There’s a lot of Hawaiian poke recipes available on the internet; unfortunately many of them focus more on trendy than being authentic. Authentic Hawaiian poke isn’t some fancy colorful bowl with avocado and sprouts and other nonsense. The real version is much less attractive…and all the more delicious. If you’ve ever been to Hawaii you’ll know the best place to get poke, other than homemade, is at your local grocery ‘deli’ counter. Just get a plastic container filled with deliciously marinated fish.
The main ingredient you’ll want to splurge on is a big hunk of yellowfin tuna. Authentic poke is also made with octopus (known as he’e) but for my recipe I just picked up tuna. Cut the tuna into small bite size pieces, making sure to trim away any tendon from the flesh. Unlike ceviche, Hawaiian poke is not cooked in acid. So you’ll want to use a high quality piece of fish.
I used a 1.25 kg piece of fish, which is quite a large piece. Feel free to adjust the ratios to suit your taste. After cutting all of the pieces you’ll place them into a bowl and begin to assemble the marinade.
The marinade is a hodgepodge of ingredients so take my ratios and feel free to adjust them if you want something stronger or weaker. To the bowl add four tablespoons of soy sauce, a tsp of sesame oil, a thinly sliced Maui onion (I used a sweet shallot since it’s pretty much impossible to find Maui onions in Europe), a few stalks of chopped green onion, two tablespoons of finely chopped seaweed, and some sesame seeds. If you’d like to make it a bit spicier you can add a small amount of wasabi to the mix.
As of now you’re pretty much done, however you won’t get the best flavor until you let it marinade for a while. An hour is enough, but for flavor that really packs a punch I recommend sealing the Hawaiian poke in a plastic bag or a container and placing it in the fridge for 12 hours, or overnight.
Authentic Hawaiian Poke
Equipment
- Knife
- Bowl
Ingredients
- 1 kg Yellowfin Tuna cut into bite size pieces
- 4 tbsp Soy Sauce more or less to suit your taste
- 1 tsp Sesame Oil more or less to suit your taste
- 1 Maui Onion can sub a sweet shallot, thinly sliced
- 2 tbsp Green Onion chopped
- 2 tbsp Sesame Seeds more or less to suit your taste
Instructions
- Add all ingredients to a bowl and mix well.
- Place in a bag or resealable container and seal. Place in the fridge to marinade for at least one hour, best overnight.
Nutrition
Authentic Hawaiian Poke
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