Hi!
Today is a stressful day. Or more like a stressful week/month/year if you ask me! So let’s distract ourselves mildly with a delicious new recipe
Ahi Tuna Poke Bowls
Fun fact, I use to work as a line cook at an Asian restaurant that sadly is no longer open. While my line cook career was short lived, I did learn how to make a lot of delicious Asian dishes, one of them being sushi rice!
We use to make an Ahi Tuna Poke dish and served it on a fried sushi rice cake. It was so good! I also learned my appreciation of a rice cooker working there…
Sushi rice is a specific type of short grain white rice that is pretty easy to find these days in a regular grocery store, but you can always substitute your rice of choice. What really makes sushi rice “signature” is a mix of vinegar and sugar added to the cooked rice to make it slightly glutenous and sticky.
In a pan I went rice vinegar, sugar, and salt. Just heated up until the sugar dissovles.
Once the rice is done cooking I folded in the vinegar mixture, plus dried seaweed and sesame seeds to add some more flavor and texture. Adding the dried seaweed to the rice is something I learned working at the Asian restaurant. The seaweed likes to clump together so just be sure to mix it in slowly.
Let the rice cool and work on the tuna.
Making sure the tuna is good quality is important because you are eating it raw. You can also sub in raw salmon, or even use cooked shrimp for a “california roll” vibe
To the chopped tuna I added soy sauce, sesame oil, fish sauce, chili crisp, scallions, salt and pepper. You only need to add a very small pinch of salt cause soy sauce is already salty on it’s own.
Now time to assemble with desired toppings, which is the fun part. Here are some ideas..
- Sliced radish
- Edamame
- Cucumber
- Pickled onions
- Pickled Ginger
- Carrots
- Dried seaweed or seaweed salad
- Avocado
- Spicy mayo
- Lime wedges
Poke bowls are so fun because you can get creative with them. Extra avocado for me please!
Ahi Tuna Poke Bowls
Serves 3-4
Ingredients:
- 2 cups sushi rice
- 1/2 cup rice vinegar
- 4 tbsp granulated sugar
- 3 sheets of dried seaweed, cut into small pieces (optional)
- 1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds
- ½ tbsp salt
- ¾ pound raw ahi tuna, cut into cubes
- 3 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tbsp sesame oil
- ½ tbsp fish sauce
- 1 tbsp chili crisp (or sriracha)
- 3 scallions, chopped
- Salt and pepper
- Garnish ideas: sliced radish, edamame, scallions, chopped cucumber, more dried seaweed or seaweed salad, avocado, spicy mayo, lime wedges, carrots, sesame seeds
Instructions:
- Rinse rice. Plate in a pot with a fitted lid and fill with 3 cups of water. Allow to soak for 15 minutes. Then bring to a boil, reduce to simmer, cover and cook for 20 minutes.
- In the meantime in a separate pot, add the rice vinegar, granulated sugar, and ½ tbsp salt. Bring to a simmer, cook for 1 minute until sugar dissolves, and remove from heat.
- Once rice is slightly cool, fluff with a fork, then pour the vinegar mixture into the rice. Add the chopped dried seaweed and sesame seeds and stir into the rice to combine. Season to taste and set aside and allow to cool while you prepare the toppings.
- In a mixing bowl, combine diced tuna (make sure you keep it cold!) soy sauce, sesame oil, fish sauce, chili crisp, scallions, and a pinch of salt and pepper. Combine and season to taste.
- Arrange the cooled rice in each bowl and divide up the tuna on top. Add toppings of your choice and serve immediately!
The spicy mayo on top really does it for me! I hope you give these a try! And GO VOTE!!
xx Chelcie
