Chef Makoa
Faiʻai Eleni (Sāmoan Mackerel in Coconut Cream)
Sāmoa's faiʻai eleni turns tinned mackerel, onion, and coconut cream into a quick, generous supper, the pantry fish that feeds the whole ʻaiga beside talo, ʻulu, green banana, or rice.
Culinary Explorer
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Palusami (Sāmoan Taro Leaves Baked in Coconut Cream)
Created by
Sāmoa’s Sunday toʻonaʻi parcel: young taro leaves folded around fresh coconut cream and baked until the leaf turns dark, silky, and rich enough to feed the whole aiga.
Main Dishes
Polynesian, Samoan
Special Occasion
Celebration
Comfort Food
35 min
Active Time
1 hr 15 min cook•1 hr 50 min total
Yield6 servings
This is Sāmoa’s dish, and I come to it with my hands open. In my home water of Hawaiʻi we pound kalo and call him Hāloa, elder brother. In Sāmoa, the cousins wrap that same elder kinship in the leaf, lūʻau leaf folded around peʻepeʻe, fresh coconut cream, and set it into the umu, the above-ground hot-stone oven.
Sunday toʻonaʻi, the meal after church, is where palusami sits in its own strength. The whole aiga, the family, eats from one spread. The leaf turns dark and silky, the cream cooks down rich and quiet, and from almost nothing, a leaf, a coconut, a fire, the table gets fed.
This same gesture travels the Triangle by its own names. Tonga has lū, the Cook Islands have rukau, Hawaiʻi has laulau and lūʻau, and each hand does it its own way. One ocean, one canoe, one root, but never one nameless plate.
So squeeze the coconut cream fresh if you can. Build the leaves deep. Cook them until they give all the way. And for the deeper ceremony of Sāmoa, the old rules of the umu and the feast, go sit with a Sāmoan matai or auntie who carries it. They should tell their own story.
Palusami belongs to Sāmoa’s living Sunday foodway, especially the toʻonaʻi, the after-church family meal where dishes from the umu feed the whole aiga. Taro was one of the canoe crops carried by Polynesian voyagers across the Pacific, and the leaf-and-coconut parcel appears across the Triangle as Sāmoan palusami, Tongan lū, Cook Islands rukau, and Hawaiian laulau. Its modern forms, including canned coconut cream and palusami fai pisupo with tinned corned beef, show the food still living in today’s kitchens beside the older fresh-squeezed way.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
young taro leaves (lūʻau leaf)
Quantity
30 to 36
thick stems and ribs removed
fresh coconut cream (peʻepeʻe)
Quantity
2 1/2 cups
squeezed from grated mature coconut, or 2 cans thick coconut cream
yellow onion
Quantity
1 small
finely diced
sea salt
Quantity
1 1/4 teaspoons
plus more to taste
freshly ground black pepper (optional)
Quantity
1/4 teaspoon
banana leaves or breadfruit leaves
Quantity
6 large
softened, or use parchment and foil
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| young taro leaves (lūʻau leaf)thick stems and ribs removed | 30 to 36 |
| fresh coconut cream (peʻepeʻe)squeezed from grated mature coconut, or 2 cans thick coconut cream | 2 1/2 cups |
| yellow onionfinely diced | 1 small |
| sea saltplus more to taste | 1 1/4 teaspoons |
| freshly ground black pepper (optional) | 1/4 teaspoon |
| banana leaves or breadfruit leavessoftened, or use parchment and foil | 6 large |
Equipment Needed
- •Covered 9-by-13-inch baking dish or heavy 5-quart Dutch oven
- •Small bowl for shaping parcels
- •Kitchen scissors for trimming taro leaves
- •Foil and parchment, or banana and breadfruit leaves for wrapping
Instructions
- 1
Ready the leaves
Rinse the taro leaves well and cut away the thick stems and heavy ribs so the leaves can fold without tearing. Lūʻau leaf, the taro leaf, has a bite in it when raw, so this dish must cook all the way through until the leaf gives up that scratch and turns soft.
- 2
Season the cream
Stir the coconut cream, onion, salt, and pepper together in a bowl. If you squeezed the peʻepeʻe, fresh coconut cream, from grated coconut, you'll see it thick and glossy on the spoon. That's the soul of this dish. A good can will carry you on a weeknight, no shame, but fresh cream has a roundness you feel right away.
Taste the cream before it goes into the leaf. It should be gently salty, because the taro leaf will drink some of that seasoning while it bakes. - 3
Build each cup
Lay four to six taro leaves in your palm or in a small bowl, crossing them so there are no thin spots. Spoon in about 1/3 cup of the seasoned coconut cream. Build the leaves deep, like cupped pages, because the cream needs a strong little house to cook in.
- 4
Fold the parcels
Fold the inner taro leaves over the cream, one side over the other, then wrap each bundle in banana leaf or breadfruit leaf. If you don't have those, wrap first in parchment and then in foil. The old umu, the Sāmoan above-ground hot-stone oven, gives the better flavor, but the home oven can still teach the same patience.
- 5
Bake until silky
Set the parcels seam-side down in a covered baking dish or Dutch oven. Bake at 350F for 1 hour 15 minutes, until the leaves are deep green-black, soft all the way through, and the coconut cream has cooked into a thick, savory custard. Don't keep opening it. Trust the leaf and the time.
If the leaf still tastes sharp or scratchy, close the bundle and cook it longer. No blame the taro. It just wasn't done yet. - 6
Rest and share
Let the parcels rest 10 minutes so the cream settles back into the leaf. Open them at the table, where the dark silky leaf and white-gold coconut cream can show themselves. Serve with rice, ʻulu, talo, or whatever starch is feeding your people that day. Eat what you have.
Chef Tips
- •Fresh coconut cream is worth the work when you can get mature coconut. Grate it, massage with a little warm water, squeeze hard, then use the thick first pressing for palusami.
- •Frozen taro leaves from a Pacific or Asian market are a good real-life shortcut. Thaw, drain well, remove any tough ribs, and still cook them fully soft.
- •Do not undercook taro leaves. Raw or half-cooked leaves can irritate the mouth and throat. Finished palusami should be dark, tender, and mellow, with no sharp bite.
- •This version is vegan and simple. Sāmoan tables also know palusami fai pisupo, with tinned corned beef, and that belongs to how the islands eat now too. Keeper, not gatekeeper.
Advance Preparation
- •Trim and wash the taro leaves up to 1 day ahead, then wrap them in a damp towel and refrigerate.
- •Squeeze fresh coconut cream the morning of the meal. Fresh peʻepeʻe separates and sours if it sits too long.
- •Assemble the parcels up to 4 hours ahead and refrigerate them covered. Bake close to serving so the leaf stays silky and the cream tastes fresh.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 175g)
Calories
365 calories
Total Fat
35 g
Saturated Fat
31 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
2 g
Cholesterol
0 mg
Sodium
500 mg
Total Carbohydrates
13 g
Dietary Fiber
5 g
Sugars
6 g
Protein
8 g
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