Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Food

Fiji-Style Fish Ceviche: Recipe

Fiji-Style Kokoda Pickled Fish

Serves 4

The most famous Fijian dish is called Kokoda (pronounced ko-kon-da), which has at its core a ceviche or pickled fish. In Israel and in many Jewish homes around the world, pickled herring is on every grandmother’s table. Fiji takes this basic dish and put a twist on it like only Fiji can, adding coconut and chili to it which takes it to a new level and adds the summer feel to it.

INGREDIENTS

1 pound firm-flesh white fish, such as Spanish mackerel
¾ cut white wine vinegar
½ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/3 cup coconut cream
2 small red chilli peppers (add more to taste if you want the dish spicy)
1 bunch fresh coriander
Salt and pepper
1 small red onion
Optional garnish: chili, coriander, sugarcane sticks

DIRECTIONS

Dice the fish and marinate overnight in white wine vinegar to cure it.

In the morning, wash the fish under cold water.

Then marinate for a second time for two-three hours in lemon juice, to take on a citrus flavor.

Then combine with coconut cream, chillis, diced red onion and coriander, salt and pepper to taste.

Best served cold, this dish can be made in advance and is perfect for a picnic.

The picked fish is preserved, which makes it safe to leave unrefrigerated.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse..

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.