From 15 to 17 March each year, ama­teur and pro­fes­sion­al cooks from all over the world gath­er at the Keau­hou Resort in Hawai’i to take part in Sam Choy’s Keau­hou Poke Con­test, com­pet­ing for cash prizes and brag­ging rights. On read­ing about this dish and all the hype sur­round­ing the com­pet­i­tion, I couldn’t res­ist try­ing it, and now it’s a per­man­ent fea­ture on my menu.

With a com­bin­a­tion of ingredi­ents that pro­duce a knock-out dish, this poke is full of fresh fla­vours and pleas­ing tex­tures, and is guar­an­teed to have your din­ner guests talk­ing for weeks. What could be bet­ter than a dish of fresh raw fish, lightly dressed, simply gar­nished and served as is? This one’s a winner!

Make sure you use only the freshest and most sus­tain­able fish you can get your hands on — the best spe­cies avail­able in the Wel­ling­ton region are the ones with slightly high­er oil con­tent, such as king­fish, tre­vally and kahawai.

Kingfish and avocado poke with flying fish roe, pickled ginger and jalapeno crème fraîche

Ingredients

Dress­ing

• 1 tbsp shal­lots, finely chopped
• 1 tsp ginger, grated on a fine microplane
• ½ tbsp            spring onion, green part only, finely chopped
• ½ red chilli, finely chopped
• 2 tbsp light soy sauce
• ½ tbsp            juice from pack­et of pickled ginger
• ½ tbsp            ses­ame oil
• ¾ tbsp            toasted black and white ses­ame seeds

Jalapeno crème fraîche 

• 1 tbsp crème fraîche
• 1 tsp green (Jalapeno) Tabasco sauce

Poke

• 200g king­fish fil­let, trimmed of skin and any blood­line, and cut into small dice
• 1 avo­cado, cut into small dice

Crispy wontons

• 1 egg
• 1 tbsp water
• 8 wonton wrap­pers, cut diag­on­ally into 4 triangles
• 1 tbsp furikake (Japan­ese spice mix, avail­able in Asi­an food stores)
• 1 tbsp sea salt

Gar­nish

• 1 tbsp pickled ginger, cut into small dice
• 1 tsp tobiko (fly­ing fish roe)
• 1 tbsp spring onion, finely sliced

Method

1. First make the dress­ing. Com­bine all the ingredi­ents in a small bowl and allow to sit for 20 minutes so that the fla­vours can mingle.
2. For the Jalapeno crème fraîche, com­bine the ingredi­ents and spoon into a pip­ing bag fit­ted with a small nozzle.
3. Now make the crispy wontons. Pre­heat oven to 180˚C.
4. Whisk the egg and water togeth­er and set aside
5. Place the wonton tri­angles onto a bak­ing tray lined with greaseproof paper, then brush each tri­angle with the egg wash. Sprinkle with the furikake and sea salt.
6. Cov­er with anoth­er sheet of bak­ing paper and weigh down (I use anoth­er bak­ing tray). Bake at 150˚C for 10 minutes or until the wontons are golden and crisp.
7. Cool on a wire rack.
8. Finally, make the poke. Place the diced king­fish, avo­cado and 4 tbsp of the dress­ing in a small bowl and mix gently.
9. Trans­fer to serving bowls and gar­nish with pickled ginger, tobiko, spring onion and piped Jalapeno crème fraîche, and serve with the crispy wontons.

Serves 4 as a light snack