Ika Mata, also known as Raw Fish, is like a tropical love letter to your taste buds, delivering the best of Cook Island flavours in every spoonful 🐟🍋🥒🥥🌴 Popular among various island communities, this dish nails the fusion of fresh and vibrant flavours with the added nutritional benefits. Ika Mata has become a favourite right here in Aotearoa, especially during our summer months. The dish’s popularity here is a beautiful example of the Cook Island's influence on our own culture, bringing a taste of the islands to New Zealand tables.
My personal fondness for Ika Mata grew during a memorable stay in Rarotonga. It quickly became a go-to dish for me during those hot, muggy days—refreshing, crunchy and flavoursome. I noticed they often used tuna fish, which is my favourite for this recipe because of its silky smooth texture. It's perfect for pairing with the crunchy veggies, but any firm flesh fish should do the trick — whatever your whānau has managed to catch fresh that day, or on special at the supermarket (e.g. trevally, gurnard, kahawai, or snapper). Whatever the fish choice, FRESH is best 💦 You can, however, use defrosted frozen fish, but only if it was frozen straight from fresh. I have only tested this with blue fin tuna, so unsure if it will work with other types of fish.
How I prefer my raw fish:
- Tomato-less 🚫🍅 My version of this recipe excludes tomatoes because I feel like they make everything a soggy mess if not eaten immediately. But if you love them, or your garden is overflowing with them, then by all means — chuck some in. Scooping out the seeds from cucumbers also helps to keep everything extra crisp.
- Finely diced veggies. It helps to give a more well-rounded ratio of all the flavours and textures in each bite.
- A decent fish-to-veggie ratio. Some raw fish dishes I've eaten have had one piece of fish to one cup of veggies, and that's just a spoonful of disappointment 🥲 The dish is literally called 'raw fish.' It goes without saying that the fish should be the feature ✨
- Draining the lemon juice after marinating 🍋 Some recipes leave it and add the veggies straight in, but I don't like my ingredients swimming in fish juices 🙊 It also means the fish won't continue to 'cook' as much if you're making it ahead of time.
- With a hit of spicy chilli and generous garnish of coriander 🌶️ I'm a firm believer that those two ingredients help enhance all the flavours of this dish, HOWEVER, if you're one of the unlucky few that hate the herb with a passion and can only taste soap 🧼, then leave it out and serve it on the side for the all coriander lovers to generously top their bowls with your share.
Whether served as a chilled starter, a light meal with corn chips, or alongside a larger feast, Ika Mata brings a burst of freshness and flavour to your table.
