Gravadpoké... the Uncle J Way

This is for two dear friends that I saw on the same day recently - Tony and Paola.

First, I visited Tony at his allotment and came away with a swag bag full of herbs, fruit and vegetables, including dill and beetroot. I told Tony that I'd use the dill and beetroot to make some gravadlax.

That evening, I joined Paola at Kaia at the Ned. We celebrated her birthday with some delicious Hawaiian poké. I promised her and Tina that I'd have a go at making some at home and tell them how it went.

"Why not combine the two?", I thought on the way home. So here is a fusion of Europe and the Pacific, of an old and a new favourite - Gravadpoké the Uncle J way. Since this is off the top of my head, there is probably no other way!

To make six poké bowls...

Make the gravadlax two days before. In a blender, blitz together 100g rock salt, a big handful of dill, 50ml vodka, 50g demerara sugar, the juice and grated rind of one lemon and 200g grated beetroot. Smear the mixture all over a side of salmon and let it chill for two days in the fridge. 

When the gravadlax is ready, make the poké. First, cut off the skin and then chop the salmon up into small pieces no bigger than a sugar cube.

Mix the chopped gravadlax in a bowl with 3 tablespoons of semame oil, the juice of one and a half limes and one tablespoon of the leftover marinade. Put the mixture to one side while you assemble the other ingredients.

Next, wash 360g of sushi rice, cover it with water to one centimetre above the rice, and microwave for 15 minutes. Let the cooked rice cool for 15 minutes more, then stir in 2 tablespoons of rice vinegar. This will prevent the rice from sticking together in clumps.

Now make some spicy mayonnaise. Stir 3 teaspoons of shichimi togarashi (a Japanese spice mix) into 6 tablespoons of mayonnaise, then stir it into the rice.

To complete the rice salad base, stir in one grated carrot and about the same volume of cooked sweetcorn and finely diced cornichon or gherkin.

Now you need to get the topping ingredients ready. Make up a small bowlful each of sliced spring onions, halved cherry tomatoes and chopped macadamia nuts. Halve and peel one and a half avocados, then slice them into 6 armadillo shapes. To do this, move the avocado back and forth while slicing - it should look like this...

You will now have all of your ingredients ready to assemble and they should look something like this... 

Line the bottom of each bowl with the rice salad. Next, add the sliced avocado, spring onion and cherry tomato. Place a generous amount of the gravadlax mixture and finally sprinkle with chopped macadamia nuts. Your poké bowls should look like this:

It's delicious and healthy - enjoy!