Share your poke recipes

Cafe Society
1

I really like poke. And it seems like something that should be pretty easy to make at home. I’ve seen different recipes, and I’m wondering if there is a good one that doesn’t require some exotic Japanese ingredient. Living in the Bay Area, I can probably get anything I want, but I’m not big on driving 3 towns over just to buy one special spice at the Japanese Grocery store.

I’m thinking:

Raw fish (usually ahi)
Soy Sauce
Sesame Oil
Onions (optional, but I like them)
Sesame seeds (toasted)
Some type of hot paste or chile flakes

Is that about right? It’s probably that last ingredient that I’m the most uncertain of. What works and what doesn’t work? Let me know what your favorite recipe is, as I’d like to get to where I can easily whip up a serving of ahi as a snack or even an entree.

2

That looks like the kind of poke I like. I like chili flakes rather than some kind of sauce. Whereabouts in the bay area are you, John Mace? San Jose has Santo Market, which carries limu, that maroon-ish, feathery seaweed that Hawaiian places like to put in their poke.

I’d make poke following your recipe, but add some chopped limu as well.

3

I’m on the West Side. That market is in J-Town in SJ. I do go to J-Town every now and then for lunch-- I should probably check it out. Thanks!!

ETA: I’ve been there!! One of the ladies who works in that market lives in a building that’s own by someone I know. I’ll pay better attention the next time I’m there.

4

I read the OP and got confused because I thought he was talking about Poke Salad
https://delishably.com/vegetable-dishes/Poke-Sallet-Poke-Salad-Recipe-How-to-Handle-Harvest-and-Prepare-the-Poisonous-Pokeweed and could not think of any of the recipes I’ve seen having any of the ingredients that he used.

I have never ate either kind of Poke: the first because Iowa is not the home of epicurean delights let alone “foreign food” (our Asian buffets probably all buy from the same Chicago food distributor and everything is labelled in “American”) and the second because I am lazy and don’t cook anything that requires special care unless you want to poison your family (same reason I don’t collect and cook Amanita mushrooms).

5

I used to get both limu and inamona (ground kukui nut) from Takahashi Market in San Mateo. My “recipe” was the best ahi I could buy marinated in sesame oil, chili pepper flakes and soy sauce; tossed with chopped Maui onion, red Hawaiian sea salt, limu and inamona.

Any sweet onion will do in a pinch. Toasted, chopped macadamia nut and some sesame seed is a decent substitute for real inamona. But I haven’t found a replacement for limu.

Inamona doesn’t last forever and limu is very perishable. But I crave poke so much I’m tempted to mail order the real stuff stuff since I moved away from the Bay Area.

6

The brand of soy sauce is important. I came back from visiting Hawaii in 2005 and tried to recreate the poke I had there. Most of the soy sauce available in Michigan at that time sucked and so did my poke.
Eventually I tried oyster sauce. Poke with oyster sauce is good but I wanted to make the soy version work. I bought Aloha brand shoyu from Hawaii & that did the trick! Now it’s available in Michigan so life is good.
Here’s my basic recipe but I add things like chopped cashews or asparagus tips or chopped fresh garden tomatoes if it’s summertime. The measurements are approximate.

1 lb Really good tuna.
3 Tbl Aloha shoyu or 2 Tbl oyster sauce.
1 Tbl sesame oil
1/3 rd cup chopped sweet onions.
1/3 rd cup chopped green onions.
Dried seaweed or furikake.
1/2 tsp Sesame seeds.
Sriracha to taste.
Serve with rice or…

I frequently take credit for inventing Poke & cream cheese on a toasted bagel. Feel free to try it yourselves.

Poke with Mayonnaise is worth trying but please no Miracle whip!

7

I’m in the St Louis area and get Poke from the Fresh Thyme market. They make it everyday and it’s usually all sold by 2 or so.

Shared with a woman from Hawaii and she said it was good. That’s all I needed to know.

8

I add some diced and caramelized pork belly. But I’m the kind of guy who doesn’t mind getting a pig in a poke.

9

They sell it in the back, at that dodgy-looking butcher counter. A quarter pound of it will be enough to make quite a bit of poke.

The last time we were in Hawaii, I was amazed at the poke counter in a local supermarket, the “Times”. There must have been twenty or thirty varieties of poke, using ahi, swordfish, hamachi, octopus, etc.

I like my poke on room temperature sushi rice, with a side of ice-cold pineapple or a papaya half. It’s a wonderful grab-and-go beach meal.

10

Pick only the young leaves–older ones are bitter, and the stalks are poisonous.

Cook like any other wild greens, changing the water once. Add a little fatback bacon for seasoning if you like.

Serve with salt, pepper and vinegar.

What? That’s the poke recipe that *I *grew up eating.

11

A friend of mine who grew up in Hawaii just brought poke to a party at my house - it was so delicious that I demanded the recipe. Here it is exactly as she sent it to me, although most of you won’t need the instructions on how to obtain suitable fish in Jakarta:

12

Gators got your granny? :wink:

13

Well, poke (Phytolacca americana, that is) appears to be good for whatever ails you:

*Michael Moore energetics (highlights): lymphatic, immune, skin/mucosa, hepatic, parasympathetic stimulant; cardiovascular, musculoskeletal, CNS sedative; berries for thyroid depression, root for adrenalin stress.

Tongue indications: swollen, with a white coating; sometimes foamy saliva (Michael Moore).*

http://crabappleherbs.com/blog/2007/07/31/pokeweed-an-herb-for-all-things-pokey/

And now you know why Michael Moore foams at the mouth. :frowning:

Pokeberry wine sounds intriguing, especially if you are sure to use homepathic dilutions of poke.

14

Naw, there ain’t no gators in West Virginia!