Beet "Poke" Bowl - Cookingwithdia

Photo by Peter Frank Edwards

This is a bowl of marinated beets and rice, but it’s also one of our best sellers at Beefsteak. Charisse Dickens, our amazing Hawaiian chef and a dear friend who manages a lot of our R&D, cringes a bit when we use the word poke to describe these beets. To her, poke is marinated fish, the dish that has started showing up everywhere across the United States these past few years, and that’s it. I told her we could call this marinated beets and rice, but then it would only be half as popular at Beefsteak.

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

- 4 medium beets, or 4 packaged cooked medium beets (1 pound), cut into 1/2-inch dice
Cider-Ginger Marinade:
- 1 1/2 cups water
- 1 cup apple cider vinegar
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon whole black peppercorns
- A 1-inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and minced
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
- 2 carrots, peeled and cut into 1/4-inch dice
- 1/2 cup diced sweet onion, such as Maui or Vidalia
- 3 cups cooked white rice
To serve:
- 1 cup seaweed salad (from the sushi counter at a gourmet market or grocery store)
- Furikake (see note)
- 2 scallions, white and light green parts only, thinly sliced

Preparation

For the Marinated Beets:
1. If using fresh beets, boil whole until fork tender, about 50 minutes. Drain and run under cold water. Use a paper towel to peel the beets, then cut into 1/2-inch dice.
2. Put the beets in a medium heatproof bowl. Combine the water, vinegar, and sugar in a small saucepan and heat over medium heat, stirring, to dissolve the sugar. Add the salt and peppercorns and bring to a boil. Strain the hot marinade over the beets and stir in the ginger. Let cool, then cover and refrigerate overnight.
3. The next day, drain the beets and transfer to a bowl. (You can reserve the marinade to use again; store it in an airtight container in the refrigerator.) Add the soy sauce and sesame oil to the beets and toss well.
For the Rice Bowls:
1. Toss the diced carrots and sweet onion together in another bowl.
2. Divide the beets, rice, seaweed salad, and carrot-onion mix among four shallow bowls, arranging them in separate piles so that the colors and textures really stand out. Sprinkle the rice with the furikake and sliced scallions and serve.