Rainbow Poke Bowl with Canned Tuna

Rainbow Poke Bowl with canned tuna ~ you can have this colorful and healthy Hawaiian favorite any time, anywhere, without having to source sushi grade raw fish ~ it’s a win win!

* This post is in partnership with Genova® Seafood ~ Genova is my pick for great canned tuna, and I thank you for supporting both of us as we work to bring you delicious food.

My gluten free poke ( “POH-keh”) bowl is full of classic Hawaiian flavors, a bevvy of textures, and a veritable color wheel of nutrition ~ all anchored with premium albacore tuna.  You can have this gloriously healthy tropical treat any day of the week without the last minute trip to the seafood market.  Just pop open a can of Genova!

I love to bring the rainbow into my kitchen, I love the challenge of incorporating as many colors as possible into our food, and I love knowing that we’re eating better because of it.  When it comes to diet, color equals health benefits in almost every case ~ here’s how it breaks down in this bowl:

• Black rice (aka Forbidden rice) ~ antioxidants, fiber, plus amino acids, vitamins, and minerals.
• Genova Wild Caught Tuna ~ lean protein, omega 3 fatty acids, selenium, B vitamins and minerals.
• Red onion ~ cancer fighting flavonoids..
• Purple cabbage ~ immune boosting, anti-inflammatory, with cancer fighting flavonoids.
• Mango ~ antioxidants (vitamins A and C) to remove free-radicals from blood, fiber to lower cholesterol, low glycemic index to maintain healthy blood sugar level.
• Microgreens ~ many times more nutrient dense than mature greens.
• Carrots ~ carotenoids to fight heart disease, antioxidants, promotes eye and skin health.
• Persian cucumber ~ hydrates, detoxes, and helps with weight loss.
• Watermelon radish ~ fiber, folate, and vitamin C.
• Hot peppers ~ anti-inflammatory, with immune boosting vitamins.
• Pickled ginger ~ calms stomach, anti-inflammatory, also immune boosting.
• Seaweed ~ packed with fiber, minerals, and trace elements.

Disclaimer: I don’t always eat this way.  I’ll overshare and admit that we have a freezerful of Trader Joes boxes ~ last night was frozen fish and chips.  If you count the frozen peas there were exactly 2 colors in that meal, and one of them was beige ;)  Maybe this isn’t for every day, but it’s definitely easy enough for once a week.  Make the rice and dressing ahead of time, and this can be a quick entree or cold salad at a moment’s notice.

Two critical elements to making this poke bowl taste authentic are the pickled veggies and the tangy dressing.

Happily, the pickle is an instant recipe, that is, once you add the pickling brine, the radishes and cucumbers only need an hour to absorb the flavor.  They stay super crunchy, too.  The brine is a mixture of rice wine vinegar, water, hot pepper flakes, and cilantro.  (You can re-use the pickling liquid, too, just keep it in the fridge.)

TIP: If you can’t find those beautiful watermelon radishes, use regular radishes, just cut them in thin slices or wedges.  For another look at them, see my SHAVED APPLE AND RADISH SALAD.

You’ll want to use this technique all the time for quick pickles ~ it’s the same concept I used with my QUICK AND SPICY REFRIGERATOR PICKLES and my PICKLED RED ONIONS.

The dressing has a bit more ingredients to it, but the combination is soooo delicious.  I would definitely make up a large batch to store in the fridge so you make easy poke bowls whenever the urge strikes.

In addition to a variety of colors, I like a variety of textures and shapes, too, so I’ll purposely cut the ingredients in different ways.

I use a simple vegetable peeler to shave off thin ribbons of carrot.  I cut the crunchy radish into matchsticks, and the papery sheets of nori seaweed into thin shreds.  I cube the velvety mango, thinly slice the cukes and onions, and shred the purple cabbage.  You get a nice variety without any special gadgets.

A word about rice ~

I’ve used black rice for my bowls, and I love this rice for a few reasons.  It has a great visual appeal (a deep rich purple color that looks black) especially with the vibrant ingredients in these bowls.  It has a firm texture, an earthy flavor, and is way more nutritious than white rice.  Look carefully in the rice section of large supermarkets…it’s there!  Black rice stars in one of my favorite Asian recipes, TANGERINE CHICKEN.

Genova Albacore tuna packed in olive oil is the perfect choice for this recipe.  The solid white tuna filet is mild tasting and comes out of the can in large pieces.  I gently break it apart (poke means ‘to cut’ or ‘to chop’ in Hawaiian) after setting it on my rice.  The fish takes on the wonderful flavors of the dressing and makes a perfect poke bowl without any of the worries associated with eating raw fish.

*The dressing in this recipe is adapted from Half Baked Harvest.

Notes:

• You can find pickled ginger in jars in the Asian section of your supermarket.
• Sesame oil is one of my favorite ingredients, but it’s intensely flavored, and expensive.  If you like you can cut it down with any mild oil you like, avocado, almond, or even canola oil would work.  If you want to use olive oil, make sure you use mild flavored pure oil, not extra virgin.
• Traditional poke bowls are served with warm rice and cold toppings.  I found that cold rice worked, too.  In either case toss the rice with some of the dressing for flavor.
• Other poke bowl toppings you might try would be avocados, green onion, pineapple, papaya, jicama, bell peppers, Maui onion, or edamame beans.

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