Polynesian cuisine

Taste buds excited….

Tahiti and its islands offer several varieties of fruits and vegetables: uru (fruit of the bread tree), mango, grapefruit, taro…And it goes the same for sea products that fishermen bring just before the sunrise: mahi mahi, crayfishes, red and white tuna. Difficult to resist this temptation…..!
Polynesian cuisine comes from different traditions: the local one, the French and Asian ones that bring delicious flavours. It is obviously rich in various foods as well as in cultural inputs. Small lagoon side restaurants, guest houses or caravans localised in harbours during the festivals in July, all serve the famous raw fish marinated in green lemon, basted with coco milk and served with fresh salad. If you want to feel a bit like in fenua (the country), here is this traditional recipe:

Components : 800g tuna, 1/2 cucumber (100g), 1 tomato (50g), 1 pepper (25g), 1 big onion (80g), juice from 8 green lemons, 1 glass of coco milk, salt and pepper.

Preparation :
– Dice the fish (1cm / 1cm), put it under fresh water, drain and put it in a salad bowl.
– Squeeze the lemons and pour the juice on the fish, mix the whole. Let it stand in the fridge during 20 minutes.
– Slice thinly the onion and pepper, dice the tomato and thinly cut the seeded cucumber.
– Drain some of the lemon juice, then add the vegetables and rectify the seasoning.
– 5 minutes before serving, add the coco milk.

Have it on a salad bed in individual containers or better in a half coconut! Serve it fresh.

© Picture Sekkaki – Tahiti Tourism