Tanioka's Onion Poke

So here is my first entry. I'm just trying to test out the different possibilities for layouts here. Here's a pic of the divine onion poke from the famous fish market Tanioka's in Waipahu. It's a nice 5 minutes drive from my office, so sometimes when I come in on the weekends, I treat myself to a nice scoop of this shoyu ahi (maguro or tuna for all you non-Hawaii residents). Notice how red the fish is, shiny almost like little jewels....

Mmmm. This onion poke has a wonderful flavor, salty with a little kick...round onion slices, chopped green onion, minced garlic, shoyu....and of course what poke would be complete without a nice helping of sesame oil. I think that's what gives it that nice shiny finish and makes it perfect for photographing. Well, let's see how this looks with they layout.

[EDIT] Ooh, I like....I think this is okay for now. Anyway, for the adventurous who wants to attempt this dish....It's really simple. While it's not Tanioka's you can easily make poke at home.

1. Start with a nice cut of fresh ahi. Make sure it doesn't smell too fishy. You want it to be really red. And in case it's not immediately obvious, no bones. This is like cubed marinated sashimi. So clean, rinse, and cube the fish. I like them around the size of a soda bottle cap--like 3 cm cubes. Chuck those into a bowl--people tell me you shouldn't stick it in a metal bowl, so yeah. Listen to them...just in case.
2. Mince a couple of cloves of garlic and green onions and slice about a quarter to half of a round onion. Chuck those in there too.
3. Roughly chop up a handful of ogo/limu (type of seaweed). If you don't like harder types of seaweed, wakame works well too. If you get the dehydrated stuff, put it in some hot water to rehydrate, and roughly chop. Toss into mixing bowl.
4. Put in several tablespoons of sesame oil and about a quarter cup of shoyu (soy sauce). You can add red chili pepper flakes for a nice kick (a pinch or two should do it).
5. Toss lightly, cover with plastic wrap and place in refrigerator until ready to serve. I usually leave it in there for at least 20 min, so that the onions can soak up some of that flavor.
6. Serve either as pupus (appetizer) or over some nice hot rice.

Keep refrigerated or on ice. Best consumed within 24 hours. (Though my dad sometimes cooks it the next day to salvage the leftovers)

Best part about this recipe, is that you can easily adjust it to your tastes. If you have strong Japanese soy sauce, you may want to put less, but local Aloha shoyu or American brands, you may want to add more. You do not need salt for this recipe. That's what you have the shoyu for. Though if you were somehow unable to get your hands on some good soy sauce, you could use a coarse salt like Hawaiian salt, sea salt, or kosher salt. Don't like seaweed or onions? Leave 'em out.