Fresh salmon poke bowl

Nutritionist and private chef Dorothy Woods has devised recipes that are fun to cook with your partner, a friend or a family member

Fresh salmon poke bowl
One of my first Cook Together recipes (five years before the publication of this book), was this. Poke is originally from Hawaii, where cooks use the offcuts of high-quality sushi to put together a more affordable fresh fish meal. If you can't find sushi-grade salmon, you can use any salmon and just poach it slightly in the sauce (cook slowly in a small saucepan over low heat). Part of the fun of this dish is practising your knife skills, beautifully cutting, prepping, and layering the ingredients in the bowl for a photo-worthy presentation.

◆ 200g uncooked white rice
◆ 2 tbsp rice vinegar
◆ 1 tbsp sugar
◆ ½ cucumber
◆ ¼ small purple cabbage
◆ 5 tbsp tamari or soy sauce
◆ 1½ tbsp toasted sesame oil
◆ Small piece of fresh ginger

For the Sauce
◆ 4 spring onions
◆ 300g fresh salmon or tuna
◆ 6 radishes
◆ 1 carrot
◆ 1 avocado
◆ 1 chilli (optional)
◆ 1 mango (optional)

You
1. Rinse the rice until the water starts to run clear. In a medium pot with a lid, mix the rice with about 470ml water. Bring to the boil, reduce to a simmer, and cover with a lid for ten minutes, or until the rice is cooked and the water is absorbed. Remove from the heat. Leave the lid on to steam the rice.
2. In a small pan, combine the rice wine vinegar, 110ml water and the sugar. Bring to a boil and remove from the heat. Add the sliced cucumber to the pan and set aside for at least 15 minutes to pickle.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together the soy sauce and sesame oil. Grate the fresh ginger into the sauce and add the spring onions from ME.
4. Toss the cut salmon from ME in the soy-sesame sauce and put in the fridge until you are ready to serve.

Me
1. Thinly slice the cucumber and pass to YOU.
2. Thinly slice the white and light green parts of the spring onions and pass to YOU.
3. Remove the skin from the salmon (if there is any) and cut it into small cubes. Pass to YOU.
4. Thinly slice the purple cabbage and massage it slightly with a pinch of salt. Place it in a colander over the sink to allow the excess liquid to run off.
5. Thinly slice the radishes and carrot.
6. Remove the stone of the avocado, scoop out the flesh and slice lengthwise.
7. Peel the mango and cut into small cubes (if using).
8. Thinly slice the chilli (if using).

Us
1. Pour the excess liquid off the cabbage and the pickled cucumbers.
2. If cooking the salmon, pour the contents of the sauce and salmon into a small pan and cook slowly over a low heat, stirring gently once, until the salmon turns opaque, about five to ten minutes. Otherwise, serve raw.
3. Assemble the bowls: Top the rice with the salmon (pour extra sauce over the rice), the pickled cucumber, cabbage, radishes, carrot, and avocado. Top with mango and chilli, if using.

◆ Cook Together: Recipes for Two in the Kitchen by Dorothy Woods is published by HD Publishing, price £35
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