Poke Bowls: Vegetarian Cooking Class

Poke or 'bliss' bowls are quick, healthy, vibrant meals built around fresh vegetables, herbs, a wholegrain, some protein, tasty condiments and whatever dressing you fancy. The variations are endless! The best part about these bowls is that each person in your family can choose from the components and build their own poke bowl!

Poke means "to slice or cut" in Hawaiian and traditionally refers to chunks of raw, marinated fish which is then tossed over rice and topped with vegetables and umami-packed sauces and condiments. In this workshop, we leave out the fish to make vegetarian flavour-packed meals in a bowl with some exciting and delicious variations of the traditional poke.

This workshop will focus on how to create nutritiously balanced vegetarian poke bowls (vegan option also available; please indicate when you book). We'll teach you how:

1. to prepare raw and cooked vegetables grown in our Wellington organic garden. We will talk through chopping techniques and discuss how important texture is and how you can play around with the shape and size of your raw vegetables to alter the texture

2. to use edible flowers and fresh herbs to add pizzazz (and which complementary herbs go well with particular vegetables)

3. to make delicious, easy salad dressings to go on your poke bowl and how to store them

4. to create grain and protein pairings to increase digestibility and your body's ability to absorb the nutrients.

We'll also discuss the importance of prep to save you time at mealtimes and ways to create your own home 'salad bar' with on-hand pre-chopped ingredients in your fridge to use to build your poke bowls. Finally, we'll incorporate interesting flavours and crucial nutrients with the use of some condiments (think soy eggs, fermented mushrooms, dried or fresh seaweeds).

MENU:

Condiments:

Fermented shitake mushroom

Cucumber Chilli Pickle (quick)

Chilli or wasabi mayo

Soy egg

Kimchi*

Dressings:

Ponzu*

Classic Poke*

Maple miso

Flavours of Asia dressing*

Classic French vinaigrette with Dijon

Soy ginger

Wholegrains

Pearl barley

Brown rice

Red rice and black rice

Freekeh

Farro

Soba noodles*

Beans and pulses

Chickpeas (from a tin, for ease)

Broad bean and pea balls*

Spicy fried Edamame

Cannellini beans (from a tin, for ease)

Lentils (make up a big batch and freeze portions)*

Vegetables

Red cabbage, sliced and/or pickled in some apple cider vinegar

Spiralised raw carrot or zucchini/courgette, beetroot

Teriyaki roasted cauliflower

Charred broccoli

Raw onion: red and spring onion

Salad leaves: kale, spinach, rocket, spoon mustard, beetroot leaves

Radish (pickle it with 4 T rice vinegar, 2 tsp sugar, ½ t salt and 4 radishes, sliced)

*Roasted veg (leftover pumpkin, beetroot, potato, carrot, whatever is on hand)

Toppings:

Crunchy nuts and seeds

Macadamia coconut crunch

Avocado and heirloom tomatoes from our organic garden

Pickled ginger

Seaweed sprinkles aka dulse flakes

Edible flowers from garden

Capers

Olives*

Sesame seeds: black and white

Hempseeds

Herbs: parsley, coriander, basil, chervil, mint from the garden

Goat or sheep feta (housemade)

Hummus

*items with * are suggested for you to include at home, and won’t be made today)