The World Table

An interactive culinary compendium: recipes, lexicon and study

Pacific & Hawaiian · Starter

Oka i'a

  • Easy
  • 30 min
  • roughly 2 of 4 for cost

bright · rich · fiery · silky Leads with acid holding everything up to the light, richness that coats and comforts, melting away silken.

Ingredients

  • 500g very fresh firm white fish (mahi-mahi, snapper), cubed
  • Juice of 6–8 limes (about 150ml): the cooking fire, cold
  • 300ml thick coconut cream, the Pacific signature that separates oka from ceviche
  • 1 tomato, diced; ½ cucumber, seeded and diced; ½ small onion, minced fine
  • Salt; a chili, minced, optional; served cold in bowls, often in a half coconut shell

The skills inside

Ceviche

Allergen screen

Found: fish

Screened for: gluten, dairy, egg, nuts, peanuts, fish, shellfish, molluscs, soy, sesame, celery, mustard, lupin, alcohol. Not screened: sulphites.

Screened by keyword from the ingredient list, not reviewed by a person; check every label for what the list cannot show.

Method

  1. Toss the fish with lime juice and a good pinch of salt; chill 15–20 min until the outside turns opaque while the center stays tender. 20 min
  2. Pour off about half the lime juice: the coconut needs room to speak.
  3. Fold in the coconut cream, tomato, cucumber, onion, chili.
  4. Taste for salt-lime balance; serve cold and soon, with taro, breadfruit, or just a spoon.

At the Table

The Pour
Off-dry Riesling (Mosel Kabinett)
Also Right
Gewürztraminer or off-dry Chenin
From the Taps
Crisp lager or pilsner
Zero-Proof
Agua fresca or iced jasmine tea

Sugar, cold, and low alcohol are the fire code: sweetness tames capsaicin while acid resets the palate; tannin would fan the flames.

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Film school

This dish, cooked on camera Search films of Oka i'a Technique: CevicheThe skill inside this recipe Search YouTube: J. Kenji López-Alt on Oka i'a A YouTube search for J. Kenji López-Alt and this dish. No affiliation.