New Dish of Old Hawaii

It was Adrian, our grandson, who introduced to Tony and me (Angkong and Amah) his favorite dish, poke salad. We have it in our country, too, but it is served by only one restaurant miles away from where we live, so we never got around to trying it.

Poke (meaning to cut crosswise into pieces) is a classic Hawaiian dish that dates—according to historians—as far back as the coming of the first Hawaiians in the island chain. In fact, many islanders claim that it existed before Captain Cook arrived. It is a raw-fish salad served as an appetizer or main course.

The dish is easy to love, since we have our own Filipino kinilaw or kilawen (recipes using either raw fish, meat, fruits, or vegetables marinated in vinegar and spices). Also available here are raw dishes of various origins—sushi and sashimi (Japan); ceviche (Peru/Spain); hwe (Korea); carpaccio (Italy); esqueixada (Catalan), koi pla (Thailand), etc.

Tony and I shared our first-ever poke salad (servings in the US are huge for small eaters like us).

Here’s what we mutually chose to go into our bowl: steamed white rice and everything raw: carrots, cucumber, minced shallots, yellow-fin tuna, squid, avocado, ginger paste, crab meat, roe, seaweeds, chopped green onions, sliced radish, and cilantro. For garnishing, we opted for: sesame seeds, soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, and crushed dried seaweeds.

Adrian had his wrapped in a cylindrical tortilla flour, like a burrito.    

    

It is a strange meal if you’re having it for the first time. But, at Adrian’s prodding, we went back days later for more.

The taste grows on you and after sometime, poke salad—in a bowl or wrapped in tortilla flour—turned our old tongues into new gourmets of Hawaiian food. Big burps capped our shared meals.

New dishes, which are otherwise overlooked in home court, are parts of the grace that follows one around when traveling. Each time we visit Adrian, he acquaints us with new things, one of which is the “new” poke salad of old Hawaii.