Pippa Wetzell’s Oka I’a

Oka is a family dish for us. It’s been passed down on my Dad’s Samoan side of the family. For me it reminds me of family events, just those beautiful, crisp flavours; the coconut, the lemon juice. We would always have it at Christmas time. We’d have a combination of your traditional turkey and ham but we’d also always have a more traditional Samoan dish such as chop suey and taro and oka. To me that combination of flavours tastes like Christmas.

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Prep Time 15

Chilling time 1

Total Time 1 15

Course Appetiser

Servings as an entrée

Ingredients

500 g fresh white fish finely chopped (I use snapper or gurnard)
Juice of a few limes and/or lemons
150 ml coconut milk
150 ml coconut cream
2 spring onions finely chopped
2 large tomatoes finely chopped
1 green capsicum finely chopped
soy sauce to taste
salt and pepper to taste
Tabasco to taste
Chopped coriander leaves to garnish

Instructions

Place the fish in a non-reactive bowl and add enough lime or lemon juice to just cover the fish. Chill for an hour to marinate – the fish will go opaque.
Discard most of the citrus juice and add the coconut cream and coconut milk. Mix in the spring onion, tomato, capsicum and a dash of soy sauce.
Season with salt and pepper and add Tabasco to taste. Garnish with the coriander before serving.