The sweet, shiny. deep red/pink of fresh, line-caught ahi was calling out to me at the Japanese grocery store. That ahi turned into a lip-smacking dish of poke that we all fought over at dinner.
Why am I calling it 'ex-pat' poke? Traditional poke typically includes some kind of limu/ogo (seaweed) and a bit of inamona
(a kind of paste made from kukui nuts). I've tried to get fresh ogo here, even to the point of calling a fish distributor, but no luck so far. And getting inamona would be a crazy cooking hoop to jump through. Thus, 'ex-pat' poke for the Hawaii people who love poke but cannot get these requisite items.
The most important and critical element is to find the absolute freshest ahi you can get.
Fresh means not previously frozen, not slimy and it shouldn't smell like 'fish'. It's also better to get a chunk of ahi and slice it yourself rather than the pre-sliced stuff. The reasons are 1) the pre-sliced stuff is what my father disparagingly calls "rubbish ahi" or the fish equivalent of hot dogs and 2) air degrades fish, so the fewer exposed surfaces, the better.
Click here for the recipe.
Why am I calling it 'ex-pat' poke? Traditional poke typically includes some kind of limu/ogo (seaweed) and a bit of inamona
(a kind of paste made from kukui nuts). I've tried to get fresh ogo here, even to the point of calling a fish distributor, but no luck so far. And getting inamona would be a crazy cooking hoop to jump through. Thus, 'ex-pat' poke for the Hawaii people who love poke but cannot get these requisite items.
The most important and critical element is to find the absolute freshest ahi you can get.
Fresh means not previously frozen, not slimy and it shouldn't smell like 'fish'. It's also better to get a chunk of ahi and slice it yourself rather than the pre-sliced stuff. The reasons are 1) the pre-sliced stuff is what my father disparagingly calls "rubbish ahi" or the fish equivalent of hot dogs and 2) air degrades fish, so the fewer exposed surfaces, the better.
Click here for the recipe.
