Recipe
🥙 LUNCH
Salad Pwason Fime (Smoked Fish Salad)
Flaked smoked fish tossed raw with sour green mango, red onion, tomato, and chili in a bright lime and oil dressing.
Seychellois Creole · easy · serves 4
prep 20 min · cook 0 min
~145 cal · 14g protein · 14g carbs · 4g fat · 3g fiber · 9g sugars · 1g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Salad pwason fime is the cool, raw counterpoint to the Seychelles grill: firm smoked fish, usually marlin, tuna, or swordfish, torn into flakes and tossed with crisp vegetables, sour green mango, and a sharp lime dressing. Smoking and salting fish is an old island way of keeping the catch in a hot climate, and this salad turns that pantry staple into something fresh and lively.
The balance is everything. The salt and smoke of the fish meet the sourness of an under-ripe mango, the bite of raw red onion pickled briefly in lime, the sweetness of tomato, and the heat of a little chili. A drizzle of oil pulls it together, and it is eaten the same day it is made, never preserved like an Indian chutney.
Light, tangy, and quick, it is a warm-weather lunch or a starter before grilled fish, and a reminder that Creole cooking has a raw, salad side every bit as important as its coconut curries.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally gluten-, dairy-, nut-, egg- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 4
8 oz firm smoked fish (marlin, tuna, or swordfish), flaked
1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
2 limes, juiced
1 green (sour) mango, peeled and
Hard to find? a tart green apple, julienned - less floral than a green mango but gives the same clean sourness
1 ripe tomato, diced
1/2 red bell pepper, thinly sliced
2 handfuls crisp lettuce, torn
1 bird's eye chili, thinly sliced
2 tbsp olive oil
to taste salt and pepper
Instructions
1
Put the sliced red onion in a bowl, season with a little salt, and squeeze over the lime juice. Leave to soften and pickle for 5 minutes.
2
Add the flaked smoked fish to the onion and lime and toss so it takes on the dressing while you prepare the rest.
3
Fold in the green mango, tomato, red pepper, lettuce, and chili, then drizzle with the olive oil.
✎ Chef’s note
Squeeze the julienned mango with a pinch of salt and pat it dry before adding, so the salad stays bright rather than watery.
4
Toss everything gently, taste, and adjust with more lime, salt, and pepper. Serve straight away while crisp.
Seychellois Creole home cooking.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Victoria. Victoria is one of the world's smallest capitals, cooking Creole fish curry with coconut milk, turmeric, and curry leaf. Seychellois food is Indian, African, and French at once, with octopus, breadfruit, and mango chutney common.
🗺️
Seychelles. Seychellois Creole cuisine is fragrant and coconut-rich, fish curries, grilled snapper, and the sweet plantain-in-coconut ladob. French, African, and Indian roots meet over fresh reef fish and tropical spice.
🌍
Africa. The structure repeats across most of the continent: one starch and one sauce. A grain or root is cooked stiff, torn or rolled by hand, and used to carry a stew of leaves, groundnut, okra or fish, usually from a shared bowl and with the right hand. UNESCO listings have followed that logic, inscribing couscous in 2020 as a shared Maghreb tradition and Ivorian attieke in 2024.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Seychelles
Seychellois Fish CurryA fragrant Creole coconut fish curry brightened with lime, ginger, and fresh curry leaves.
Ladob BanannRipe plantains simmered soft in sweet, vanilla-and-nutmeg coconut milk, a Creole breakfast or dessert from the Seychelles.
Kari ZouritOctopus simmered until tender in a fragrant coconut curry with ginger, garlic, and island masala, a Seychelles classic.
Browse all Seychelles recipes →
Good to know
Storing it: Best assembled just before serving. Prep the components ahead and dress at the last moment so it stays crisp.
Make it a Seychelles meal
Nouga Koko ek Bannann (Coconut and Banana Nougat)Dessert
Bourzwa Griye (Grilled Red Snapper)Dinner
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Frequently asked questions
What is Salad Pwason Fime (Smoked Fish Salad)?
Flaked smoked fish tossed raw with sour green mango, red onion, tomato, and chili in a bright lime and oil dressing.
Where does Salad Pwason Fime (Smoked Fish Salad) come from?
Salad Pwason Fime (Smoked Fish Salad) is a Seychellois Creole dish from Victoria, Seychelles.
Can Salad Pwason Fime (Smoked Fish Salad) be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Salad Pwason Fime (Smoked Fish Salad) recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions, including several at once such as gluten-free and dairy-free together. Treat them as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Salad Pwason Fime (Smoked Fish Salad) safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Salad Pwason Fime (Smoked Fish Salad) take to make?
About 20 minutes total (20 minutes prep, 0 minutes cooking), serving 4.
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