I am honest, first time I tried poke bowl was early this year.

I love Asian food, I often saw this dish on delivery lists, but it never came to my mind to order. Until…

Like every year, in February I visited my home country, Germany, with my daughter. We returned to our AirB&B hungry but too lazy to cook. Using a delivery app, we saw that there was an Asian street food restaurant nearby. So we ordered sushi and a poke bowl as a salad.

We were so surprised by how good it tasted! The rice, along with the various fresh vegetables, the wakame salad, the crispy, lukewarm chicken fillet, and the slightly spicy poke bowl sauce, was so refreshing yet light for the late hour we were eating.

Surprisingly, the poke bowl doesn’t originate from Asia, but from Hawaii. It’s something of a national dish and consists of various raw fish varieties served over lukewarm rice. However, this salad is often considered Asian, which has led to a variety of toppings, such as crispy chicken or pork, as well as fish or crispy shrimp.

Although there are several Asian restaurants in our hometown of Heraklion, unfortunately, to our disappointment, only a few offer poke bowls.

But I wouldn’t have this website if I hadn’t tried making this dish myself. Since then, we’ve been making our own poke bowl at home.

Most ingredients you might find in your local supermarket or Asia shop.

Wakame salad is a truly delicious seaweed salad dressed with mirin (Asian rice wine), rice vinegar, and sesame seeds. It’s rich in iodine, minerals, and vitamins. However, if you suffer from hyperthyroidism, you should avoid this salad. Since it may not be readily available in your local stores, it’s optional in this dish. I found it in the freezer section of a local Asian grocery store. The only problem is that it may come in a rather large package, meaning you can thaw it all at once and not refreeze it.

Recipes for wakame salad can be found online. I once made it with dried seaweed, but wasn’t satisfied enough with the result to publish a recipe here.

Since my daughter is allergic to sriracha, I used sweet chili sauce instead for the poke bowl sauce. If you want to cut down on calories, you can use light mayonnaise, as I do.

You can fry the chicken in a pan or in an air-fryer.

What you need:
For the marinade
⅓ cup light soy sauce
½ cup sesame oil
½ Tbsp honey
1 tsp ginger powder
1 Tbsp chopped spring onion or ½ tsp onion powder
2 chicken filets (appr. 500 gr)

For the crispy chicken
½ cup Panko breadcumbs
½ tsp sesame seeds
Some sesame oil to fry

For the bowl
1-1½ uncooked rice for Sushi or poke bowl
100-150gr Edamame beans without shell (deep-freezed)
1-2 cucumber
1 avocado
1-2 bell pepper (red, yellow or orange)
1 large carrot
2-3 spring onions
1-2 tomatoes
Wakame salad (optional)

For the Mayonnaise:
200gr mayonnaise
60gr sweet chili sauce or Sriracha
4 Tbsp soy sauce
(½ tsp honey if you use Sriracha)

How to prepare
Cook the rice as indicated on the package. Let cool to room temperature.

Mix all marinade ingredients thoroughly. Place in a zip-top plastic bag, add the chicken breasts, seal the bag, and massage the marinade into the meat until completely coated. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours, preferably overnight.

In a bowl or on a plate, mix the panko breadcrumbs with the sesame seeds. Remove the chicken from the marinade and cover with the panko-sesame mixture. Press the breadcrumbs firmly into the surface. Spread the entire coating over the chicken breast.

Add some sesame oil to a pan and fry the chicken breast over medium heat until golden brown on all sides.

For crispy chicken in the air fryer, lightly coat the chicken breasts on all sides with sesame oil and cook at 195°C for at least 25 minutes, depending on the thickness of the fillets. Turn halfway through cooking to ensure the chicken breasts are crispy on both sides. Check the chicken breasts with a food thermometer. The internal temperature should be at least 90°C. Cook for a little longer if necessary.

Set the chicken breast aside.

Mix all ingredients for the mayonnaise well.

Cut the cucumber, avocado, bell pepper, carrot, spring onions and tomatoes into small cubes.

Place some rice in a bowl and garnish it with all the diced vegetables, edamame beans, and some wakame salad (optional). Slice the chicken and arrange it on top of the rice in the bowl. Season to taste with the poke bowl sauce.