Bring the taste of Fiji to your kitchen and follow Michelle from Turtle Island’s culinary team to see how you can make fresh Fijian kokoda at home!
Kokoda is a traditional Fijian dish made from freshly caught local fish. It’s similar to ceviche where the raw fish is cooked by marinating it in lime juice, but with the added bonus of miti (fresh coconut milk). The key is to make the miti from scratch which is easily done by grating the coconut flesh and squeezing the milk out of it.
On Turtle Island, we use fresh Spanish mackerel or walu sourced from local fishermen in our community, handpicked vegetables and herbs from our 5-acre organic garden, and coconuts from our Island’s palm trees.
See our fresh Fijian kokoda recipe below and enjoy the taste of Fiji at home!
KOKODA INGREDIENTS:
Serves 2
Prep time: 1 hour
- 150g fresh Spanish mackerel or walu cut into 1cm cubes
- 1 cup miti (fresh coconut milk) made from 2 coconuts
- 1 cup fresh lime juice
- 4 lime wedges
- 1 onion
- 1 large tomato
- 1 cucumber
- 1 red or yellow capsicum
- 1 small chilli
- 1 tablespoon fresh mixed herbs (coriander, spring onion, chives, parsley)
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Coriander leaves to garnish
KOKODA METHOD:
- In a bowl add the cubes of Spanish mackerel, lime juice, salt to taste and let it marinate for 1 hour in the fridge.
- Finely chop the onion, tomato, cucumber, yellow capsicum, and chili.
- Grate the coconuts into a separate bowl, add salt, juice from 2 lime wedges, 4 teaspoons of onion and squeeze these ingredients together. Strain the liquid to make the perfect miti (coconut milk) for your kokoda.
- Once the fish is well marinated, drain the lime juice and place the fish in a big clean bowl.
- Add the miti, chopped tomato, cucumber, capsicum, onion, herbs, chili, salt, pepper and mix the ingredients together.
- Serve in coconut shells (or your choice of bowl), add a lime wedge, garnish with coriander and enjoy your fresh Fijian kokoda!
