This recipe is too off-the-beaten-track from a traditional Hawaiian poké for me to call it such and live with myself, but it is loosely based around the idea of one. It starts with seasoned sushi rice (which I could eat just by itself) and is topped with a variety of fun things to munch on such as salt- and lime-seasoned cabbage, edamame beans and glazed pieces of barbecued tempeh, all bound together with a gentle but perky sriracha sauce. Like many of us today, it borrows ideas from all over the world and is, I think, all the more delicious for it.

Barbecue tempeh rice bowl with lime and sriracha

Don’t be put off by the long-ish ingredients list: except for steaming the rice and frying the tempeh, the rest is just chopping, mixing and assembly. Sushi seasoning, or seasoned rice vinegar, is widely available in the UK, and is a vinegar that has, very helpfully, been pre-seasoned.

Prep 15 min
Cook 45 min
Serves 4

350g sushi rice
5 tbsp sushi seasoning
250g red cabbage, finely shredded
2 tbsp fresh lime juice
Fine sea salt
160g frozen edamame beans, defrosted
Black sesame seeds

For the sauce
5 tbsp mayonnaise (75g)
1½ tbsp sriracha
½ tbsp tomato puree
1 tbsp agave syrup

For the tempeh
3 garlic cloves, peeled and finely minced
½ tbsp chipotle paste
3½ tbsp light soy sauce
1½ tbsp tomato puree

½ tbsp fresh lime juice
2½ tbsp agave syrup
¼ tsp salt
Rapeseed oil
400g tempeh (I like Tiba), cut into jagged, bite-sized pieces

Tip the rice into a saucepan for which you have a lid, add 500ml cold water, pop on the lid and bring to a boil. Turn down the heat to a simmer, cook for 10 minutes, then take off the heat and put to one side with the lid on for another 10 minutes. Add the sushi seasoning and mix well.

Put the cabbage in a bowl with a tablespoon of the lime juice and half a teaspoon of salt, then, with clean hands, scrunch it over and over until you can feel it give in your hands.

Next, make the sauce by whisking the mayonnaise, sriracha, tomato puree, agave syrup and the remaining tablespoon of lime juice with an eighth of a teaspoon of salt.

In a separate bowl, make the tempeh marinade. Whisk the garlic, chipotle paste, soy sauce, tomato puree, lime juice, agave syrup and a quarter-teaspoon of salt, add two tablespoons of water and mix again.

Put two tablespoons of oil in a large frying pan on a medium to high heat and, when hot, add the pieces of tempeh and cook, tossing, for five to seven minutes, until they’re golden and crisp all over. Pour in the sauce, turn the heat right down and cook until the sauce reduces to a glaze that clings to the tempeh. Take off the heat.

To assemble, put a quarter of the rice on one side of each of four bowls. Arrange the cabbage next to it, then the tempeh and the edamame beans. Spoon some of the sauce into the middle, sprinkle over some sesame seeds and serve.