Popular poké bowls now stealing sushi’s shine

The steady popularity of the food bowl trend, has resulted in poké, the Hawaiian dish of cubed fish served with rice and other foods, become known as the “new sushi”.

With Cape Town having it’s own mobile poké bar and several restaurants around the country also having poké on their menu, it’s soon going to be served at many soirées.

So why not give poké a try at home first, to see if you like it? The recently released cook book, Poké: Hawaiian-Inspired Sushi Bowls by Celia Farrar and Guy Jackson, has recipes that will inspire you and possibly make you the next poké master among your friends. release the excess starch from the grains. Drain and repeat until the water stops turning cloudy.

Once fully rinsed and drained, cover the rice with the following amount of cold water: White rice – 240ml Brown rice – 360ml Black rice – 480ml (soak black rice for up to 1 hour before cooking)

Place the saucepan on a medium-high heat and bring to a rapid boil. Cover, turn down the heat to a gentle simmer, and cook for the following length of time: White rice – 15-20 minutes Brown rice – 20 minutes Black rice – 30 minutes Once the rice is cooked, remove the pan from the heat and leave, covered, to steam for a further 10 minutes.

Now you can turn the rice out into a wooden sushi rice bowl, if you have one.

Using a rice paddle or wooden spoon, gently fold and turn the cooked rice, allowing the steam to evaporate.

At this stage, we like to season the freshly cooked rice. Whisk together 2 tbs of mirin with 2 tbs of rice wine vinegar, plus 1 tsp of sugar and ½ a tsp of salt.

Drizzle the mixture over the hot rice while gently folding to coat each grain.

The rice should now be left for 10 minutes to cool before using for your poké bowl. Our homage to a contemporary Hawaiian-style poké, traditionally served with limu kohu (seaweed) and Hawaiian salt.

We’ve tried to create a similar version with variations on these classic ingredients. Hopefully the taste will transport you to the islands.

Cook the rice as per the cooking instructions and leave to cool.

In a large mixing bowl combine the tuna, white onion, half of the spring onions, half of the black and white sesame seeds, and the salt.

Mix all the marinade ingredients together in a small bowl, add to the tuna and thoroughly combine.

Serve immediately or leave to marinate for up to 1 hour.

Once ready to serve, spoon the cooked rice into 4 bowls and top with the fish and marinade.

Sprinkle the remaining sesame seeds and spring onions loosely over the top of the dish.

Pimp it with beetroot pickled baby corn, lotus root crisps and a few edible violet flowers. – The I nde p e ndent with additional reporting by Buhle Mbonambi

Poke – HawaiianInspired ‘Sushi’ Bowls R246 at loot.co.za