Sometimes, I like to re-create my vacation in my kitchen. This weekend, I felt like making my own slice of New Zealand in the form of a raw fish dish I had at Aggy’s Shack in Queenstown.
I believe Aggy listed it on his menu as “Raw Fish in Coconut Milk.” Think of it as a South Pacific ceviche. I looked up several recipes and decided to use those as the basis for reverse-engineering my own. I found lots of references to kokoda and poisson cru. The second one seemed to mostly use ahi tuna, where Aggy’s creation seemed like a whiter fish.
Here’s my ingredient list:
1.25 lbs fresh opakapaka (a variety of snapper)
the juice of 6 fresh limes
1 finely chopped red pepper
12 ounces light coconut milk
3 chopped scallions
two cloves (not bulbs!) of chopped garlic
half-cup of chopped cilantro
dash of black pepper
1. Remove any skin from the fish and cube it into one-inch pieces
2. Submerge the fish in the lime juice. Refrigerate for three hours or until fish is white.
3. Remove, combine with other ingredients. You can refrigerate it a bit longer, or serve it immediately.
It pairs nicely with wild rice and a salad. A squirt of Sriracha hot chile sauce also adds some nice heat.
I think mine compared pretty favorably to Aggy’s version. If I do it again, I might add a squirt of soy sauce. Of course, there’s no way I’ll be able to equal his steamed green-lipped mussels.
