to buy fish would be whole fish. The eyes of the fish will always give away the freshness of the fish, aka clear eyes. The problem with purchasing ahi tuna (which refers to the tuna species yellowfin and bigeye) is the size. A good-sized yellowfin tuna is 40” to 80" long and can easily weigh a couple of hundred pounds. That's a lot of ahi poke.
- Seaweed: Sheets of dried seaweed (nori) can easily be found in the “International section” of your local grocery store. Cut one sheet in half with scissors and cut it in about 1-½" strips. Soak the seaweed in water for a couple of minutes. Squeeze out excess water and set aside.
- Serving:
If served as an appetizer, I like to place the poke on Asian soup spoons. It's the perfect way to enjoy this simple yet impressive and refreshing dish. When served as a main course, place some white rice in a bowl and top with poke and a couple of avocado slices. By the way: Just because it's from Hawaii doesn't mean you have to add pineapple 😅 Tip: When serving poke over rice, make sure that your rice has cooled down to room temperature before adding the poke. Otherwise, your tuna will start to cook.
- Suggestion: If you enjoy this, then you're gonna love our recipe for ceviche!
Nutrition
Calories: 107kcal | Carbohydrates: 2g | Protein: 14g | Fat: 5g | Sodium: 425mg | Potassium: 184mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 1339IU | Vitamin C: 2mg | Calcium: 17mg