Hawaii Ahi Poke

About This Ahi Tuna Poke Bowl Recipe

A Hawaiian poke bowl is simply poke served over steamed rice. The poke can be made with a variety of raw fish, shrimp, octopus (tako) and even clams. Our recipe instructs you to prepare a simplified, yet still quite authentic poke using ahi tuna and a few other simple ingredients.

You will not need to seek out traditional Hawaiian cooking ingredients such as inamona (kukui nut relish), limu (algae) or alaea salt (Hawaiian red sea salt).

Poke (pronounced poh-kay) is a Hawaiian word and means to slice or to cut cross-wise. The name was given to a dish of diced raw fish flavored and complemented by other ingredients, sometimes considered a salad in the original sense of the word.

Ingredients for Ahi Poke

In its simplest form ahi tuna poke is made with soy sauce and the ingredients listed below.

Ahi tuna. Yellowfin tuna (what we are using here) or bigeye tuna, both known as ahi, should be sashimi grade for making poke.

Soy sauce. You can use regular soy sauce (a brand like Kikkoman) but we recommend that you go with the Hawaiian brand Aloha, milder and sweeter, which is the traditional choice for poke. See the section below for details.

Salt. Sea salt to accentuate the ahi flesh. Use what you have. The traditional alaea pink Hawaiian salt is quite expensive and using it does not result in a distinclty perceivable difference.

Sesame oil and toasted sesame seeds. For toasty notes and crunch, use them to taste as sesame oil can be potent for some people's palate.

Pepper flakes. Use regular red pepper flakes for a bit of heat.

Sweet onion and green onion. Chances are that Maui sweet onions (actually grown on Maui and the traditional ingredient) will not be available. The closest option you have to them, from the same family, is Texas 1015 sweet onions. We often find these here in Colorado. Or simply young vidalia as we do in this post. The milder and sweeter the onion the better. For the green onions - the younger and thinner, the better.

NOTE: Spicy tuna poke is made with less of the soy sauce, without the red pepper flakes and is smothered in a spicy aioli sauce. You can prepar it by mixing mayonnaise and sriracha sauce.

Hawaii Ahi Tuna, Shoyu Poke & Aloha Soy Sauce

Hawaiian-style tuna, often referred to as shoyu poke, is simply cubed ahi tuna dressed in the Hawaiian brand soy sauce Aloha. It is not as salty tasting as other brands of soy sauce and mildly sweet. Perfectly suited to coat the flesh of sashimi grade ahi.

The word shoyu is Japanese for soy sauce. When a Japanese family immigrated to the islands and established a traditional soy sauce brewing business they named Aloha, the now famous Aloha soy sauce was born. In Hawaii poke is pretty much always made with this shoyu.

To stay true to how tuna poke is made in Hawaii, you can easily buy the sweetish Aloha soy sauce at your grocery store. Their distribution is excellent. If not for some reason, it is available on Amazon (affiliate link, we may earn a miniscule commision if you buy).

Did you know that Hawaii is the standard English spelling of the word, whereas Hawai'i" is the traditional Hawaiian spelling? Look at the label below. Hawai'i" contains a symbol known as ʻokina which notes that there is a glottal stop between the two letters i.

How to Make Hawaiian-Style Poke Bowl

A Hawaiian poke bowl is made by serving cubed, marinated fresh fish poke over steamed rice.

Most frequently ahi tuna poke, either shoyu or spicy tuna, is used. Other popular fish are skipjack tuna, blue marlin, swordfish, hamachi (seasonal) and salmon.

In the Recipe Card below we show how to make shoyu tuna poke with step-by-step pictures. Once you have assembled the poke it you need to allow it to chill in the refrigerator briefly. It tastes better!

Once chilled simply serve the poke over bowls of steamed medium-grain white rice or sushi rice. (The traditional rice used in Hawaii is Calrose rice).

The dish is simple and true to its unpretencious roots. The flavor medley is amazing!

Modern Additions to Poke Bowls

Poke bowls outside Hawaii often include ingredients that are compatible with the raw fish dish although not necessarily rooted in the islands' culinary traditions.

These are a few ingredients you can consider adding to spruce up your Hawaiian poke bowl and customize it to your taste:

• avocado slices
• cucumber slices or sticks
• edamame
• mushrooms
• pineapple
• pickled ginger
• Japanese pickled vegetables
• daikon radish or even regular radish
• salmon roe
• carrots
• shredded purple cabbage
• fried onions
• fried wontons
• nori (shredded thin)
• seaweed salad (ogo)
• kimchi

Simple Is Best

We really enjoy the ahi in the lead role so we typically make the simplest version of tuna poke bowl pictured below. Sometimes we add furikake to the rice and sometimes a drizzle of the Aloha soy sauce.

Pair tuna poke with light lagers or blonde ales. If you can find Maui Brewing Bikini Blond or Maui Light or Kona Brewing Long Board or Big Wave you will stay true to how the locals pair beer and poke:)