Miso Mushroom Poke Bowl By Somerset Foodie

Thanks to Somerset Foodie for allowing us to feature this recipe. Please click here to see the original.

You could easily be mistaken for thinking that a Poke bowl is a Japanese invention, but actually it's one of the national dishes of Hawaii. Slap bang in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, Hawaiian cuisine has lots of influences from the Orient. Poke bowls most commonly feature raw fish, generally salmon or tuna, however we've created a mushroom version that's full of vibrant flavours and beautiful colours. This recipe really celebrates the spectacular flavours of great tasting vegetables.

Ingredients for a Miso Mushroom Poke Bowl
Serves 4

200g Long Grain Brown Rice, cooked and kept warm
250g Edamame Beans, steamed for 5 minutes
2tsp Miso Dashi Soup Paste
4tbsps Poke Sauce
1/2 Jar Pockeredge Pantry Pickled Radishes
1tbsp Wakame Seaweed, soaked in plenty of cold water for 10 minutes
2 Large Fresh Beetroots, peeled and chopped into thin match sticks
1 Red Pepper, thinly sliced
1/2 Cucumber, seeds removed and diced into small chunks
1 Red Chilli, thinly sliced
2 or 3 Spring Onions, sliced thinly
1 Ripe Avocado, peeled and sliced
100g Kale, steamed for 5 minutes until tender
150g Bean Sprouts, steamed for 1 minute
120g Shiitake Mushrooms
300g Chestnut Mushrooms, cut into quarters
2tsp Sesame Seeds, toasted
A drizzle of Cold Pressed Rapeseed Oil

Although the ingredients list looks a little long, generally, they are easy items to get hold of and if you are missing one or two garnishes, it's not going to ruin your outcome.

What's nice about this dish is that you can steadily prep all the ingredients and there is no pressure on timing each job to coincide with any of the other jobs - pretty chilled really.

As the brown rice takes about 25-28 minutes, get that on and if it's cooked before you're ready with the other bits, just drain it and leave it in the pan - it's fine if the rice is only warm when you come to eat it.

Start by prepping the beetroot, cucumber, red pepper, spring onions and fresh chilli. Toast the sesame seeds and steam the Edamame beans, kale and bean sprouts - leave them on the side, it's fine for them to be slightly warm or even completely cold.

Cut up the mushrooms into even chunks, heat a pan with a little oil and fry the mushroom's over a high heat. Once they've started to brown a little, stir through a couple of teaspoons of Miso Dashi Paste. Toss the mushrooms around in the paste and keep cooking for another minute or so. Add the spring onions and turn off the heat, leaving the mushrooms in the pan until you're ready to serve. Now peel and slice your avocado.

Once all the ingredients are ready, drizzle the Poke Sauce over the beetroot, red pepper, cucumber, kale and bean sprouts and gentle mix. You want to keep all the ingredients separate so that you can place them on the bowl in a decorative way, but get a little of the sauce to coat the vegetables.

To build your poke bowl, pile a good couple of spoons of rice in the centre of the bowl and then arrange all the other ingredients around the edge, finishing with the mushrooms on the top. Finish with an extra drizzle of Poke Sauce and a sprinkling of toasted sesame seeds.

Tuck in and enjoy the all the amazing flavours.