I imagine that when walking around your city and seeing certain food booths or when checking the advertising on the mailbox you have often seen, especially in fast food brochures, the term "poke".
Poke is a type of fast food that has recently been added to another pleiad that we all more or less handle. We know what Sushi is (although the difference between a maki, a nigiri or a california roll escapes us a bit), Argentine empanadas, hamburgers, ramen ...
In this case it is a typical Hawaiian food that has been profoundly altered as it usually happens when something becomes universal. Originally, poke was a kind of quick snack that was made at home made up of raw fish, vegetables and some carbohydrate intake. What has always been called "salad". Later, due to the influence of the large Japanese community present on the island, sashimi, edamame (soy), as well as sauces and additives with a clear oriental influence, such as soy or wasabi, began to be used.
It was not until the beginning of this century that it began to be marketed in fast food establishments, although poke consumers have always fled from such a name since they consider it healthy food. For this reason, it is either sold in specialized stores or in oriental food restaurants that also usually carry this implicit health label although in practice it is not entirely true.
There is no standard of what a poke bowl carries and in fact one of its advantages is that the client can compose it at will. There is no written rule, but in general it almost always contains some type of lightly marinated fish (except in vegetarian poke bowls), vegetables, carbohydrates (rice, oriental pasta) and various types of sauce. In general, it is about making a complete salad (with all the essential vitamins, minerals and proteins / amino acids) with little fat or, if there is any, that is the healthiest possible.
These are the most common ingredients:
Marinated raw fish:
- Salmon
- Tuna
They do not usually use white fish because their texture and the amount of water in them do not make them the most suitable for marinating (although sometimes the poke are similar to South American ceviches and then they can have hake, for example). Marinated raw fish is responsible for the animal protein intake.
Vegetables :
- Grated carrot
- Edamame
- Sliced or cubed cucumber
- Laminated avocado
- Onion
Actually, there is usually no limit in terms of the vegetables to use, and a tomato or a potato is as valid as the rest of the lists. However, it is usually given an oriental appearance
incorporating edamame (raw soy beans) and there is no lack of laminated avocado, because it is considered a fatty but healthy food. The potato is a food that is hardly consumed in the Far East and since the poke has become orientalized - despite being of Polynesian origin - it is not usually used. The same goes for the tomato.
Vegetables provide minerals and vitamins to the poke.
Carbohydrates:
- Integral rice
- Oriental pasta (rice noodles, oriental pasta etc)
They are not always used but for the dish to be complete it is better to incorporate one or more types of carbohydrates, apart from the fact that they are satiating and without them you will be still hungry when finishing your bowl. So simple.
Brown rice contains carbohydrates but also vitamins and minerals since it preserves the shell. It is integrated into the base of the bowl and can be both hot and cold. The pasta is usually put either on the base or mixed with the rest of the ingredient.
Sauce and additives:
- Soy
- Wasabi mayonnaise
- Wasabi
- Sriracha
- Chopped chives
- Sesame seeds
- Mayonnaise
- Rice vinegar
- Sesame oil
- Avocado oil
- Honey
Although many do not admit it, the benefits of poke tend to be lost depending on how we season it. If we use soy, the salt intake will not be very healthy. Wasabi and sriracha, being spicy, will affect our stomach. Of course, if you ask for extra virgin olive oil and vinegar, they will look weird at you but, until proven otherwise, it is the healthiest dressing that exists.
Soybeans, honey, rice vinegar and sesame oil are mainly used to marinate raw fish, although they can also be used to season poke in general.
Wasabi mayonnaise is basically the old-fashioned mayonnaise to which wasabi powder or wasabi paste is added. Wasabi is a very expensive type of horseradish, so it is probably a substitute dyed green to look like it. Wasabi is very spicy so very little is added to the mayonnaise. This is the most common poke dressing, and a large amount of it is usually included.
Chopped chives and sesame seeds are often sprinkled on top, more for an aesthetic than a taste reason (which you have, but it's less influential).
Some poke use the very expensive avocado oil, considered one of the most expensive that exists, although incorporating fresh avocado contributes little to the nutritional value of the dish.
If you like spicy, apart from wasabi, you can add sriracha sauce.
We are going to prepare a salmon poke bowl with vegetables and brown rice with products that are easily found in West.
- 200 grams (7 oz) of frozen salmon
- 1 cup of brown rice
- 4 medium avocados
- 200 grams (7 oz) of edamame
- 1 red or purple onion (sweet)
- 2 carrots, grated
- 200 grams (7 oz) of mayonnaise
- A teaspoon of wasabi
- Various chives
- Sesame seeds (sesame)
- Soy sauce
- Honey
- Vinegar (it doesn't have to be rice)
- Oil (it doesn't have to be sesame either, with an olive one is more than enough)
