Salmon Poke Bowl
Poke is Hawaii's dish of cubed raw fish dressed with soy sauce and sesame oil; the classic there is shoyu poke made from ahi tuna, without rice. This salmon version is a poke bowl, the form popular on the US mainland: sushi-grade salmon marinated briefly with spring onion and served cold over rice with avocado, edamame, cucumber and sesame. Everything comes down to the fish, cut clean and marinated only long enough to stay silky. The salmon marinates in the fridge for 15–20 minutes while the rice cools.
Ingredients
- 300 gsalmon, sushi-grade
- 300 g, cooked (about 100 g dry)short-grain rice
- 30 mlsoy sauce
- 10 mlsesame oil
- 10 mlrice vinegar
- 1 pcsavocado
- 80 gedamame, shelled
- 1 pcscucumber
- 2 pcsspring onion
- 5 gsesame seeds
- 1 pcsnori, sheets
- 5 ghoney
Method
- Cook about 100 g of short-grain rice to get the 300 g cooked, then spread it out to cool to room temperature or just above. Poke is served over cool rice, not hot — hot rice partly cooks the raw fish and softens it.
- Check your salmon. Use only salmon sold for eating raw, and keep it cold. Wild salmon is only safe raw after it has been frozen to kill parasites: at −20°C or colder for 7 days, or at −35°C for 15 hours. A typical home freezer is not reliably that cold, so buy wild salmon already frozen for raw use. Farmed salmon raised on pellet feed does not carry this parasite risk. If you are not sure how the fish was handled, don't eat it raw.
- Pat the salmon dry and cut it into even 1.5 cm cubes with a sharp knife. Even cubes marinate evenly and look clean in the bowl.
- Make the marinade: whisk the soy sauce, sesame oil, rice vinegar, honey, and half the sliced spring onion together in a bowl.
- Add the salmon cubes and fold gently to coat. Marinate for just 15 to 20 minutes in the fridge — long enough to season, short enough that the fish stays silky and doesn't cure firm.
- While it marinates, boil the edamame for 3–4 minutes, then cool them under cold water, dice or slice the cucumber and avocado, and divide the cooled rice between two bowls.
- Spoon the marinated salmon over the rice and arrange the edamame, cucumber, and avocado around it. Scatter the remaining spring onion, the sesame seeds, and torn nori over the top and serve cold. Eat the poke the day you make it.
FAQ
Only salmon sold as sushi-grade or sashimi-grade from a fishmonger you trust, kept properly cold. Wild salmon is only safe raw after freezing that kills parasites, at −20°C or colder for 7 days or at −35°C for 15 hours, and a home freezer doesn't reliably get that cold. Farmed salmon raised on pellet feed doesn't carry this parasite risk. If a piece isn't clearly labelled or sold for raw eating, cook it instead.
This poke uses raw marinated salmon and is served cold; the viral salmon rice bowl uses cooked, flaked salmon with a warm mayo-sriracha sauce. Same fish, but raw-and-cold versus cooked-and-warm.
Soy sauce and vinegar slowly cure raw fish, turning it firm and opaque like ceviche. A short marinade seasons the salmon while keeping it soft and translucent; too long and you lose the silky texture.
Yes, if it's sushi-grade and labelled safe for raw consumption. Commercial freezing at −20°C for 7 days or at −35°C for 15 hours is what kills parasites in wild salmon; a home freezer isn't reliably that cold, so freezing fresh salmon yourself doesn't make it safe for poke. Thaw it in the fridge, pat it dry, and use it cold. Don't use ordinary supermarket salmon that isn't sold for raw eating.
Traditionally sweet Maui onion, limu seaweed and inamona (roasted kukui nuts), with chopped toasted macadamia as the usual stand-in for inamona; mainland bowls also add mango, radish, carrot or a spoonful of spicy mayo. Keep the marinated salmon and rice as the base and vary the toppings freely.
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