Name: Ika Mata: Rarotongan Raw Fish Salad with Coconut, Papaya and Chilli
Ingredients: 800 g fish fillets (see above), all bones, scales and skin removed; 1 medium red onion, thinly sliced and briefly rinsed in cold water; 120 ml lime juice or 150 ml lemon juice; 200 ml coconut milk (make sure it’s unsweetened); 4 spring onions, thinly sliced; large handful of picked coriander leaves; sea salt (use this rather than rock salt); 1 medium ripe papaya (paw paw), around 400–500 g, peeled, halved and seeds removed; 1 red chilli, thinly sliced into rings (more or less to taste)

Preparation info

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

Salads

By Peter Gordon

Published 2005

About

In Rarotonga, one of the Cook Islands in the Pacific Ocean north of New Zealand, they have a dish called ika mata. This is basically raw fish marinated in coconut and citrus juice. However, here I team it with papaya and chilli, to give it a sweetish spicy note. This is a fantastic summer main-course meal, served with a crunchy green salad on the side. Use a firm white flaky fish, such as snapper, cod or sea bass. Funnily enough, even though Captain Cook is the reason for the Cook Islands’