Chef Makoa
Heʻe Poke (Hawaiian Octopus Poke)
Tender heʻe sliced thin and tossed with limu, ʻinamona, sweet onion, sesame oil, and paʻakai. This is Hawaiian poke, the tako bowl beside the ʻahi everyone knows.
Culinary Explorer
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Poisson Cru (Tahitian ʻIa Ota, Raw Fish in Coconut and Lime)
Created by
Raw ʻahi turned just enough in lime, bathed in fresh coconut milk, and run through with cucumber and tomato. Tahiti calls it ʻia ota; poisson cru is the French name sitting beside it.
Main Dishes
Polynesian, Tahitian
Quick Meal
Weeknight
Outdoor Dining
20 min
Active Time
0 min cook•20 min total
Yield4 servings
One ocean caught this fish, but Tahiti gives it this bowl. ʻIa ota, raw fish, is the reo Tahiti name under the French poisson cru, and when I first ate it at a cousin's table near Papeʻete, nobody made a big speech. They just set the bowl down cold, white with coconut milk, red with tuna, green with cucumber, and let the food talk first.
This is Tahitian food, clear and named. Sāmoa has oka iʻa, Tonga has ʻota ʻika, the Cook Islands have ika mata, and back home in Hawaiʻi we make poke with limu and ʻinamona. Same fish, different bowl. The family shows because each island keeps its own hand, not because we smear them into one nameless plate.
The whole law is the fish. Buy ʻahi from somebody who can tell you when it came out of the water, not just what it costs. Fresh fish smells like the ocean and almost nothing else. Then be gentle: lime close to the table, coconut milk after, vegetables last so they stay crisp. No need make it precious. Just don't let it sit there until the acid turns it hard.
For the deep parts of Tahiti's maʻa, the foodways and the table around it, I send you to Tahitian elders and cooks. They should tell their own story. I cook this open-handed, one ocean, one canoe, one root, and this one belongs to Tahiti.
ʻIa ota is Tahiti's raw-fish-and-coconut dish, widely known today by the French colonial name poisson cru, with the older reo Tahiti name still carrying the food's first identity. Its cousins run across the Triangle: oka iʻa in Sāmoa, ʻota ʻika in Tonga, ika mata in the Cook Islands, and poke in Hawaiʻi, each shaped by its own island's reef, market, and table. The dish also shows how Polynesian food keeps living in the present, with ancestral fish-and-coconut knowledge sharing space with French, Chinese, and everyday market influences in modern Tahiti.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
sashimi-grade ʻahi tuna
Quantity
1 pound
cut into 3/4-inch cubes
limes
Quantity
4 to 5
juiced
fresh coconut milk
Quantity
1 1/4 cups
or well-stirred thick canned coconut milk
cucumber
Quantity
1 small
seeded and diced
ripe tomatoes
Quantity
2
seeded and diced
sweet onion
Quantity
1 small
thinly sliced
carrot
Quantity
1 medium
julienned or cut into fine matchsticks
green onions
Quantity
2
thinly sliced
fine sea salt
Quantity
1 to 1 1/2 teaspoons
plus more to taste
lime wedges (optional)
Quantity
1 lime
for serving
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| sashimi-grade ʻahi tunacut into 3/4-inch cubes | 1 pound |
| limesjuiced | 4 to 5 |
| fresh coconut milkor well-stirred thick canned coconut milk | 1 1/4 cups |
| cucumberseeded and diced | 1 small |
| ripe tomatoesseeded and diced | 2 |
| sweet onionthinly sliced | 1 small |
| carrotjulienned or cut into fine matchsticks | 1 medium |
| green onionsthinly sliced | 2 |
| fine sea saltplus more to taste | 1 to 1 1/2 teaspoons |
| lime wedges (optional)for serving | 1 lime |
Equipment Needed
- •Fine-mesh strainer for fresh coconut milk
- •Wide nonreactive mixing bowl
- •Carved wooden bowl or plain serving bowl for the table
Instructions
- 1
Chill the bowl
Set a wide mixing bowl in the fridge while you cut the vegetables and fish. This is a quick dish, but quick doesn't mean careless. The bowl should feel cool, the knife should be sharp, and everything should be ready before the lime touches the ʻahi.
- 2
Cut the ʻahi
Cut the ʻahi into clean 3/4-inch cubes, wiping the knife if it drags. Look at the fish before you trust it raw: glossy flesh, clean ocean smell, no sourness, no gray tired edges. If the fish doesn't make you want to eat one cube plain, no make this dish today.
Firm white fish can stand in if it is just as fresh. The island rule doesn't change: raw fish needs the best fish you can get. - 3
Salt and turn
Put the fish in the chilled bowl with 1 teaspoon sea salt and enough lime juice to coat it well. Toss gently and let it sit 3 to 5 minutes, just until the outside of each cube turns pale and opaque while the center stays rosy. The lime is turning the fish, not cooking it through.
- 4
Drain the lime
Pour off most of the lime juice, leaving only a bright gloss clinging to the tuna. This keeps the bowl from turning sharp and watery. Let it go too long and the acid makes the fish tight, and no blame the fish for what the cook let happen.
- 5
Add coconut milk
Fold in the fresh coconut milk until the fish is bathed white and glossy. Taste the coconut milk first; it should smell sweet and clean, not stale. A thick canned coconut milk is fine on a weeknight, but stir it hard so the cream and water come back together.
- 6
Fold vegetables
Add the cucumber, tomato, sweet onion, carrot, and green onion last. Fold with a soft hand so the tomato doesn't break down and the cucumber keeps its bite. Taste for salt and lime. You want cold, creamy, bright, and clean, with the tuna still reading fresh through the coconut.
- 7
Serve right away
Spoon the ʻia ota into a carved wooden bowl or a plain serving bowl set on a woven mat, and serve with lime wedges. Eat it the same hour you make it. Dress it, bless it, eat it. This dish waits for no one.
Chef Tips
- •Ask when the fish came out of the water. A label can say sashimi-grade, but the person selling it should still know the catch, the handling, and whether it is meant to be eaten raw.
- •Fresh coconut milk gives the softest flavor. Grate mature coconut, squeeze it with a little warm water, then strain. A good thick can does the job when the weeknight is moving fast.
- •Lime and coconut go in close to the table, never an hour ahead. Salt pulls water, acid tightens flesh, and the bowl loses the very thing you came for.
- •Eat what you have. If tuna is not good where you are, use another firm raw-safe fish from a trusted source, or cook the fish and make a different meal. We no force the ocean to pretend.
Advance Preparation
- •Seed and dice the cucumber and tomatoes up to 4 hours ahead, then keep them covered and cold.
- •Squeeze the lime juice up to 2 hours ahead and keep it chilled, but do not add it to the fish until just before serving.
- •Cube the fish up to 1 hour ahead only if your fish is very fresh and your fridge is cold; keep it covered over ice or in the coldest part of the refrigerator.
- •Do not fully assemble ʻia ota ahead. Once lime and coconut milk touch the fish, the clock starts.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 365g)
Calories
315 calories
Total Fat
17 g
Saturated Fat
15 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
2 g
Cholesterol
45 mg
Sodium
950 mg
Total Carbohydrates
13 g
Dietary Fiber
2 g
Sugars
6 g
Protein
31 g
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