Low Protein Poke Bowl
Addendum: Reposting this recipe from last year. The watermelon poke is clutch but like I said, if out of season, you can still enjoy a flavorful bowl! Garnishes below :-)
This recipe is easy, quick and healthy. You can use as much or as little of the marinade as you prefer. I have some tucked away in my fridge for another watermelon I hope to marinate this week. Then, I will pull one serving at a time for delicious poke bowls for dinner.
You want to be sure to pick out a seedless watermelon. The smallest I could find was five pounds and that was the mini melon. It turned out to have several of the immature white seeds but I did not bother to pick them out. Cut out all the watermelon you can into little cubes. This left me with 842 grams of watermelon. There is no exact science. You can use any amount of watermelon and marinate as you would like. Have fun with the recipe!
The marinade is delicious and I may also use it for a stir fry. I put a lot of cayenne, which gives the watermelon the perfect little *pop* in your poke bowls. However, cut in half if you do not like spicy or are serving the watermelon plain. It definitely needs a carb to cut the spice.
Also- I subbed honey for agave for the low glycemic index (meaning it does not spike the blood sugar as much). You can certainly use whatever sweetener you have on hand. If you don't have any honey or agave sub for sugar. Not worth a drive to the store as it is all blended anyway.
If you have a higher tolerance feel free to replace the soy sauce and coconut aminos with 1/3 cup soy sauce. I felt this combination was perfect and was much lower in phe. The entire marinade is only 155 mg of phe, all but 6 mg of phe are attributed to the soy sauce. I may try it next time with only coconut aminos. I do not know how much of the marinade the watermelon absorbs. Even with the soy it is still incredibly low as I only used half of the marinade for this dish.
This is super easy to modify for the whole family. My husband even loved all the veggies. I did not feel like stopping at the store for the sushi grade tuna after work so I just threw some shrimp over it, which did the trick. I also added Trader Joe's Gyoza with a pork filling for some dimension. Serve over quinoa or rice for the protein lover.
For the low protein combination, I served over my favorite cauliflower/low pro rice combination (with a few tablespoons of coconut aminos). You could certainly throw low pro rice in the rice cooker for faster preparation and when short on time I will even put half riced cauliflower and half low pro rice right in the rice cooker. Add lots of fun garnishes. This is what makes the recipe delicious! My favorite was the fried scallions. Fry in a few tablespoons of toasted sesame oil for perfection.
Watermelon Poke Bowls
170 mg of phe for entire dish (does not include extra sauce)
Five servings= 34 mg of phe/serving of watermelon
Sauce: I only used half of this on the watermelon.
Grated zest of 1 lemon Fresh ginger, cut into a 1-inch cube, peeled, and grated 1 tablespoon agave 3/4 teaspoon cayenne 3/4 teaspoon fine-grain sea salt 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice 1/4 cup unseasoned (brown) rice vinegar 3 tablespoons soy sauce (low-sodium is ok)
2 tablespoons coconut aminos 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil 2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil
1 small seedless watermelon (after cutting it was 842 gm)
Make the sauce by blending in mixer until smooth. I used my blender but you could use immersion blender as well.
Cut watermelon into cubes that are about 1/2 inch to 3/4 of an inch wide. Pour sauce over watermelon. Seal and refrigerate at least four hours but I left overnight. I actually left the watermelon in the marinade for about four days, scooping out individual servings when I needed. Place watermelon over low protein rice, riced cauliflower or over salad. Add garnishings of your choice.
Items for garnish: cilantro, Trader Joe's everything bagel seasoning, cilantro, green onions, avocado, cucumber, chives, fried green onions. Really anything you want!
