Tabasco and Gochujang Cured-Salmon Poke Bowl

This no-cook cured salmon bowl takes inspiration from fresh Hawaiian poke bowls and sashimi donburi. Poke means “to cut crossways into pieces” in Hawaiian. The dish itself was prepared by Hawaiians long before the arrival of Westerners: Freshly caught fish was cut into cubes and combined with sea salt, seaweed, and candlenuts. Over time the dish evolved, with the introduction of soy and toasted sesame oil by Japanese and Chinese immigrants, and today you’ll find variations of the ancient dish served all over the world, often with contemporary additions.

My take on the dish combines cubes of sashimi-grade raw salmon or smoked salmon with a spicy marinade of Tabasco, sesame oil, and gochujang. The intensely flavored sauce cuts through the fattiness of the fish, all complemented by the freshness of avocado and red onion served atop steamed rice, the warm grains a pleasing contrast to the chilled cubes of salmon and room- temperature veggies.

This recipe was excerpted from ‘A Splash of Soy' by Lara Lee, one of our favorite cookbooks of 2023. Buy the full book on Amazon. Get more salmon recipes here →