The Land & Water Company’s “Broke Da Mouth” Poke Salad
by Chef Rob Ruiz
This poke salad puts a twist on traditional Hawaiian food without interrupting its authenticity. The beauty of this dish is the texture—the velvety sesame oil, the crunch of the sea salt and onion and the lush burst of orange and acidity to cut through each bite. In Hawaii, when something is delicious, they say it’s so good it “broke the mouth.” Clean, fresh, sustainable fish, and the sesame-citrus crunch, has made this one of our most popular dishes.
Ingredients
- 8 ounces fresh sashimi-grade fish (ahi, albacore, salmon, yellowtail; at LWC we use line-caught Hawaiian Tombo Albacore to retain authenticity)
- 1 whole orange
- ¼ Maui sweet onion, finely minced
- 1 spring onion, thinly sliced into extra fine “chives”
- 1 teaspoon Alaea Red Clay Hawaiian volcanic salt (or any high-quality sea salt)
- 3 teaspoons sesame oil
- ½ avocado
Instructions
Prep the orange by slicing off the top and bottom. Halve the orange crosswise. Prop the orange up on its side like a car tire, with the flesh facing you. Insert your knife into the orange, just on the inside of the skin where the pulp meets the pith. Then use your hand to gently roll the orange along the cutting board, while the knife stays in the same place, removing all the pulp from the inside, and leaving you with a nice ring of orange to use as a “cup” for your poke salad. Repeat with the other half. Cut the orange pulp into chunks and set aside.
- Cut your fish of choice into bite-sized cubes and reserve in a chilled mixing bowl. Slice the avocado in half lengthwise. You can chop it and toss into the poke, but we slice the quarters into fans, and spread them out like a hand of playing cards to create an edible garnish.
- Combine the cubed fish, minced sweet onion, sliced spring onion and orange chunks in the chilled mixing bowl. Drizzle the sesame oil over the top to taste. Add a dash of salt to taste.
- Gently toss all the ingredients together by hand, careful to not over mix or smash the ingredients. You want each component to stand out on its own in the dish before mixing into a medley in the mouth.
- Set your orange rings down on your favorite plates, then set an avocado fan inside each one, upright and carefully spoon the poke mix into the center of the hollowed orange. This will help to stand the avocado fan straight up, and makes the orange rings overflow with the poke. Serve and enjoy.
