Rice with Tinned Fish

Ingredients

The rice

• 400 gwhite rice
• about 700 ml water
• a pinch of salt

The fish

• 2 tinsmackerel
• or tuna, in oil or brine
• about 400 g total
• drained

The rest

• 2onions, sliced
• 2 tablespoonsoil
• or the oil from the tin
• black pepper
• a squeeze of lime, optional

Sometimes added

• 1tomato, chopped
• a little chilli
• chopped spring onion
• grated fresh coconut

Directions

1. Keep the oil to cook the onion. Rinse the rice well in cold water. Rinse it until the water runs clearer. Two or three changes is enough. Use about one and a half parts water. Adjust it after the first attempt. Bring it to a boil in a heavy pot. Cover the pot tightly with a lid.
2. Let it steam for about twelve minutes. Do not lift that lid at all early. Take it off the heat and leave it covered. Give it about ten full minutes.
3. Use a fork rather than a spoon. Work gently from the edges inward. Heat the oil in a wide frying pan. Add all the sliced onion to it.
4. Use the oil from the tin if there is any. Add more oil if the tin was in brine. Cook the onion for about ten minutes. It should soften and turn golden. Add the chopped tomato to the pan.
5. Cook it down for five minutes. It stops the whole dish being dry. Break the fish up into the pan. Break it into large flakes only. Do not stir it right into shreds. Fold it through rather than stirring. Warm it gently for a few minutes. It needs only warming right through.
6. Add plenty of black pepper generously. Taste it before adding any salt. It often needs none of it at all. Squeeze a little lime over it. Add the lime right at the end. Serving it is always done hot.
7. Spoon the hot rice into bowls. Spoon the fish mixture over it. Serve it while both are still hot. Scatter fresh grated coconut over it. It keeps two days refrigerated.

Technique

• The atlas records this meal as it is actually eaten and records the documented health consequences alongside it, because both belong in an honest account and a food atlas that omitted either would be dishonest. Neither is stated to blame anyone: people eat what is available and affordable, imported food became both of those things and traditional food became neither, which is a structural matter rather than a personal one.
• Pacific diets changed enormously through the twentieth century as imported rice, flour and tinned goods spread and local staples declined — a shift well documented across the region. Several Pacific nations including Kiribati report very high diabetes rates, and dietary change is one documented factor among several: physical activity, economics and access to health care all matter too, and the atlas does not claim diet is the only cause.
• Tinned fish is already fully cooked and needs only warming through — long cooking breaks it up entirely. Break it into large flakes and fold it through rather than stirring it into shreds. It is also already quite salty, and brine-packed fish saltier still, so taste before adding any salt at all.

Substitutions

• Tuna is as widely used as mackerel; fish in oil is richer and softer, fish in brine leaner and saltier, and both are genuinely used. Keep the oil from the tin to cook the onion, since it carries real fish flavour.
• Fresh tomato, chilli, spring onion and grated coconut all improve it considerably and are genuinely worth adding; coconut is the one abundant local food and adds real richness and texture.

Variations

• What this displaced was fresh reef fish, babai and breadfruit. Babai is a giant swamp taro grown in dug pits that reach the freshwater lens below the atoll, taking years of tending — genuinely demanding cultivation, where a tin of fish takes a moment to open, and cash work replaced subsistence for many.
• Atolls have thin poor coral soil, very little grows on them and fresh water is limited to a thin lens, so almost all rice, flour and tinned fish is imported at high shipping cost and sometimes unreliable supply. Kiribati has enormous fishing waters, much of that catch is exported, and tinned fish is imported back — a documented and real pattern.
• Cook the onion a full ten minutes until soft and golden, since that sweetness balances the salty fish and is most of the flavour here, and squeeze lime over at the end, which cuts the oiliness and genuinely lifts the dish.

History

Imported rice, flour and tinned fish displaced fish, babai and breadfruit through the twentieth century, driving some of the world’s highest diabetes rates.

Frequently asked questions

What is Rice with Tinned Fish?

Rice with Tinned Fish is a main from Kiribati: imported rice with tinned mackerel and onion, the everyday modern atoll meal. Imported rice, flour and tinned fish displaced fish, babai and breadfruit through the twentieth century, driving some of the world’s highest diabetes rates.

How long does Rice with Tinned Fish take to make?

Rice with Tinned Fish takes 10 minutes of preparation and 25 minutes of cooking. The recipe makes serves 4. It is rated easy to make.

What can I substitute in Rice with Tinned Fish?

Yes, within limits. Tuna is as widely used as mackerel; fish in oil is richer and softer, fish in brine leaner and saltier, and both are genuinely used. Keep the oil from the tin to cook the onion, since it carries real fish flavour. Fresh tomato, chilli, spring onion and grated coconut all improve it considerably and are genuinely worth adding; coconut is the one abundant local food and adds real richness and texture.

What is the most important thing to get right in Rice with Tinned Fish?

Let it steam for about twelve minutes. Do not lift that lid at all early. Take it off the heat and leave it covered. Give it about ten full minutes.