Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia · Volume 13, One Reef, Two Flags
Poisson cru
Tahiti and the Society Islands
An illustration of the dish, not a photograph of it cooked.
- Time
- 30 minutes
- Researched
- 17 sources cited
- Reviewed
- Not yet reviewed from inside the tradition
- Cooked
- Not yet cooked and reported
Cubed raw tuna, marinated in lime juice alone first, reported timings ranging from one or two minutes up to twenty depending on desired doneness, before coconut milk is added, which halts the citrus "cooking" process. Ratios vary across sources, one recipe giving roughly 500g fish to 3 limes and 30cl coconut milk, another 2 limes to 20cl coconut milk for a similar quantity; this chapter states that spread honestly rather than presenting one figure as canonical. Commonly finished with diced cucumber, tomato, grated carrot and spring onion, served with hot white rice. [lacerisesurlemaillot.fr; recettestahitiennes.com]
As tradition built it
Serves 4. About 30 minutes.
Ingredients
- 500g sashimi-grade tuna, cut into even cubes
- juice of 3 limes fresh lime juice
- 300ml coconut milk, pressed from grated coconut flesh if possible
- ½, or to taste cucumber, finely diced
- 1, or to taste tomato, finely diced
- 2, or to taste carrot, grated
- to taste spring onion, sliced
- to serve hot white rice, to serve
Method
- Cut sashimi-grade tuna into even cubes.
- Cover with fresh lime juice and leave to marinate, tasting from around one minute and stopping wherever the texture reads right, up to a maximum of about twenty minutes.
- Fold through fresh coconut milk, pressed from grated coconut flesh if possible rather than from a carton.
- Fold through finely diced cucumber, tomato, grated carrot and sliced spring onion. Serve immediately over hot white rice.
Notes
Ratios vary across sources: one recipe gives roughly 500g fish to 3 limes and 30cl coconut milk, another 2 limes to 20cl coconut milk for a similar quantity; this chapter states that spread honestly rather than presenting one figure as canonical.
What a modern chef changes
The acid-timing variable treated as the actual chef's decision it is, rather than a fixed recipe step, and the coconut milk pressed properly.
Rung 2
Method
- Portion the tuna to a controlled, even thickness with a sharp knife rather than a rough dice, so the citrus cure reaches every piece at the same rate, since an uneven cut is what makes "how long to marinate" impossible to answer consistently.
- Press coconut milk fresh through a chinois, working the grated flesh hard against the mesh for a fuller, less watery result than a carton, then chill it properly before folding it through the fish so it does not warm the tuna on contact.
- Freeze the tuna to the UK's own legal standard for raw fish service first, minus 20°C for at least 24 hours, non-negotiable for a home cook working with anything not already commercially blast-frozen, treated here as a technique step rather than a footnote.