Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia · Volume 13, One Reef, Two Flags
Ika mata
The Cook Islands
An illustration of the dish, not a photograph of it cooked.
- Time
- 2 hours
- Researched
- 17 sources cited
- Reviewed
- Not yet reviewed from inside the tradition
- Cooked
- Not yet cooked and reported
The dish most closely associated with the Cook Islands, and this chapter's direct pairing with poisson cru above, the same voyaging-era raw-fish idea finished two different ways under two different flags. Fish gutted, cleaned, scaled, skin left on, cut into roughly two-inch pieces through the central bone and scored; rubbed with salt; lime or lemon juice squeezed over; covered and set aside to marinate for a couple of hours minimum, longer if preferred, with an explicit caution from the named source that tuna in particular toughens if over-marinated. Coconut cream is served alongside as a rich accompaniment with cooked root vegetables, taro, kumara, breadfruit, boiled green banana, rather than folded into the fish itself. [www.ck/food/0110.htm, Mereana Hutchinson, Rarotonga]
As tradition built it
Serves 4. About 2 hours, mostly marinating.
Ingredients
- 1 a whole reef fish, gutted, cleaned and scaled, skin left on
- to taste salt, for rubbing
- to taste lime or lemon juice
- to serve coconut cream, to serve alongside
- to serve cooked taro, kumara, breadfruit or boiled green banana, to serve
Method
- Gut, clean and scale a whole reef fish, leaving the skin on. Cut into roughly two-inch pieces through the central bone and score.
- Rub with salt, then squeeze lime or lemon juice over generously.
- Cover and marinate for a couple of hours minimum, tasting for firmness rather than working to a fixed clock, and watching tuna specifically for toughening.
- Serve with rich coconut cream poured alongside, not through, and cooked taro, kumara, breadfruit or boiled green banana.
What a modern chef changes
The "served alongside" structure kept deliberately, since that is the actual distinguishing feature of this dish against poisson cru, and the coconut cream given its own proper reduction.
Rung 2 and 5
Method
- Cure the fish exactly as long as the tradition specifies, hours rather than minutes, resisting the urge to shorten it toward poisson cru's timing; the two dishes' different cure lengths are the whole point of pairing them, not an inconsistency to smooth over.
- Reduce the coconut cream separately in a wide pan until it thickens and the fat visibly separates slightly, then chill, for a richer, more spoonable accompaniment than a straight can poured cold.
- Roast the root vegetable accompaniment on a Big Green Egg over live coals rather than boiling it, for a smoky, caramelised note under the raw fish and rich cream that a boiled accompaniment cannot give.