Sadly, I haven’t just returned from a holiday in Fiji sitting in beach front restaurants eating genuine Fijian raw fish Kokoda. But, I was this week the recipient of some beautiful line-caught tuna, fresh from the West Coast. The immediate problem was that the only time available to prepare the fish was now! Luckily it came with a reference to a local restaurant that has a delicious Kokoda (Fijian ceviche), on the menu. Thanks to Google, and the fact that making Kokoda requires just a few every day ingredients, our dinner was delicious!
Inspired by success, I knew I wanted to share this with you. It is such a simple and delicious treat that can be made in large or small quantities – a dainty canapé, an entree or served with salad as a light main course. Although I chose to use tuna a second time, this was because it was the freshest fish available on the day, you could make this with any very fresh fish you are lucky enough to buy, catch or be given. So – to my lovely daughter who gave me the first piece of tuna and the idea for Kokoda, I say, “make sure you take a lemon, a red onion and a can of coconut milk on all your fishing trips, but please bring home a little fish as well xx”.
As is becoming apparent, I do like food to mostly be quick and tasty . Mid week particularly is not my time to try something special or new so, that I actually made this was an outstanding achievement. Now it is my weekend, my time to spend a bit more time contemplating ideas, recipes and methods and to be more mindful about my cooking. I am very lucky today to have a fresh piece of tuna and the time to commit Kokoda to memory (read blog!) and now I can recall it for the next time opportunity presents itself. Repetition of new ideas really helps me when it comes to trying to create quick easy weekday meals with techniques I have perfected (or at least committed vaguely to memory) in more leisurely moments.
MY SIMPLE RAW FISH KOKODA
You can easily multiply the ingredients in this vague recipe to suit the amounts of fish you have. You could even mix varieties of fish if your catch has a little of a variety of fish… mmmm!… maybe even scallops – yum!
Ingredients
- 150 grams very fresh fish
- Juice of 1 lemon(you could substitute or add some lime juice if you have it)
- Small 1/4 onion cut in fine 1/2 moons
- 1 tomato finely diced (I used end of season cherry tomatoes)
- Small 165ml tin of coconut milk (coconut cream works too, you will get a thicker mix that is better if putting on a tortilla chip or cracker)
- Salt generously to taste
- Optional ingredients to taste or to hand – fresh herbs such as coriander or vietnamese mint, a small amount of fresh chilli, spring onions extra lime or lemon wedges…..
First chop your fish into cubes or slice and thoroughly toss through the lemon juice. Leave this to marinade in the refrigerator for about two hours or until opaque.
Add the rest of your ingredients, mix well and leave to marinate for another half an hour – or refrigerate until you are ready to eat. It is probably at its best about 2 hours after you make it, but my life rarely works to such exacting time schedules. My advice is to eat it when the table is set, the wine is poured and everyone is ready to eat. The first time I made this I ate the leftovers the next evening and it was still delicious.
The only question now is what to drink with this? Maybe a nice Sauvignon Blanc, or a Pinot Gris.
I’m sure that if you enjoy any other raw fish dishes you will love this one too. 
Thank you for coming on another of my food journeys , I hope your day is wonderful and delicious.
