Poke - a traditional Hawaiian dish usually containing tuna or octopus - seems to have becoming something of 'a thing' among the urban trendies of late. This is usually enough to entirely put me off a trend, but having been lucky enough to go to Hawaii several years ago and eaten the real deal, I've always had a soft spot for the dish.
Although the components of a poke can vary wildly, most use raw or seared tuna as the base and go from there. Getting good, fresh, tuna is therefore pretty key here.
What's the A to V?
Fresh tuna is a great source of the elusive vitamins D and B12. It also contains a good quantity of vitamin A and selenium, with the avocado adding vitamin E, B5 and potassium to the mix.
Ingredients (Serves 2-3 depending on hunger):
2 fresh tuna steaks
100g of cherry tomatoes, halved
4 spring onions, roughly chopped
1 avocado, sliced into cubes
The juice of 1/2 a lime
1 tbsp of sesame (or olive oil)
1 tsp of tamarind
1 tsp of fish sauce
2 tbsp of soy sauce (or tamari)
1 tsp of mirin
Generous couple of handfuls of coriander
Method
Start with the tuna. Slice your steaks into 1 cm cubes. Place in a small bowl and squeeze over the lime juice, plus the mirin, fish sauce, and half the soy sauce. Season with black pepper and leave to marinate for at least 10 minutes.
Heat your oil in a pan, and when hot add your tomatoes and spring onion. Cook on a low heat, and add your tamarind sauce. Give everything a good stir.
Once your tomatoes are soft and cooked through, turn up the heat and add your avocado and fish (including the sauce) to the pan. This part is key. You just want to sear your tuna here - not overcook it. I find stirring the tuna for roughly 30 seconds until seared before turning off the heat works well, but if you'd prefer your tuna more or less done simply adjust the times here to suit.
Finally, add your coriander, the remaining soy sauce and season with black pepper. Serve with black, brown, or wild rice.