COPPERKokoda recipe
Fijian raw fish cured in lime, drained, then bound in thick coconut cream with red chilli.
Ingredients
- 400 ml coconut cream
- 600 g spanish mackerel fillet
- 250 ml lime juice
- 2 red chilli
- 1 red onion
- 2 tomatoes
- 3 spring onion
- 1 cucumber
- 1 bunch cilantro
- 1 tsp salt
How to make Kokoda
- Dice 600 g of very fresh spanish mackerel (walu) into 1.5 cm cubes and put them in a glass bowl.
- Pour over 250 ml of lime juice so the fish is covered, add 1 tsp of salt, cover and refrigerate 2 hours or overnight until the flesh turns opaque white.
- Drain the fish completely and throw away the citrus juice, otherwise the acid splits the coconut cream.
- Chop 1 red onion, 2 tomatoes, 1 cucumber, 3 spring onions and 2 red chillies finely, seeds left in for heat.
- Fold 400 ml of thick coconut cream into the drained fish, then stir in the vegetables and a handful of chopped cilantro.
- Taste, add salt, and chill 30 minutes so the cream sets around the fish.
- Serve cold in coconut shells or bowls with lime wedges.
What is Kokoda?
Kokoda is a traditional dish from Fiji, and takes about 2 hours and 50 minutes from start to finish. It is built around spanish mackerel fillet, coconut cream and lime juice. The recipe below uses 10 ingredients and is written out step by step.
How long does Kokoda take?
At 170 minutes it is slower than 68% of the 586 dishes in Copper's atlas. The method runs to 7 steps, the longest being 30 minutes.
Any tips for making Kokoda?
Drain the cured fish completely and discard the lime juice before folding in the coconut cream, otherwise the acid splits it.
How Kokoda compares
Spanish mackerel fillet appears in no other dish in the atlas.
Cooked with the same thing elsewhere
Other traditional dishes built on red chili, from other countries.
- Muamba de galinha 🇦🇴 Angola
- Ambuyat 🇧🇳 Brunei Darussalam
- Nasi lemak 🇧🇳 Brunei Darussalam
- Phaksha paa 🇧🇹 Bhutan
- Kung pao chicken 🇨🇳 China
- Rendang 🇮🇩 Indonesia
Copper documents Fiji alongside 197 other countries. Every recipe is free to read, with the full ingredient list and every step.