Hawaiian-Inspired Spicy Tuna Poke

With the weather warming up, I have had a huge craving for poke. That and a trip to Hawaii, but that isn’t happening anytime soon for us, unfortunately. Instead, I thought it would be fun to try an at home rendition of one of my favorite dishes when vacationing in Hawaii, Spicy Tuna Poke. 

Poke, pronounced po-kay, is  diced raw fish served either as an appetizer or a main course and is one of the main dishes of Native Hawaiian cuisine. The word poke, meaning “chunk” in Hawaiian, was typically any meat or seafood that is cut into small chunks and marinated. When referring to poke nowadays, it is generally seafood. [source: Food and Wine]

Making your own poke at home is extremely easy. The only feat is finding really fresh, high-quality tuna. I typically find mine at my favorite local seafood shop (I love TJ’s Seafood in Dallas), my favorite local Asian grocery store (I love H Mart), or I find it at Central Market (they have a great seafood selection). When you buy fresh tuna from a seafood counter or fish market, it should have a firm texture and rich, red color. You can also find sushi-grade tuna flash frozen… and that works in this recipe as well. Don’t be afraid to ask your local fishmonger for help in finding the freshest tuna they have or if they even have it at all! 

Back to the spicy tuna poke though… Inspired by my time in Hawaii (take me back, please!!), I’ve made a simple yet delicious spicy tuna poke bowl. I couldn’t believe in Hawaii that everywhere you turn they had fresh, delicious tuna poke. In fact, one of my very favorites was grabbing the spicy tuna poke from Foodland, the supermarket chain across the Hawaiian islands. It was so flavorful and delicious! Once you’ve made the poke, you can either eat it alone, your build out your bowl however you please. You can see in the photo how I jazzed mine up with some rice, avocado, cucumber, serrano, radishes and nori strips… but you do you!

It’s so delicious and I can’t wait to eat it all summer long by the pool! 

5 from 3 votes

Spicy Tuna Poke

Servings: 4 people

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Ingredients 

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For the Spicy-Tuna Poke:

• ▢ 3 tbsp homemade mayo https://thedefineddish.com/homemade-mayo/
• ▢ 2 tbsp sriracha
• ▢ 2 tbsp coconut aminos
• ▢ 1 tsp toasted sesame oil
• ▢ 1 ½ pounds fresh yellowfin or big-eye tuna steak (ask for sushi grade tuna)
• ▢ 1/2 cup very thinly sliced green onion
• ▢ ½ tsp kosher salt plus more to taste

Optional, for serving:

• ▢ Steamed rice I used brown rice
• ▢ 4 radishes very thinly sliced
• ▢ 1 avocado thinly sliced
• ▢ 2 persian cucumbers diced
• ▢ Nori strips
• ▢ Thinly sliced jalapeno
• ▢ Microgreens

Instructions 

• In a large bowl, whisk together the mayo, sriracha, coconut aminos, and sesame oil until well combined. Set aside.
• Next, using a very sharp knife cut the tuna steak into small, ¼ inch cubes. Add the diced tuna, the green onion and the salt into the large bowl with the mayo mixture. Gently toss until well combined. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes prior to serving to allow the flavors to mend and the tuna to chill.
• You can eat the tuna as is or serve the tuna as desired. (see serving ideas in the body of the blog post above!) Here, I made poke bowls by serving the poke over brown rice. I then added thinly sliced radishes, some avocado, diced cucumber, nori strips, jalapenos, and microgreens.

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

Additional Info

Author: Alex Snodgrass

Servings: 4 people

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