#DigIn OKA: AN ISLAND FAVORITE
You know the best part of growing organically grown food? Eating organically grown food. Right? I mean food you've grown yourself, in God's green earth, with your own two hands... is there anything sweeter?
The thing of it is this whole organic gardening adventure has required less time from us than most trips to the grocery store. After the initial planting, which required no special tools at all really, we've watered the plants twice a day, except on the days we forget altogether. It's awful, but true, and you know, they go and grow themselves, despite us.
And since the best way to "tell" you about all of the ways we've already started to harvest the goodness from our little garden and incorporate it into our meals here... well, since the best way is to show you...
I give you a whole lot of pictures, a story and a favorite island recipe.
We love raw fish in Hawaii. I mean love love. Like, whoever invented poke, (pronounced: po-kay), I kiss your face. Hard. And we do it so well too with sushi a thousand splendid ways and poke with seasoning and sauce combinations that just plain broke da mouth and sashimi, simple and fresh and raw raw raw. Hawaii is a raw fish paradise through and through and through again.
But the truth is, the raw fish I grew up with is rarely served here. It's a South Pacific Island favorite that is a sort of ceviche set afloat in a sea of coconut milk. My goodness I'm salivating just thinking of a bowl of fresh oka on a hot summer's day. Someone quick grab a paddle, we're going in.
We grew up eating it as "Oka" in American Samoa. And my Aunt makes the most amazing version, a sort of "don't wait too long to come and get it or it'll be gone" favorite at family gatherings. This is not her recipe, sorry guys. But it is a pretty darn good consolation prize of a treat.
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Oka
( I once heard this called Tahitian Poke on a local cooking show-- all other South Pacific Islanders might beg to differ but whatever you call it, call me over for a bowl or two would ya?)
Ingredients
Fresh caught fish cubed fresh squeezed lime juice
(1-4 limes deepending on yield)
1 small onion diced 1 cucumber diced, seeds removed 1 small tomato diced, seeds removed sweet peppers diced fresh cilantro chopped
2 cans of good quality coconut milk sea salt and ground black pepper to taste fresh chili as desired
Place fish in a large bowl and pour the lime juice over the top turning to coat as necessary. Cover the bowl tightly and set the fish in the refrigerator to chill and to allow the acid from the limes juice to "cook" the fish. The fish will get a white hazy look on all exposed surfaces as it marinates.
In the meantime prepare vegetables. The above list is really just a suggestion of some of my favorites.
Remove the bowl from the fridge and add your diced vegetables turning to coat. (You can return the bowl to the refrigerator to marinate up to eight hours, or overnight, if you are prepping ahead of time).
Pour one can of coconut milk in it's entirety over the fish and vegetables. Carefully scoop the cream from the top of the second can of coconut milk and add to the bowl of marinated fish and vegetables. If you'd like you can add both cans in their entirety you'll just end up with a bit more liquid in the bowl.
Season generously with fresh ground sea salt and black pepper and if you're up for a bit of a kick toss in some chopped chili peppers.
Fresh food, a flourishing garden and chilled treats that take you back to places you've gone before or ahead to places you one day dream of being... these are what sweet summer days are made for.
Be well.
Live Sweet, n
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