Poke (fish salad)

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Poke (Hawaiian for "to section" or "to slice or cut") is a raw fish salad served as an appetizer in Hawaiian cuisine, and sometimes as a main course. Traditional forms are aku (an oily tuna) and he'e (octopus). He'e (octopus) poke is usually called by its Japanese name "Tako" Poke, except in places like the island of Ni'ihau where the Hawaiian language is spoken. Increasingly popular ahi poke is generally made with yellowfin tuna. Adaptations may feature raw salmon or various shellfish as a main ingredient served raw with the common "poke" seasonings.

Video Poke (fish salad)

Ingredients

Poke began with fishermen seasoning the cut-offs from their catch to serve as a snack. Traditional poke seasonings have been heavily influenced by Japanese and other Asian cuisines. These include soy sauce, green onions, and sesame oil. Others include furikake (mix of dried fish, sesame seeds, and dried seaweed), chopped dried or fresh chili pepper, limu (seaweed), sea salt, inamona (roasted crushed candlenut), fish eggs, wasabi, and Maui onions. Other variations of poke may include cured he?e (octopus), other types of raw tuna, raw salmon and various kinds of shellfish.

Traditional Hawaiian poke may consist of cubed raw fish, maui onions, Inamona (a condiment made of roasted, salted candlenut), Limu (algae), soy sauce, green onions, or sesame oil. Some of the more contemporary variations can also include seaweed, Roe (fish eggs), wasabi, dried or fresh chilli, toasted macadamia nut, Furikake and can be served alone or on top of a bed of white rice, pineapple, Sushi-meshi (seasoned rice) or red cabbage. The possibilities for variation are endless.

Maps Poke (fish salad)

History

The traditional Hawaiian poke consists of fish that has been gutted, skinned, and deboned. It is sliced across the backbone as fillet, then served with traditional condiments such as sea salt, candlenut, seaweed, and limu.

According to the food historian Rachel Laudan, the present form of poke became popular around the 1970s. It used skinned, deboned, and filleted raw fish served with Hawaiian salt, seaweed, and roasted, ground kukui nut meat. This form of poke is still common in the Hawaiian islands.

Beginning around 2012, poke became increasingly popular in the mainland United States. A number of poke restaurants--mostly but not exclusively fast casual restaurants--became popular. From 2014 to mid-2016, "the number of Hawaiian restaurants on Foursquare, which includes those that serve poke," doubled, going from 342 to 700. These restaurants have been creating traditional as well as unique, modern versions of the dish. These variations can include avocado, ponzu sauce, teriyaki sauce, mushrooms, crispy onions, pickled jalapeño, sriracha sauce, cilantro, pineapple or cucumber. The contemporary poke restaurants are mainly fast casual style places where the dish is fully customizable from the base to the marinade on the fish. They may use other seafood but ahi tuna is the most popular. There is a three-day "I Love Poke" festival to celebrate the dish and its many variations. On the mainland, the style of poke prepared is typically different than traditional Hawaiian poke. Notably the mainland style is usually not pre-marinated, instead prepared with sauces on demand, and is often differentiated by using the non-traditional spelling of "poké" with the e-acute letter é.

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Similar dishes

Raw fish dishes similar to poke that are often served in Europe are fish carpaccio and fish tartare. Also similar to poke are Korean hoedeopbap, marinated raw tuna served over rice, and Peruvian ceviche. Japanese sashimi also consists of raw seafood; other similar Japanese dishes are zuke don, a donburi dish topped with cured fish (usually tuna or salmon) along with avocado topped with furikake, and kaisendon, a more elaborate version served with additional non-fish toppings.