hungry nomad living

A simple and tasty appetizer to make is poke (pronounced as poh-keh), a Hawaiian ceviche of cubed and seasoned sashimi. The fun part is dressing the poke to your liking. You can serve with a scoop of steamed rice, tortilla chips, crostini, or crispy rice cake (like Chaya Brasserie’s “Spicy Ahi Tuna over a Crispy Rice Cake” appetizer).

Recipe: Make Hawaii-style ahi poke wherever you are. Here’s a recipe.

Ingredients: Nijiya in Japantown has a wide selection of sashimi grade fish and poke ingredients for one-stop shopping. (Basa Seafood Express in the Mission is another place to pick up sashimi grade fish.) The Hawaiian seaweed can be substituted with prepared seaweed salad. Before seasoning the tuna, have fun experimenting with the dressing. Check out the Ma’ona blog for more details on poke essentials.

Technique: Similar to cutting against the grain for beef, you may want to slice the tuna in the same manner for extra tenderness. How to Cut Fish for Sashimi video shows you how to find the lines on the tuna fillet and create a 90 degree angle.

Events: Get a taste of more poke and Hawaii in SF. Every September, da Hukilau hosts its annual Poke Festival. Live Hawaiian music and Spam musubi eating contest are some fun highlights.