Kokoda recipe

Nauru's national dish: raw reef fish cured in lime juice until opaque, then dressed in thick coconut cream.

2 hours and 10 minuteseasy8 ingredients

Ingredients

• 500 g raw tuna
• 6 limes
• 300 ml coconut cream
• 1 onion
• 2 tomatoes
• 1 cucumber
• 1 red chilli
• 1 tsp salt

How to make Kokoda

1. Cut 500 g of same-day tuna or reef fish into 2 cm cubes. Only fish caught that day is safe to cure raw.
2. Squeeze 6 limes over the fish until it is covered, add 1 tsp salt and stir once.
3. Refrigerate 30 minutes to 2 hours, until the flesh has turned opaque right through. This acid cure, not heat, is what cooks the dish, and cutting it to 15 minutes leaves the centre raw.
4. Pour off the lime juice and throw it away. Keeping it makes the finished dish sour and watery.
5. Dice 1 onion, 2 tomatoes, 1 cucumber and 1 red chilli small.
6. Fold 300 ml of thick coconut cream through the drained fish.
7. Stir in the diced vegetables and the chilli, then check the salt.
8. Chill 20 minutes and serve cold, traditionally in a half coconut shell or on a banana leaf.

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