Cold-smoked salmon is the secret to easy, streamlined poke bowls

Poke is a Hawaiian dish that has evolved from simply seasoned, diced raw fish to complex seafood salads mixed with savory and sweet seasonings, served with all manner of toppings. Most stateside poke bowl restaurants will offer poke on top of rice for a complete meal, with an array of toppings for a build-your-own bowl experience.

At home, it’s simplest to prepare one variety of poke salad with a small selection of accompaniments and toppings. Once everything is chopped and seasoned, it’s only a matter of assembly to get the meal on the table. This makes poke bowls a great quick weeknight meal, but creating a streamlined recipe requires a few shortcuts and compromises.

Cold-smoked salmon is easy choice for weeknight poke bowls

While raw diced fish is the traditional choice for poke bowls, it requires careful attention to quality. And there’s no shopping ahead — you’ve got to make poke the day you purchase the fish. Instead, grab a pack of cold-smoked salmon for a texture similar to raw fish but without the stress. The subtle smokiness adds depth of flavor to the finished dish without the need to purchase an additional ingredient.

Sriracha mayonnaise is a perfect creamy shortcut dressing

Poke recipes call for all manner of dressings for the raw fish, from simple soy and sesame mixtures to more complex creamy sauces. To keep things simple, use prepared sriracha mayonnaise to dress the fish. (Sriracha mayonnaise is available in the international aisle of most grocery stores. You can also make it yourself using a 1:1 ratio of both ingredients, but this will add another ingredient to the list below.) Keep the spicy mayonnaise on hand for drizzling at the table if you’d like a little more on the rice.

Use furikake to season poke bowls with a blast of umami

Seaweed and sesame seeds are required ingredients in poke bowls, but adding both of these will send this recipe past its five-ingredient limit. Instead, pick up a jar of furikake — an umami-packed seasoning mixture that includes dried seaweed, sesame seeds, dried fish, sugar and salt at a minimum. Sometimes you can find furikake in well-stocked American grocery stores, but it’s more easily found at Asian supermarkets. A large jar will last a long time, so it’s worth purchasing for jazzing up everything from white rice to fried eggs.

Like the sriracha mayonnaise, you’ll use furikake to season the poke salad as well as a poke bowl topping.

Cooking, quickly cooling microwave rice makes an easy base

To turn the poke salad into a full meal, serve it on top of rice. Microwaveable rice packs are the quickest way to get a bowl of rice on the table, but it may not be obvious how to get the rice properly cooked and cooled first.

The rice sold in the pouches is still a bit crunchy straight out of the bag, so it needs to be cooked before serving. Follow the package directions and then, to cool it quickly, spread it in a thin layer on a sheet pan. You’ll want to do this step first before slicing and mixing; by the time you’re done preparing everything else, the rice should be cool.

Quick salted cucumbers are a simple vegetable addition

Just about anything can be served alongside the fish in a poke bowl, but thinly sliced, lightly salted cucumbers are a crisp, refreshing, simple-to-prepare ingredient that contrasts with the creamy salad. Just mix the cucumber slices with a bit of salt after cooking the rice, and they’ll be perfectly seasoned by the time you build the poke bowls.

For these Easy Salmon Poke Bowls, grab a pack of cold-smoked salmon for a texture similar to raw fish but without the stress. (Aaliyah Man for the AJC/food styling by Kate Williams)

Easy Salmon Poke Bowls

• 3 (8.8-ounce) microwaveable white rice pouches
• 1 English cucumber
• ½ teaspoon kosher salt
• 12 ounces cold-smoked salmon
• ¼ cup sriracha mayonnaise, plus more for serving
• 3 tablespoons furikake, plus more for serving

1. Microwave the rice following the package directions. Open the packages and carefully pour out the rice onto a rimmed sheet pan. Spread in a thin layer with a spatula. Let cool to room temperature, 15 to 20 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, thinly slice the cucumber using a mandoline slicer or a sharp knife. Transfer to a large bowl and add the salt. Toss gently with your hands and let sit at room temperature while the rice cools.
3. Slice the salmon into ¼- to ½-inch pieces and transfer to a medium bowl. Add the sriracha mayonnaise and furikake and stir gently to combine.
4. When the rice is cool, divide between four serving bowls. Top with the salmon mixture. Gently squeeze the cucumber slices with your fingers to remove any excess water and then divide between the bowls. Serve topped with additional sriracha mayonnaise and furikake.