Ika Mata (Cook Islands Raw Fish in Coconut)

The canoe teaches you this first: one ocean can feed many tables without making them the same table. This is ika mata, the Cook Islands raw fish, and in Rarotonga the bowl belongs to the reef, the lagoon, the outside water, and the hands that know when a fish is clean enough to eat almost bare.

I learned this one from the cousins, so I cook it open-handed. The old way often used maroro, flying fish, when it was running. Today you'll see tuna, mahi-mahi, wahoo, or whatever good clean fish came in that morning. The lime turns the outside just enough, the coconut cream lays over it rich and white, and the cucumber and onion keep it awake. No need make it precious. Just don't start with tired fish.

There is no plain "Polynesian" raw fish. The Cooks have ika mata. Sāmoa has oka iʻa, Tonga has ʻota ʻika, Tahiti has ʻia ota, and back home in Hawaiʻi we make poke with limu and ʻinamona. Same fish, different bowl. One ocean caught it, every island dressed it its own way.

So bring it forward into your kitchen straight and simple. Buy fish from somebody who can tell you when it came out of the water. Squeeze the coconut if you can, use a good thick can if that's what you have, and dress it close to the table. Raw fish waits for nobody, yeah? Eat what you have, but eat it with care.