COPPEROta ika recipe
Raw reef fish is cured in lime until the outside turns opaque, then the juice is poured off and thick coconut cream takes its place.
Ingredients
- 500 g very fresh fish fillet
- 150 ml lime juice
- 250 ml coconut cream
- 1 onion
- 1 tomato
- 0.5 cucumber
- 2 spring onion
- 1 chili pepper
- 1 tsp salt
How to make Ota ika
- Cut 500 g of very fresh fish (tuna, snapper or any firm reef fish) into 2 cm cubes.
- Cover the cubes with 150 ml of lime juice, stir, and refrigerate 1 hour until the surface of the flesh has turned opaque and firm.
- Drain the fish and throw the lime juice away. Quick versions skip this and it is the whole point: without it the coconut cream curdles and turns sour.
- Chop 1 onion, 1 seeded tomato, half a cucumber, 2 spring onions and 1 chili.
- Fold the vegetables into the drained fish with 250 ml of thick coconut cream and 1 tsp of salt.
- Chill 20 minutes and serve cold the same day, in a bowl or a half coconut shell.
What is Ota ika?
Ota ika is a traditional dish from Tuvalu, and takes about 1 hour and 40 minutes from start to finish. It is built around very fresh fish fillet, coconut cream and lime juice. The recipe below uses 9 ingredients and is written out step by step.
How long does Ota ika take?
At 100 minutes it is quicker than 61% of the 586 dishes in Copper's atlas. The method runs to 6 steps, the longest being 20 minutes.
Any tips for making Ota ika?
Drain the fish and throw the lime juice away before adding the coconut cream; otherwise the cream curdles and turns sour.
How Ota ika compares
Very fresh fish fillet appears in no other dish in the atlas.
Cooked with the same thing elsewhere
Other traditional dishes built on spring onion, from other countries.
- Byrek 🇦🇱 Albania
- Flying fish and cou-cou 🇧🇧 Barbados
- Moqueca 🇧🇷 Brazil
- Ema datshi 🇧🇹 Bhutan
- Kokoda 🇫🇯 Fiji
- Nasi goreng 🇮🇩 Indonesia
Copper documents Tuvalu alongside 197 other countries. Every recipe is free to read, with the full ingredient list and every step.