Hawai’ian made simple: Ahi Poke
On a recent visit to Hawaii, we discovered a wonderful summer dish called "poke" (poh-kay). Served chilled, this dish was available everywhere in Hawaii — in restaurants, at festivals, even in neighborhood grocery stores. The two varieties we saw most often was octopus and tuna. Like sashimi, the tuna is raw and the octopus is cooked. Both dishes had similar marinades but some versions were spicier than others. So when we got home, we immediately wanted to recreate this dish. As it turns out, it only took 15 minutes and it works great as an appetizer to just about any meal.
The tuna version seemed easier to make so we went shopping for sushi-grade yellowfin tuna ("ahi" in Japanese). "Sushi-grade" simply means "really fresh," and since we're in the Midwest it's hard to know exactly how fresh the fish at the fish counter really is. So we opted for cryo-frozen yellowfin tuna steak (available at Schnucks), which we thawed in the refrigerator overnight. Since this is an Asian-inspired dish, we used an Asian hot sauce that's commonly referred to as "rooster" brand, but your favorite hot sauce should work just fine. Since we didn't have any toasted sesame seeds laying around, we used Gomasio instead (which is just sesame seeds and salt combined). The rest of the ingredients are pretty common and easy to find. Best of all, there's no cooking involved. Just mix the ingredients together and enjoy!
Ahi Poke
(Preparation: 15 minutes, serves 2–3)
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1 tsp fresh ginger, grated
- ¼ cup onion, diced
- ¼ cup green onions, diced
- ¼ cup soy sauce
- 1 tsp toasted sesame oil
- 1 tsp hot sauce (or to taste)
- ¾ lb raw yellowfin tuna (sushi grade), cubed
Gomasio (or toasted sesame seeds)
- Combine all ingredients in a bowl (except Gomasio)
- Mix well
- Sprinkle on Gomasio before serving
Most Recent Food Comments
may cai’ bon. nuoc’ ngoai` biet’ j` ve van hoa’ viet nam
I joined on 09-09-09 after living here over a year, and having to listen to my dad tell me how his best friend is, like, #27 or something crazy like that, and how said friend never lived further than 50 feet from the Illini Inn while going…
Looks like you are also all members of the killer sideburns club.
@Annie: Yeah, my bad. That was the best part! Drinking + memory exercises = fun @Rob: According to Ask the English Teacher, “My dictionary says ‘drunk’ is an archaic past tense of ‘drink.‘“ We’re all about the new grammar around here.
You left out the best part—you have to REMEMBER your number after the beer chugging! Yeah, I’m a member.
Great article, man. Like you, I didn’t really know Daniel all that well, but I felt the impact of his death. I too was inspired by him and it pleases me to see that he continues to live on in the spirit of the community.
Most Popular Food Articles (60 days)
- The man that was and will always be Flatlander Chocolate

- Flatlander fundraising off to a tasty start

- Taking the work out of pasta sauce
- Time to make the dream a reality
- Learning to dislike corn
- The green of all greens
- Mug club!
- Market Watch: July 31, 2010
- Market Watch: July 17, 2010
- Market Watch: August 6, 2010
Most Recent Comments
take two seconds to do this. this dude works hard.
What I also like about the Hessel to Centennial run is that I can easily make it a 10 miler (if I run to Hessel and back when I’m done and add an extra loop at Centennial) and still be at most two miles from home. I’ve…
I’m not sure the graphic is for State St. I drive down it daily and there is no parking on the far west side where the bike lines are. Looks to me that parking will only be allowed on the east side of the street, two car…
This is a great list—thanks. I find the run between Hessel and Centennial to be incredibly boring, excepting the few blocks of nice homes, which I admit make for interesting scenery. Have you been to Homer Lake? They seem to have some great trails, though none are…
to you. http://www.theonion.com/articles/free-condom-harsh-reminder-of-sexless-existence,1377/
Speaking of regular commutes getting safer- White Street now open over the great divide east First Street. Woo Hoo!
I’m not sure that’s what Fred is saying. But the response of “You should just be happy to have a job!“ is a far too common excuse for employers’ bad treatment of workers. It’s also way too common in C-U.
@Fred While I agree that if your employer is treating you badly (e.g. shitty shifts, not honoring break/meal times, or just generally being an asshole) you should look for something else. However, as we all will experience at some point or another, we sometimes have to take…
I was very excited to see this lane put in place. This area is one of my regular, and sometimes scary, routes.
Not that they aren’t great mash-ups, but I’ve seen them twice in concert and was just frankly kind of bored. Probably won’t be going tonight. Maybe I just don’t like fun.
I’d love to see DESAFINADO performing there!They play Brazilian music…Bossa Nova. Great band! www.desafinado-music.com Angela
“The state’s attorney should be sending out subpoenas to bike club members”.....IF a plea bargain isn’t reached first. One dollar says no trial will take place and a plea aggreement will happen. If it is taken to trial, then this article by Annie Weisner may have been…
You can probably tuck in thinly sliced Romas. But for anything juicier like cherries, brandywines, etc., I would go with Pepin’s method of combining them with bread chunks. Zucchini contains a lot of water, too, so you’re probably best to use it solo or with onions. Saute…
UPDATE: He got a lawyer and pled not guilty. The case is next up for trial or for pretrial (can’t tell) on October 18, 2010 at 1:30pm in Courtroom L. Assuming it is up for trial, the States Atty should be sending out subpoenas to bike club…
You mean, once they’ve paid $140 worth of nickels and dimes in one calendar year the CPL issues them a waiver? I’ll bet you’d get little argument from the CPL.
Neat article, neat guy. In central IL however, there is little difference between Lincoln and Rambo (the C02 you just inhaled was ACTUALLY in Lincoln’s lungs once - seriously, i had a nice Urbana resident tell me once the old tree in her front yard was gnarled…
Hello my dear do not full prey to those hoodlums at they that call them self money lender they are all scam , all they want is your money and you well not hear from them again they have done it to me twice before I met…
Most Popular Articles (14 days)
- Flatlander fundraising off to a tasty start

- Meet the new blog on the block
- The fall of Champaign-Urbana
- Skate to the face: My night as a roller derby fanatic
- Waking to a new soundscape
- Zmick: Don’t fear the jam
- Mug club!
- Local Music Roundup - September 2010
- The Overture: August 30 - September 5
- The most dangerous job in America
Recent Searches
- 2733 (1 Results)
- 1162 (18 Results)
- 5816 (1 Results)
- 1687 (78 Results)
- 6823 (1 Results)
- 6503 (4 Results)
- 5816 (1 Results)
- 4575 (1 Results)
- 90 second missouri (12 Results)
- destihl (1 Results)
- 1840 (11 Results)
- beauty salon (2 Results)
- twin (193 Results)
- 1901 (1 Results)
- link (8 Results)
- link (8 Results)
- link (8 Results)
- cycle (286 Results)
- seth fein (74 Results)
- link (8 Results)

Facebook
Twitter
Full Site
Events Calendar


























You can probably tuck in thinly sliced Romas. But for anything juicier like cherries, brandywines, etc., I would go with Pepin’s method of combining them with bread chunks. Zucchini contains a lot of water, too, so you’re probably best to use it solo or with onions. Saute…