Let’s bring Hawaii (and Guam) into our kitchen with this delicious vegan Hawaiian-style poke bowl (poh-keh)! All the flavors you want in a Hawaiian-style poke bowl, but without the fish! This vegan poke is packed with umami flavor and marinated in a soy-sesame sauce. If you miss poke bowls from the islands as I do, then this is the recipe you’ll need.
What is Hawaiian Poke?
Not to be confused with the English word “poke”, the Hawaiian pronunciation is POH-KEH. In Hawaiian, poke means to slice or cut crosswise into pieces/cubes. Hawaiian poke is a very simple dish. It consists of raw sushi-grade tuna, cut up into cubes - then marinated in a mixture of sesame oil, soy sauce, and sweet onion. Then topped with green onion and sesame seeds. There is another spicy variation, where it’s mixed in with spicy mayo. Normally, poke it’s served as an appetizer, but can also be served with rice. While sometimes it does come with a few other toppings like I’ve had some with seaweed salad, daikon, and tempura scraps. But generally, it’s just the poke and rice.
Now I’m not from Hawaii, but I am from Guam, and they share similarities when it comes to the cuisine. Poke is one of them, and when I searched for vegan poke bowls, they are very “white-washed” and nothing that resembles the island-style poke that I used to eat. Most of them contain a lot of ingredients, such as fruits, vegetables, or different sauces - all of which are not authentic to Hawaiian cuisine. While that’s fine for a buddha bowl or sushi bowl recipe, I just wouldn’t call it a poke bowl.
What do you need to make Vegan Hawaiian-Style Poke Bowl?
- Beefsteak tomatoes. This will act as your “raw tuna”.
- Soy sauce
- Sesame oil
- Sweet onion or Maui onion. It’s sweeter and not as pungent as normal onions are.
- Sake. To remove that tomato taste
- Mirin. Add a bit of sweetness
- Mushroom seasoning. For the “umami” flavor
- Nori. For that “fishy” essence
- Green onions
- Sesame seeds
I wanted to create this recipe as authentic as possible, but how do I do that without raw fish? To mimic the fish I had to get creative. Yes, watermelon is a good substitute, but if you’re living in a climate that has all four seasons, watermelons will be hard to come by. I decided to use the tomato route, easy to find, and available anywhere and everywhere. Tomatoes don’t have a strong flavor, while watermelon kinda does. And not to mention the texture of the watermelon, yeah, it just doesn’t do it for me. So I stuck with tomatoes and funny enough, I didn’t have to change the marinade too much, and it tastes just like the poke that I used to have! It’s so delicious!
If you like this recipe, you might want to check these out:
If you’d tried this recipe out let me know in the comments! Don’t forget to follow me on Instagram @flouredframe and don’t forget to tag me when you create my recipes! Happy cooking!
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📖 Recipe
Vegan Hawaiian-Style Poke
Equipment
- Large pot
- Slotted spoon
- Medium bowl
- Large bowl
- Whisk
- Chopping Board
- Sharp knife
- Melon baller or a spoon
Ingredients
Main:
- 4 beefsteak tomatoes (or 8 Roma tomatoes)
Marinade
- ½ cup soy sauce
- 2 teaspoons sake (Japanese rice wine, optional)
- 4 tablespoons mirin
- 3 tablespoons sesame oil
- 1 tablespoon mushroom seasoning
- 1 sheet nori (torn into small pieces)
- ⅓ Medium sweet onion (thinly sliced and diced)
Toppings
- Tempura scraps (Tenkasu/Agedama, optional, see notes )
- Seaweed Salad (optional, see notes)
- Pickled yellow radish (Takuan, optional, see notes)
- Sesame seeds
- 3 stalks green onions (thinly sliced)
- White Rice (for serving)
Instructions
Make the marinade:
- In a medium-sized bowl, add in the soy sauce, sake, mirin, sesame oil, mushroom seasoning, nori, and sliced sweet onions. Mix until well combined. Set aside until ready to use.
Prep and cook the tomatoes:
- Fill a pot of water, enough water to submerge the tomatoes, and bring it to a boil.
- Score the bottom of the tomatoes and prepare a large bowl of ice water. Again, enough water to fully submerge the tomatoes.
- Add the tomatoes to the pot and cook for 45-60 seconds or until you see the skin slightly peeling off. Do not overcook.
- With a slotted spoon, remove the tomatoes from the pot and immediately put them in the ice water.
Skin and cut:
- Once cooled, gently peel the skin off the tomatoes. They should come right off.
- Slice them in half and then into quarters. With a spoon or melon baller, remove the pockets of seeds and white parts of the tomatoes. You can save those discards for something else! You should have just the flesh of the tomatoes left.
- Then cut the tomatoes into cubes.
Marinade:
- Add the tomatoes to the marinade. Cover and chill in the fridge for at least 2 hours, but best results, overnight.
Serve:
- You can serve it as is or serve over a bowl of cooked rice. Sprinkling some sesame seeds and green onions. Optionally, you can add other toppings such as tempura scraps, seaweed salad, edamame, or daikon! Enjoy!
Notes
- Spicy mayo version? Easy. Simply just mix ¼ cup of vegan mayo and 2 tablespoons of sriracha (adjust to your preference). Remove the tomatoes from the marinade and mix it with spicy mayo. Adjust as needed.
- I prefer using beefsteak tomatoes as they are a little heftier and have fewer seeds in the middle, compared to Roma. But use whatever tomatoes you have or prefer.
- Tempura scraps. If you can't find pre-made tempura scraps, you can easily make them. It does take a bit of time though. It does taste really good in this poke bowl, so if I were you, don't skip it! You can use this recipe from Just One Cookbook: https://www.justonecookbook.com/tenkasu-agedama/
- Seaweed salad. You can usually find this in the ready-to-eat meal sections at most Asian supermarkets. They are typically vegan, but as always, double-check the ingredients list! They are pretty "fishy" tasting, it's just the nature of these salads. So, if you are not used to that flavor, do not get this!
- Pickled yellow radish (Takuan). Another ingredient you can find at most Asian supermarkets, and is normally found in the chilled section.
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