Tuesday, February 21, 2012

MAIN - Confused Goal: Spicy Mexican Asian Ahi Poke Rice Bowl


This is one of those things that you eat after doing something active, like, say, surfing, and you feel great. Not tired or heavy or guilty. If you have a big enough bowl you can layer all the components on the bowl and the eater can mix and stir and pick bits as they like. We didn't have big bowls, so I deconstructed the bowl, which makes it really easy to see what goes into it.

This bowl should be spicy, so make sure to serve more chili paste or rooster sauce along side.

1. Rice. Cook this the best way you know how.
2. Avocado. Slice or cube this.
3. Greens. I did a quick saute of some swiss chard from our garden in some olive oil. Spinach would work well as would most dark greens. Just make sure to undercook the greens, because once you add them to the top of that hot rice they will cook even more. So leave some crunch to the greens.
4. The sauce. Serve it alongside. I mixed soy sauce, lime juice, rice wine vinegar, a touch of seasame oil, chili paste, and mashed garlic. You can taste and adjust as you'd like.
5. Poke. Cube sashimi grade ahi, then add flavor. We added green onion, mashed garlic, toasted pepitas, seasame oil, cilantro, soy sauce, lime, chili paste, and some mirin. We just did it by taste, and ended up with this weird but delicious poke that's not quite mexi and not very asian. Try for yourself and experiment. Just make sure to add citrus last.

Lastly, those flowers on top are arugula flowers from the garden.