The poke principle

Poke (pronounced POE-kay) is easy to prepare at home; the main requirement is to have very fresh fish.

By FAYE, YAKIR LEVY
Poke dish 521 (photo credit: Yakir Levy)
Poke dish 521
(photo credit: Yakir Levy)
'What’s the most popular food in Hawaii?” I asked the flight attendant on my way there. She replied: sushi. She was right. On the menus of restaurants in Hawaii, all sorts of Japanese fish preparations were highlighted, especially those made of raw fish. I particularly enjoyed a tuna appetizer salad that I came across several times. Cool and refreshing, it was composed of raw tuna with a light dressing and a sprinkling of toasted sesame seeds. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it, because at that time, I was not fond of raw fish preparations such as Japanese sashimi or South American ceviche.
But this dish, called poke (pronounced POE-kay), was easy to love. For me it must have been the seasoning that made the difference. The subtle sesame oil sauce lightly coated the bite-size strips of fish and did not overpower their fresh flavor.
The word poke is Hawaiian and means to slice or cut in pieces. Perhaps the current Hawaiian versions of poke evolved from Japanese recipes for sashimi and for fish salads, and cooks in Hawaii added seasonings to suit their taste.
Hawaiian chef Roy Yamaguchi, author of Hawaii Cooks with Joan Namkoong, describes his style of cooking as “heavily influenced by both Japan and Hawaii... In Hawaii, we are big fans of ahi (tuna) as sashimi, sliced raw fish simply dipped in soy sauce or another condiment. We also relish poke, a dish of cubed ahi usually seasoned with soy sauce, garlic, ginger, sesame oil, and green onion – all the flavors I love.”
THIS WEEK, we tasted two delicious renditions of poke in Los Angeles.
The first was served at the residence of the Japanese consul at a fair highlighting the foods of Yamanashi Prefecture. This area of Japan, with Mount Fuji on its southern border, is known for its top-quality fruit and its wines made from Koshu grapes, as well as its tasty noodle dishes, such as udon noodle miso soup with pumpkin.
In martini glasses came an appealing fish appetizer – thin cucumber slices and tender seaweed topped by a salad of deep red tuna strips garnished with sesame seeds and finely shredded green onion. It was sensational, and no wonder – it was prepared by a top Japanese chef, Katsuya Uechi of LA’s Katsuya Restaurant.
The chef told us that he made the appetizer with big-eye tuna and wakame seaweed. He made a dressing of soy sauce, ponzu sauce (citrus-flavored soy sauce), sesame oil, chili oil and wasabi (green Japanese horseradish), and used it with a light hand so the fish was perfectly moistened and delicately flavored.
When we asked the Japanese man serving the appetizer what it was, he said it was poke. To our question, “Isn’t poke Hawaiian?” he replied with a smile, “Well, it’s Japanese/Hawaiian.”
A few days later, at a Japanese restaurant, we lunched on a main dish called fire tuna bowl, which was actually a peppery poke. The raw tuna was mixed with red onion strips, avocado cubes, a pickled carrotlike root vegetable and a spicy sauce flavored with mustard and soy sauce, and was served on a bed of lettuce, thin cucumber sticks and halved baby tomatoes.
It was accompanied by a bowl of hot sushi rice crowned with crunchy fried onions and tempura bits.
Outside Hawaii, similar preparations are known as sashimi salad or simply fish salad. Elizabeth Andoh, author of An American Taste of Japan, calls her fish salad fresh fluke in smoky vinaigrette. The thin strips of raw fluke, a type of flounder, are marinated for only a minute in a light dressing made of basic Japanese stock, soy sauce, mirin (syrupy rice wine), rice vinegar and flakes of bonito, a tuna-like fish; it is then tossed with chopped chives and mounded on lettuce.
Creative American chefs use poke-type mixtures to develop their own fish appetizers. To make sashimi tuna salad, chef Tom Douglas, author of Tom Douglas’ Seattle Kitchen, mixes thin tuna strips with green onions, radish sprouts, fresh coriander and toasted sesame seeds. For a dressing he makes a chilled sake and soy sauce with hot pepper and garlic and enriches it with a little peanut oil, sesame oil and Asian chili oil. Douglas advises cooks not to marinate the tuna for long because this would “cook” the fish.
In Hawaii, wrote chef Sam Choy, author of Sam Choy’s Island Flavors, poke has become so popular that every year there is an international poke recipe contest.
Classic poke consists of sliced raw fish, seaweed, fresh red chili peppers, Hawaiian sea salt and roasted, ground, salted candlenuts.
POKE IS easy to prepare at home. The main requirement is to have very fresh fish. Whenever you are making any kind of recipe from raw fish, advises Choy, it is best to use fish that was caught that day.
Many call it sushi-quality fish or sashimi/poke-quality raw fish. If you can’t use the fish immediately, chefs recommend wrapping it tightly in plastic and storing it on a tray of ice in the refrigerator for up to a day.
Choy has come up with several methods to adapt sashimi to the taste of people who don’t appreciate raw fish. He makes poke patties of tuna cubes with minced onion, chopped seaweed, soy sauce, sesame oil, salt and pepper, dips them in panko (Japanese bread crumbs) and browns them lightly on both sides.
As a sauce, he sautes sliced mushrooms in butter and adds soy sauce and fresh coriander.
To give classic Japanese sashimi a twist, Choy marinates tuna cubes in soy sauce and sesame oil with ginger, brown sugar and minced hot peppers, and then grills them very briefly – 10 seconds or less. After slicing the fish pieces thin, he serves them on shredded greens with a sprinkling of black sesame seeds. 
Faye Levy is the author of La Cuisine du Poisson (fish cookery).
SAM CHOY’S FRIED POKE
For this appetizer, Choy sears the fish, leaving the inside rare, and flavors it with traditional poke-style seasoning.
Choy uses marlin for this recipe. Tuna and whiting are kosher fish that make good substitutes.
450 gr. (1 lb.) fish fillets, cut into 2-cm. (3/4-in.) cubes
4 tsp. soy sauce 1 cup chopped onion 4 tsp. chopped green onions 4 tsp. Asian sesame oil 4 Tbsp. vegetable oil, for searing
Garnish – one or a mixture of the following: Bean sprouts Chopped cabbage Salad greens
Put fish cubes in a mixing bowl with the soy sauce, both kinds of onions and sesame oil. Mix well.
In a wok or skillet, heat enough vegetable oil to cover the bottom of the pan. Sear the fish mixture while tossing.
Don’t cook for more than a minute or two, as you want the center of each cube raw.
Serve fish on a bed of bean sprouts, chopped cabbage or salad greens.
Makes 4 servings
COLD SESAME SALMON WITH SPINACH
A double dose of sesame – as toasted oil and toasted seeds, along with mirin (sweet Japanese rice wine), soy sauce and sugar makes this Japanese dressing flavorful. If you don’t have mirin, use sake (rice wine), sherry or white wine, and add an extra teaspoon of sugar. You can add grated gingerroot or cayenne pepper for a touch of spice.
Besides roasted salmon, this dressing is good with briefly grilled or raw salmon or tuna, or other grilled fish.
You can lightly cook the spinach as in the recipe, or use raw baby spinach leaves.
1⁄2 Tbsp. soy sauce 4 tsp. mirin (sweet Japanese rice wine) 2 tsp. rice vinegar (optional) 2 tsp. Asian sesame oil 2 tsp. sugar 1 tsp. grated gingerroot (optional) pinch of cayenne pepper (optional) 450-700 gr. (1-11⁄2 lbs.) salmon fillets 1.4 kg. (3 lbs.) fresh spinach, stems removed, or 570 gr. (20 oz.) cleaned spinach leaves 2 Tbsp. sesame seeds, toasted
Preheat oven to 230ºC (450ºF). In a small bowl, whisk soy sauce, mirin, rice vinegar, sesame oil, sugar, gingerroot and cayenne. Set salmon in a heavy roasting pan. Sprinkle fish with 1 tsp. of the soy sauce mixture and rub it over fish. Roast salmon uncovered for about 10 minutes or until fish is cooked on the outside but still rare inside; if you prefer your salmon cooked all the way through, cook it for 2 to 5 minutes longer, or until it can just be flaked with a fork and has changed color in its thickest part. Remove from pan and let cool.
Boil spinach leaves in a saucepan of boiling salted water, uncovered over high heat, for 1 or 2 minutes or until just wilted. Drain, rinse with cold water and drain well. Gently squeeze dry by handfuls. Gently separate the squeezed clumps of spinach and put on a serving platter or on plates in a fairly thin layer. Arrange salmon next to spinach.
Drizzle 1 tsp. soy sauce mixture onto salmon, and pour remaining mixture over spinach. Taste and adjust seasoning.
Just before serving, sprinkle salmon and spinach with sesame seeds. Serve cool or at room temperature.
Makes 4 servings