Poke bowl

When I moved to the Netherlands 2 years ago I was pleasantly surprised to see that Dutch people eat A LOT of raw fish. All around you could find various sushi restaurants, dozens of options of eating out or ordering, and what I think surprised me the most was the fact that you could buy relatively cheap and good quality sushi from the supermarket.

After a while the trend emerged to the so called "Poke Bowl" which I have first heard of when I saw a restaurant delivering it. What is a Poke Bowl? Basically, "Poke" represents a traditional Hawaiian dish which consists of raw fish cubes mixed with oils and spices and served as an appetizer or main course. This dish later evolved into modern version, known as "Poke Bowl", which is a mix of raw fish, rice and vegetables. It makes you think of it as a deconstructed sushi roll. Take the fish, rice, seaweed and whatever else you add to your sushi roll and put it in a bowl with some dressing, like you would do to a regular salad, and taa-daa, here you have it.

What I personally love about this dish is the freshness of the ingredients and that I feeds you without being too heavy. Below I propose my favorite healthy, classic version which takes no more than 15 minutes to prepare.

Ingredients (for 2 portions):

• 200 g smoked salmon;
• 1 medium carrot;
• 100 g seaweed salad;
• 1 ripe avocado;
• 1 spring onion;
• 1/2 English cucumber;
• 200 g steamed rice;
• 150 g soy beans; 
• soy sauce;

TIP for those of you living in the Netherlands!

You can easily find all these ingredients at Albert Heijn, that's where I bought mine from. They always have fresh soy beans, smoked salmon cubes which go right into your dish and one tasty seaweed salad. Moreover, for this recipe I used Basmati Rice form Tilda, which already comes steamed, you don't have to cook it anymore. Getting all your all ingredients from one place and ready to be served it's really convenient and it saves you a lot of time.

 I started by preparing the vegetables. I finely chopped the spring onion, removed the cucumber's seeds and sliced it in small cubes, sliced the avocado and peeled thin strips of carrot. *If you are not getting your rice already steamed, prepare it according to the packaging instructions. Then I added all of them in bowl together with the rest of the ingredients, sprinkled some soy sauce and that's it. Super fresh, healthy, quick and delicious meal.

 

 Enjoy!

Guacamole

   Nu im doresc sa-mi petrec zilele toride utilizand cuptorul, bucataria mea ajungand chiar sa concureze cu vremea de afara, si cred ca nici tu nu esti prea dornic sa invarti in supa fierbinte de pe aragaz la aproape 40 de grade. Asa ca vara asta ma adaptez si incerc sa gasesc si sa reinvintez preparate simple care nu degradeaza placerea de a gati si de a manca si iti propun o serie de mancaruri si deserturi light, rapide, ce nu implica prea multa preparare termica , dar care sunt la fel de gustoase, satioase si nutritive. 

Astazi facem Guacamole, un preparat mexican pe baza de avocado ce se serveste cu chipsuri tortilla sau paine prajita. Nimic complicat: se adauga niste legume, se asezoneaza pe ici-colo si in 10-15 minute preparatul e gata. Pentru acesta ai nevoie de:

• un avocado
• o rosie mica
• o jumatate de ceapa
• zeama de lamaie
• sare si piper
• patrunjel sau coriandru proaspat

Intr-un mojar am pasat avocado pana a devenit o pasta cremoasa, apoi l-am amestecat cu ceapa si cu rosia tocate marunt. Am adaugat sare, piper si zeama de lamaie dupa gust la final patrunjelul.

                        Enjoy!