Hawaiian-style Ahi Poke – A Test of a Cook’s Knifework
Hawaiian poke (pronounced “poh-kay” rather than “pohk”) is an excellent test of knives and of a cook’s knifework. After all, the word “poke” itself means “cut into chunks” in Hawaiian. For a dish with no heat involved it is the knifework that is the real cooking.
Hawaiian poke (pronounced “poh-kay” rather than “pohk”) is an excellent test of knives and of a cook’s knifework. After all, the word “poke” itself means “cut into chunks” in Hawaiian. For a dish with no heat involved it is the knifework that is the real cooking.
The idea that there is no heat involved in poke might come as news to some who are familiar with the sort of poke bowls – poke served atop sushi rice in a bowl – that are common lunch fare on America’s west coast and even as far from Hawaii as Manhattan. But while poke bowls have been re-exported from America’s mainland to Hawaii, they are not a part of Hawaiian tradition.
Indeed, many of the ingredients mainlanders generally associate with poke depart from straight-up traditional Hawaiian-style poke. The ingredients for the traditional version were few and straightforward: fish, limu kohu seaweed, crushed kukui nuts, minced chile pepper and salt. Nowadays the poke is often garnished with scallion greens. Even the fish used most commonly for poke (ahi tuna) differs from the traditional use of small reef fish or, perhaps at most, skipjack tuna.
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But cuisine is a living thing, even in a land as passionate about their traditions as Hawaii. The most popular pokes – and they are utterly ubiquitous, available prepared in every grocery store and even neighborhood shops – use ahi (yellowfin tuna), and add soy sauce, sesame oil, onion, and even ingredients like sugar and sometimes tomato to the dish. It is that sort of modernized version that has become what many Americans think of as “Hawaiian poke.”
In Partnership with ShunKai.USA
Hawaiian-style Ahi Poke
This recipe adopts aspects of today’s Hawaiian-style ahi poke but with ingredients more commonly available on the mainland and the tasty simplicity of truly traditional poke.
- Servings Serves 4 as an appetizer
Ingredients
- 5 ml (1 teaspoon) dried hijiki seaweed
- 5 ml (1 teaspoon) dried wakame seaweed
- 30 ml (2 tablespoons) good quality soy sauce
- 15 ml (1 tablespoon) sesame oil
- 454 grams (1 pound) sashimi-grade yellowfin tuna (ahi), cut into 1.3-1.9 cm (½-¾ inch) dice
- ¼ Maui or other sweet onion, peeled
- 1 Fresno chile pepper, stemmed, seeded and minced
- 15 ml (1 tablespoon) crushed Macadamia nuts
- 2.5 ml (½ teaspoon) red Hawaiian salt
- 2.5 ml (½ teaspoon) black Hawaiian salt
- 30 ml (2 tablespoons) thinly sliced scallions (greens only)
Preparation
- Rehydrate the hijiki and wakame seaweeds in hot water. Combine the soy sauce and sesame oil in a mixing bowl and whisk to combine. Very thinly slice the Maui onion. The slices should be nearly transparent.
2. Once the seaweeds are rehydrated, in a medium sized mixing bowl, combine and mix the seaweeds, tuna, 60 ml (¼ cup) of sweet onion slices, minced chile pepper, and crushed Macadamia nuts. Toss the contents of the bowl with the soy sauce and sesame oil mixture.
3. Garnish the poke with the salts and sliced scallion greens according to taste.
Michael A. Gardiner
Michael A. Gardiner is the author of Modern Kosher: Global Flavors, New Traditions (Rizzoli, 2020), a regular food writer for the San Diego Union-Tribune, San Diego’s newspaper of record, and long-time restaurant reviewer for San Diego CityBeat. Gardiner won 2018, 2019 and 2020 San Diego Press Club awards for his contributions to both publications. He is also a freelance writer for Edible San Diego, Thrillist, and Fox News Latino, amongst other publications.
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