Poke bowls -- my kids love them! And so do we :)
Are your children sushi lovers like ours? Tamar and I always say it's so funny, to have children who love sushi so much. I mean, I never had sushi as a child -- in fact, I can vividly recall the first time I ate sushi. I was 23 and studying in London in the late 90s. A YoSushi conveyer belt sushi restaurant openend in Soho, and then another one on the top floor of Harvey Nichols. I loved it up there! They had the prettiest food and food packaging -- a feast for the eyes. It was an immense luxury to sit down at that conveyor belt and treat oneself to a few exotic sushi styles. Carefully keeping track of the colour coded dishes as to not break the bank, of course!
Our children will never remember the first time they had sushi, because I'm sure they all had sushi rice before they even turned one year old. And they all love it! Taking a family of seven out to a nice sushi restaurant, however, is financially not a healthy idea. Thus, to satisfy our sushi cravings, we sometimes roll our own maki. Which is fun but quite an undertaking.
But recently we have discovered the beauty of the poke bowl. Why bother with rolling when you can just pile it all up in a nice looking bowl? Poke bowls (or really, sushi in a bowl) are SO easy to make, and SO good!
I'm probably telling you nothing new, but if you do have little sushi lovers and haven't been making poke bowls yet, it's worth a try. Here's what we do: Prepare the sushi seasoning (a mixture of rice vinegar, sugar and salt). Rinse the sushi rice and cook according to instructions. Transfer to a low dish and sprinkle with the seasoning. It's best to do this a few hours in advance so the rice can cool down to room temperature. To serve, scoop in bowls and top with toppings (we love salmon sashimi, diced cucumber, diced mango, edamame beans, sliced avocado and thinly sliced radishes). Pour over some soy sauce to taste and sprinkle with (black) sesame seeds, some thinly sliced nori and a few coriander leaves. That's it! Yum.
You can also put all of the different toppings on the table and let everyone create their own poke bowls. Even easier!
xxx Esther