A native Hawaiian combination between a sushi roll and Chipotle-style burrito bowl, a Poke Bowl is the answer to all your savory cravings. And, you can make this dish quickly in your own kitchen. If you have a CSA Share, you probably have most of the ingredients in your kitchen already. Ok, you might have to purchase toasted seaweed and toasted sesame oil, but otherwise I bet you’re all set.
At it’s heart, like a Chipotle burrito bowl, a Poke Bowl is a grain bowl. So, it starts with rice. I like to use organic brown Basmati rice cooked in my Instapot (this handy pressure cooker takes about 20 minutes on the “rice” setting). While your rice is cooking, you can prep your vegetables. I like to use 4 different kinds of vegetables (it actually matters very little which vegetables you use, so get creative and use your CSA Share!), plus seaweed. Chop your vegetables into very small pieces and leave them raw or cook them quickly, as appropriate. For a recent Poke Bowl I prepped small pieces of kale to use raw and very thin inch-long carrot sticks to use raw, and I cooked small mushroom pieces and very small beet pieces for about 3 minutes in the microwave. Set all your vegetables aside to add to your rice later.
Now, prep your protein. Tofu, chia seeds, and hemp seeds are great vegetarian options. For an incredibly delicious, crispy, and fast tofu, cut the curd into pretty small 1/2″ cubes. You can fry these on your stove top with oil or in an air fryer with sprayed-on oil. Cook until evenly brown and crispy on the outside. For the meat lovers out there, try grilling (or air frying) a steak, chicken breast, pork chop etc. and then cut it into small pieces and set aside.
The last three ingredients you will need to set out on your counter are: toasted sesame oil, seaweed (I recommend buying roasted and salted seaweed snacks, they sell these at most grocery stores now), and any Asian-style salad dressing or sauce (I recommend any of the tahini-based salad dressings, such as the Dress It Up Sesame Tahini Salad dressing for sale at our CSA pickups or the Annie’s Goddess Dressing).
Assemble your ingredients like this for each family member: Start with a personal bowl half-full of rice. Spoon in a little of each of your 4 vegetables and spoon in a little of your protein. Take your kitchen scissors and cut slivers of your roasted seaweed snacks into the bowl. Now drizzle about 1/2 tablespoon of toasted sesame oil on top of your bowl. Lastly, drizzle just a touch of your chosen sauce (I recommend tahini salad dressing) on top. Now, carefully stir your ingredients together with a spoon, and enjoy. You can add a touch of soy sauce or some more tahini dressing if needed.
Our four-year-old loves to help prep this meal by stirring all the ingredients together. If you have young helpers stirring you may want to use an over-sized serving bowl to stir the ingredients together before transferring to a personal bowl so their unpracticed stirring doesn’t fling ingredients all over your floor.
I love recipes like this because you can utilize a wide range of seasonal vegetables interchangeably. Also, you do not need specific quantities of each vegetable – you can use all the odds and ends of your CSA Share. If you only have 1 carrot left, or just half a sweet potato, or only 2 leaves of kale…no problem, just chop those stragglers up and throw them in the recipe to nourish your family. When you eat multiple varieties of vegetables at each meal like this you are likely to get a more complete suite of vitamins and minerals in your belly, helping to stave off winter colds, have more energy, and feel better overall.
