This year Brad and I decided we weren’t going to take a vacation this summer since we’re planning to remodel our kitchen this fall. Man, it sucks growing up and making grown up decisions. And when June rolled around and I started seeing everyone’s vaca photos pop up on social media, I really hated being a grown up!
So I’m thinking this post will be a little like my virtual vacation to Hawaii this summer. Come with me and enjoy.
As you know, I’ve partnered with SF Bay Coffee several times in the past (for my Jamocha Almond Milk, Mustard + Shallot Salmon, and Grain-Free Mocha Granola) and I just love their company and what they stand for. So when it came time to partner up with them for National Coffee Month, it was a no-brainer.
As a food blogger you come in contact with so many companies and some have a message that resonates with me beyond the product and one of those companies is SF Bay Coffee. Owned by the Rogers family, SF Bay Coffee is not only concerned about the quality of their product but the entire process. From farm to cup and even down to the compostability of their single-serve One-Cups, each step of the process is conscious. Socially and environmentally. In fact, their motto is, “Coffee with a conscious”. From ensuring farmers are paid fair wages i.e. fair-trade, to achieving carbon negative status and using earth worms to create organic, nutrient-rich fertilizer you can see how this mentality plays out in all steps of the process. As well, through the Rogers Chairtable foundation they have built over 50 schools, dozens of kitchens and provide hot meals to families of farm workers. You can see why supporting SF Bay Coffee is an easy choice for me and can learn more about how they’re helping famers HERE.
As part of our celebration of National Coffee Month, SF Bay Coffee is hosting a giveaway to visits Kona, Hawaii. Make sure to head over HERE now and enter to win. There’s nothing you need to purchase, just an old fashioned contest! Good luck!
Kona has a long tradition of coffee and SF Bay Coffee took a huge step in buying it’s own coffee farms there and more recently have opened it’s first coffee bar there. You can see more about the history of Kona and coffee HERE. I loved watching and learning from this video. I find it interesting that something we drink every day (coffee) we actually know very little about.
When it came time to create a recipe that I felt represented SF Bay and their Kona story I thought back to my last trip to Hawaii and what I ate. Two things came to mind… this banana freeze thing I had and poke. The banana freeze that I had was what we all now know as “n’ice cream”. It’s literally frozen banana pressed through and industrial juicer and it comes out like frozen yogurt. But banana ice cream has already been done and I (and most likely you) don’t have an industrial juicer.
So I thought about the poke I had. And it was a lot of poke. We were staying at a house so we grocery shopped and I loaded up on the stuff. I was also struck with how many varieties there were, my favorite being a creamier, spicy one. I felt like a fresh, healthy poke would perfectly represent the kinds of food I make while representing the Hawaiian cuisine and the story of Kona.
I have to confess, when I first decided to make a poke I was a little nervous. I’m not sure if it was the raw fish or the fact that I hadn’t made one before. But I’m here to tell you this is one of the easiest dishes I’ve ever made. Pretty much all you do is chop the ahi, add the additional ingreiednts and toss it together. That’s it! It’s absolutely perfect for warmer months when turning on the oven isn’t an option. If you love sushi this recipe is a must have.
A couple of recipe notes, I recommend making your own mayo for this recipe. You can find my 30-Second Mayo recipe HERE. And lets talk siracha. Fortunately there’s a few different types of clean searches available now. Whole Foods Market has several. Make sure to read your labels and find one with ingredients that you’re comfortable with. Most will have a bit of sugar in them, rendering them NOT compliant for your Whole30. However, if you’re doing a WHole30 and you’d still like to try this recipe out, just add any hot sauce that IS compliant. Trust me, there are plenty! And make sure to stick with the coconut aminos and NOT the gluten-free soy sauce.
I hope you give this recipe a try and make sure to check out SF Bay Coffee to join their Kona Giveaway Sweepstakes!
Hawaiian Spicy Creamy Poke
Ingredients
- 1 lb. ahi tuna cut into half inch pieces
- 1 Tbsp. coconut aminos or gluten-free soy sauce in a pinch
- 1/2 Tbsp. sesame oil
- 1/4 C. chopped green onions
- 1 chopped shallot
- 2 Tbsp. sesame seeds
- 2 Tbsp. homemade mayo
- 2 Tbsp. siracha
- Salt
Instructions
- Add chopped ahi to a large bowl
- Add coconut aminos (or gluten-free soy sauce) and sesame oil to ahi and toss to coat
- In a small bowl combine mayo and siracha
- Add mayo mix to ahi and toss to coat
- Add green onions, shallots and sesame seeds to ahi, toss to coat
- Salt to taste
This sounds great and I love that there aren’t like 100 ingredients! Makes it much less overwhelming (not to mention saves some $$).
Definitely going to try making this!