Pokè Bowl Hawaiian, an Exotic Delicacy

The Hawaiian Pokè Bowl, as the name suggests, is a typical dish from the Hawaiian islands. It is considered indifferently a side dish or a complete dish depending on the quantity served. A very nutritious dish, as it provides carbohydrates (thanks to rice), proteins (thanks to tuna) and a whole series of vitamins and trace elements (thanks to vegetables). It is also a dish that may appear foreign to Western and in particular Italian culture, and indeed it is.

Rice, for example, is cooked "oriental", therefore the traditional roasting operation is replaced by washing and softening. The result, however, is excellent, with the rice that stands out for digestibility and lightness. The Hawaiian Pokè Bowl provides some elements of interest, most of them relate to the ingredients, which are also in most cases unrelated to our gastronomic culture. The reference is not so much to soy, mango and avocado, now also widespread in Italy, as to Hawaiian salt and edamame. In particular, I will dedicate the next paragraph to the latter.

Edamame is very special ingredients. I'm sure many of you have never heard of them. On the other hand, they are mainly consumed in countries bordering the Pacific, and in particular in Japan and China. From a purely botanical point of view they are fruits, to be precise they are the pods of the soybean plant. To us Westerners they could appear completely similar, aesthetically, to green beans even if the dimensions are smaller in this case. The flavour, however, is good to specify, it is quite different. In any case, they go very well with the other ingredients of this Hawaiian Pokè Bowl, which in fact derives taste from a very high number of ingredients of a vegetable nature.

Edamame is also nutritious fruits, as well as being light. Fats are almost completely absent if omega three are excluded, which in any case are among the most beneficial substances for the body. This fruit is also an excellent source of protein, essential amino acids and even carbohydrates. The concentrations of mineral salts and vitamins are also high. Among the most important presences, that of phytosterols, which contribute to lowering bad cholesterol.

In such an exotic recipe as the Hawaiian Pokè Bowl, avocado could not be missing. Fruit of many merits and great versatility, for some years now it has been spreading also in Italy. The taste is quite strange, at least compared to "our" fruit, but delicious. Avocado, as the collective imagination says, is a fat fruit. Its fats, however, are "good", some of which belong to the omega category. Avocado, if consumed in the right quantities, contributes to preventing diseases of the cardiovascular system; according to recent studies, it would even perform an anticancer function.

Avocado is also an excellent source of protein and vitamins, in particular, vitamins A, B1, B2, D and E. It is also an excellent source of trace elements, such as calcium and potassium, present in quantities more than discrete. Avocado can be cooked in a thousand different ways and also eaten raw. In fact, it is in this capacity that he appears in the Hawaiian Pokè Bowl. It simply needs to be finely chopped and placed as a "dry" seasoning of basmati rice. In this way, it preserves all its specificity, without necessarily covering the other ingredients.

360 g basmati rice;
1 tablespoon and a half of rice vinegar;
200 g of tuna fillet;
a teaspoon of black and white sesame;
3 tablespoons of soy sauce;
the green part of 1 spring onion;
250 g of edamame;
4 radishes;
1 avocado;
1 mango;
50 g of spinach;
Just enough of salt from Hawaii.

To prepare the Hawaiian Pokè Bowl, start cooking the rice. Pour the rice into a very narrow mesh strainer and pass it under running water, complete the operation only when the water has become whitish. Pour the washed rice into a saucepan, cover it with two glasses of water, turn on the high flame and bring to a boil, then lower the flame and cook for 12 minutes with a lid. Finally, turn off the heat and let rest for five minutes.

In the meantime, in a saucepan, heat the rice vinegar and dissolve in a pinch of salt. Give a stir and pour it into the rice that you will mix well (possibly with a wooden spoon), then let it rest. Now cut the tuna into cubes, put it in a bowl with the soy sauce, the green part of the onion (well chopped), the sesame seeds and a pinch of Hawaii salt; marinate the mixture for about an hour.

Heat the edamame pods in boiling water for five minutes, let them cool and extract the seeds. Cut mango and avocado into cubes and radishes into very thin slices, then place each ingredient in separate bowls. Now compose the dish: arrange the rice in 4 single-serving bowls and lightly crush it by placing the ingredients on top of it without mixing them. Finally, season everything with soy sauce and oil. Enjoy your meal!