Hinava (Sabahan traditional dish)

안녕하세요  😄

Yes, I know I didn’t post here for a long long time, and also didn’t update my Instagram quite frequent. I was actually quite busy with my work and my personal life. But I did updating my twitter from time to time 😜 (my twitter ID: @joannanaa).

For today, I’d love to share with you guys about my simple recipe or appetizer which is a traditional dish for my natives here in North Borneo Sabah. We call this as “Hinava”. Below is the caption from wikipedia about this dish;

Hinava is a traditional native dish of the Kadazan-Dusun people in the states of Sabah.[1] It was made from fish and mixed with lime juice, bird’s eye chili, slice shallots and grated gingers.[2] While the Kadazan are famous with their Hinava tongii.

For oversea, they might call this as fish salad with the lime juice as the dressing. It’s a same technique as well. Just different preparation or ingredients. I’m not gonna use the same ingredients as stated fully but instead, I find out that using raw mango to neutralize the foul odor of the raw fish used in the preparation is a great way. Well I just use whatever available that I can grab to create this simple yet appetizing menu. 

  

Photo: Simple ingredients (raw mango, tomatoes, green pepper, onion (other than that, you can either use shallot or red onion), ginger, lime (aka calamondin) and salt/coarse sugar to taste)

The main ingredient should be the fish meat. I am using the tuna fish meat in my recipe because it is chewy and the smell is not that strong. You can use other types of fish as you like. But make sure the smell isn’t that strong 🐟

 
Photo: Main ingredient. Tuna fish meat (blanched in a warm water, shifted and blanched with two table spoon full of lime juices to diffuse the bacteria – since it’s raw)

Firstly, chop all of the raw ingredients above and put it in the preparation bowl. Cut whatever sizes you like as long as it’s a bite size 😜. I prefer them to be cut into a thin strips. The pictures is as below.

  
Photo: I cut the ingredients into those sizes because that is the easiest and faster way. 😜

Then put salt and sugar to taste. Mix them altogether harmoniously. Add the fish meat later on after the ingredients well combined with the salt/sugar or else the fish meat will be all broken into small pieces that will affect your dish presentation. 

 
Photo: The end result! Mouth watery 😍

This is the best dish ever! Appetizing and the ingredients harmoniously combined. I love it and try it at home. I am sure you’ll love it to the max. I love Sabah. Next time, I’ll share with you guys any upcoming recipe or interesting post when I have free time.