Nutritious deconstructed sushi bowl takes creativity to assemble. I fell in love with deconstructed sushi bowl or poke bowl when my partner and I stayed for the second time at Qualia Resort, Hamilton Island. The dish was surprisingly wholesome, tasty and filling for breakfast. It was a winner! I have started adopting a healthy diet before then and appreciated new ways I could prepare tasty and nutritious dishes easily. So, I made a mental note to try my version of the dish at home.
Before I proceed further, it makes sense to explain what a poke bowl is. A poke bowl is a Hawaiian dish that has its origins deeply rooted in Japanese cuisine. “Poke” means “cut into pieces” and the name refers to the slices or cubes of raw fish that are served in a bowl along with rice, dressing, vegetables and seasonings. In other words, this dish can be considered a deconstructed version of the sushi. Simply put, if you love sushi, you’d enjoy the poke bowl.
The convenient thing is, you can add any ingredient you like and cut them into small pieces or slice them – tuna, salmon, eel, chicken, cucumber, carrots, zucchini, tofu, egg, avocado, pineapple, mushroom, capsicum, sweet potato – the list is endless.
Ingredients for Deconstructed Sushi Bowl
half cucumber, chopped
100 g mushrooms, sliced
150 g fresh salmon, diced
1 block of tofu, cut into squares
1 avocado, diced
250 g spinach leaves
handful of radishes, sliced
a spring of green onion, chopped
200 g, edamame beans
2 eggs
1 cup brown rice
1 tbsp cooking olive oil
pepper
5 tbsp soy sauce for cooking and sauce
4 fresh red chilies, sliced for cooking and sauce
2 cloves garlic, chopped
How To Prepare Deconstructed Sushi Bowl
- Cook brown rice in a cooking pot using the absorption method or rice cooker.
- Heat oil in pan and add mushrooms. Cook till they sweat. Add 1 tbsp soy sauce and pepper to taste. Mix well. Remove from pan and set aside.
- Heat oil in pan and add tofu. Cook till brown on all sides. Add fresh chopped chillies and soy sauce. Mix once through and remove.
- Wilt spinach in a pan by dry frying. Ad pepper to taste. Remove and set aside.
- Heat oil and add diced salmon. Add 1 tbsp soy sauce and let the salmon pieces soak up the sauce. Once cooked, removed the salmon and set aside.
- To prepare the sauce, add the rest of the soy sauce in a small bowl. Then add the chillies and garlic. Mix well. Leave aside.
How to Garnish the Bowl
- Place cooked brown rice in the middle.
- In a clock wise position from 6 o’clock, add edamame beans, cooked mushrooms, diced tofu, cucumber, avocado, spinach, sliced radish and chopped spring onions.
- Add cooked salmon and poached egg in the middle.
- Pour the sauce on top of the ingredients.
- Serve and enjoy!
For the sauce, I like it savoury. You can prepare sweet sauce if you prefer by adding sweet soy or kicap manis. You can even prepare a honey, olive oil and lemon juice mixture if you like.
If you like more flavour in the tofu, I recommend adding sambal or blended chilli paste with garlic and ginger. You can even add sesame seeds for texture. If you have miso sauce in the pantry, use it instead of soy sauce.
I like the salmon cooked when I prepare my own poke bowl. This is not just to avoid any mishandling blunders but it also tastes better than raw, in my opinion. You can even replace the diced salmon with smoked salmon if you like. Another fish that works well is fresh or cooked tuna.
This deconstructed sushi bowl is filling as well as satisfying. You can replace brown with sushi rice if you like, Just add a little sushi vinegar to the rice for that sushi taste.
There you have it! A dish that is healthy and sushi-like. Though it is easy to prepare, you need to invest a little more time as the preparation of cooked ingredients is done one at a time. It is so worth the time! I’m sure the family will enjoy. Oh yes! Break a nori sheet into bits and scatter them over the ingredients for even an better sushi-like experience.