Spicy Ahi (Tuna) Poke Bowls, AT HOME (HOW-TO)
or use this as a guide at the "build-a-poke-bowl" shops...
I have a specific way that I prefer eating my poke bowls, and because of sharing that from time-to-time, on my social media stories—I get messages asking me, “Hey Heather, how do you eat your poke bowls again?!”
So, after making homemade poke bowls over the Mother’s Day weekend, I figured that I would document it (posting a reel on Instagram, but also writing it all out here, too!)
Now the above picture ^ was a time that I made spicy ahi poke bowls at home, but also had leftover spicy cucumber salad from a local Korean restaurant as well, which pairs well—but that’s not always feasible when making at home.
I’ve also used my general combo/recipe to make spicy poke nachos at home as well…
I believe these combinations of ingredients, make for the absolute most tasty spicy ahi poke bowls!
HERE ARE THE INGREDIENTS THAT I USE:
3 cups sushi rice
1 lb. raw sushi grade bigeye saku yellowfin tuna (cubed)
1/2 sweet onion (finely diced)
1 large organic seedless cucumber (cut per preference)
3 small avocados (cubed)
1/2 cup spicy mayo (my favorite if buying premade, is the “yummy sushi spicy mayo” but there’s so many other good ones, too, like this Japanese one. But, you can also make it yourself with about 1 cup Kewpie mayo + 4 tablespoons sriracha (roughly) with optional additions like chili oil, lime juice, sesame oil, etc…)
crispy onion + garlic flakes (for topping)
Nori Komi furikake (for topping—there are many good brands of this)
fresh lettuce leaves of choice (for base—about 1 cup per poke bowl)
eel sauce (for drizzling over rice—also called unagi sauce)
sriracha (for topping)
chopped green onions (amount per preference for topping)
OTHER OPTIONS FOR VARIATIONS OF THIS DISH:
If you can find tobiko and/or masago (flying fish roe), they make excellent toppings for poke bowls also—but I can’t always find when making my own at home. Sometimes you can find these in the refrigerator or freezer section of Asian or specialty grocery stores. They provide nice salty/slightly fishy, crunchy pop as an additional topping.
If you don’t have eel/unagi sauce to drizzle on the sushi rice as the base of the poke bowl, you can use a drizzle of soy sauce, teriyaki sauce, or coconut aminos.
Ponzu sauce is a great addition, to drizzle a tiny bit over the lettuce as the base of poke bowl for a tangy “light dressing”.
Cilantro and pickled radish are great, chopped and added with the green onions for topping as well.
& HERE IS WHAT I DO:
I buy my raw sushi grade ahi, frozen. Once I get home from the market, I immediately place it in the refrigerator to defrost for 24 hours.
Once ready to make poke bowls, I take all of my ingredients out, and first cut open the ahi packs (carefully as not to spill any of the fishy liquid—discard that!) and place the raw ahi blocks onto paper towels to absorb any left over liquid from defrosting. You don’t want the ahi to be at all still frozen, nor with much liquid, or your poke bowl will not taste right or have the optimal texture!
MAKING THE SUSHI RICE:
*Note that this amount is for serving my family of four:
I rinse 3 cups of sushi rice in a pot, drain and repeat twice. After draining all of the water out from rinsing, add 3.5 cups of filtered water to the pot with the washed rice.
If the brand of sushi rice that I’m using is not very naturally sweet, sometimes I will add a splash of rice vinegar—which enhances flavor and helps preserve the rice's texture and structure. The addition of acid slows down the recrystallization of the starch molecules and the rice stays stickier and chewier longer after cooling down. *Optional, but you can experiment with doing so and/or not and find your preference.
Place on the stovetop on medium-to-high heat, wait until it comes to a bubbling boil, then immediately reduce heat to lowest setting and cover with a lid.
Set timer for 10 minutes and DO NOT touch or remove lid. Once the timer goes off, remove lid and continue on low heat, uncovered, for another 10-15 minutes. After that time is up, turn heat off, cover rice pot with the lid and let sit until ready to serve.
Chop your cucumbers and cube your avocados—place into a glass mixing bowl.
Then, pat dry your raw ahi blocks, discard the paper towels and place ahi on to a stainless steel cutting board (I usually don’t cut meat or raw proteins on wood).
You want a really sharp knife for this, so I recommend sharpening your chef’s knife first. Cut longways into strips, then cubes. The ideal size is typically between 1/2 inch and 1 inch. This allows for a good balance of texture and flavor when incorporating the cubes into a poke bowl.
Add the ahi cubes into the bowl with the avocado and cucumbers. Then, very finely dice 1/2 of a sweet onion and add that into the bowl as well.
Pour in 1/2 cup of spicy mayo and using a large spoon, mix all together until well combined.
ASSEMBLING THE POKE BOWL:
You don’t want to use a circular/deep cereal or ice cream-type of bowl for this. In order to be able to scoop up as many ingredients as possible, together, while eating each bite (to get the full flavor profile) you want a more shallow dinner/pasta type of bowl—like this, or these.
First, scoop in about 1/2 cup of cooked rice, should be enough to fill about half of the bottom of bowl. Then, add lettuce pieces to the other half/side of the bowl. (I usually like doing this half/half side-to-side serving, but we also sometimes place the rice on entire bottom of bowl then add the lettuce on top of rice.)
Drizzle the eel/unagi sauce lightly all over the rice and lettuce (few drops of ponzu sauce is also so good on the lettuce!)…and sprinkle a little bit of the furikake rice seasoning as well.
Spoon in your spicy ahi mix on top of the lettuce and rice base (enough to almost cover base, or just per preference!)
Then, pour the crispy onions/garlic chips all over that. Another sprinkle of furikake rice seasoning + fresh chopped green onions (can also add fish roe, chopped cilantro and/or pickled radish here as well.)
Top the entire poke bowl with sriracha all over, and immediately enjoy.
My favorite bite is to take a leaf of the lettuce and wrap it around a piece of every single ingredient in the bowl, to eat all together….mmm, THE BEST!!!
Enjoy!
x. Heather
Yummmm! I need to make this asap! 🔥