OK FOR POKE

Bowls of goodness are big right now

Recently I had the holiday of a lifetime, which culminated in Honolulu with my daughter. Nothing beats dad/daughter time: swims every day, visiting sea life parks, seeing all the fish, turtles and even dolphins. This is the stuff lifetime memories are made of. Oh, and if you’re going to Honolulu, make sure you visit the Wet and Wild Park of Water Slides — it’s incredible fun for young and old.

We also visited the local supermarket where they have a bar just for poke. Poke’s main ingredients are usually raw salmon, tuna and various shellfish, with lots of other fresh delights, in a bowl. Poke places are popping up all over the

New Zealand now, so

I thought I’d share my take on it.

Simon’s Tuna Poke

An alternative serving suggestion is to get pack tuna into a ring mould, add a smear of sour cream, next some of avocado and little rock melon. Remove the ring mould, top with radish pickle and serve with micro salad greens and lime wedges on the side.

Serves: 2 Prep time: 1 hour

200 grams fresh tuna

5cm piece of fresh ginger

1 Tbsp tamari (or soy)

¼ cup water

1 chilli (use as much of the chilli as you like depending on your palate)

¼ cup almonds

Juice of a lemon

To serve

1 avocado, diced into small cubes 2 limes

2 slices of rock melon, finely diced 2 iceberg lettuce cups

4 tsp pickled radish (recipe follows) 1 tsp sesame seeds

1 Dice the tuna into 1cm cubes

2 In a blender place the ginger, tamari, water, chilli, almonds and lemon, and process to a smooth dressing/ marinade. Use a little more water to get the right consistency if required. 3 Fold the marinade through the tuna. Set aside at room temperature for about an hour.

4 Place the diced avocado in a bowl and cover with the juice of one lime. 5 To assemble your poke, take the iceberg lettuce cups and fill with the tuna, top with avocado, rock melon and pickled radish.

6 Sprinkle over the sesame seeds and serve with lime wedges.

Pickled Radishes

These are great to have in a jar in the fridge. They’re so good when barbecuing to have as a side sprinkled over meats, grilled vegetables, even with fish.

1 kg radishes

1 cup rice wine vinegar 1 cup sugar

1 cup water 1 Sterilise a large jar.

2 Remove radish tops and finely slice. 3 Place vinegar, sugar and water in a saucepan, bring to the boil then remove from the heat. 4 Pour the pickling liquid over the sliced radishes.

5 Pour the radishes and liquid into a sterilised jar and keep in the fridge.