ʻInamona Poke (Hawaiian ʻAhi with Limu)

My kumu used to say the ocean feeds you straight, but only if you come to it straight. This is Hawaiian poke, from my home waters, ʻahi cut clean and held with limu, the seaweed, ʻinamona, roasted crushed kukui, and paʻakai, sea salt. No coconut here. No lime bath. The fish stays itself.

Same fish, different bowl. Sāmoa has oka iʻa, Tonga has ʻota ʻika, Tahiti has ʻia ota, the Cook Islands have ika mata, all those cousins bright with citrus and coconut. Hawaiʻi's old hand is different: reef salt, limu, kukui, the clean fat of the fish, and the taste of the place where the canoe landed.

Bring it into your kitchen without making it precious. Buy the best fish you can, ask when it came out of the water, and use ʻinamona from somebody who knows how to roast kukui right. Then mix close to the table. Raw fish waits for nobody, yeah? Dress it, bless it, eat it.