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Culinary Explorer
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Puaʻa Choux Chinois (Tahitian Pork and Chinese Cabbage Stew)
Created by
A Tahitian Sunday pot from the Chinese-Tahitian table: pork belly, Chinese cabbage, carrots, and turnips simmered soft in a savory broth, made for rice and one more bowl.
Soups & Stews
Polynesian, Tahitian
Comfort Food
Slow Cooker
Make Ahead
25 min
Active Time
2 hr 15 min cook•2 hr 40 min total
Yield6 to 8 servings
The canoe gives us the old roots, but the table keeps making room for the cousins who arrive later. On Tahiti, the fenua, the land and homeland, this pot belongs to the Chinese-Tahitian Tinito families as much as to the Māʻohi neighbors who eat it with rice on a quiet Sunday. Puaʻa is pig, choux chinois is Chinese cabbage in the French tongue that stayed on the island, and the name tells you the history before the spoon even hits the bowl.
This isn't Tahiti's ahimaʻa, the Tahitian earth oven, and it isn't a canoe-crop dish pretending to be older than it is. That's okay. The islands eat what history put in their hands and what families made kind: Sāmoa has sapasui, Hawaiʻi has saimin and plate lunch cabbage with kālua puaʻa, Tonga has chop suey beside lū sipi, and Tahiti has this Hakka-Tahitian pork and cabbage pot. Same ocean, different hands, no blur.
The why behind the method is simple: belly needs time, cabbage needs gentleness. Brown the puaʻa until the edges shine, simmer it until the fat goes soft, then lay the cabbage on top near the end so it sweetens without turning to rags. No need make it precious. Put rice on the side, or taro, or ʻuru, breadfruit, if that's what you have. Eat what you have, my kumu would say, and no waste the broth.
I cook this open-handed, because the Hakka story isn't mine to own. The Tahitian table carries it now, and for the deeper Tinito family versions, go sit with the aunties and uncles who kept that pot alive. They should tell their own story. I just help you keep the bowl warm.
Chinese workers, many of them Hakka from Guangdong, began arriving in Tahiti in 1865 for the Atimaono cotton plantation, and their descendants became the Tinito community whose cooking shaped everyday māʻa, food, across French Polynesia. Puaʻa choux chinois sits in that later, living line: canoe-crop Tahiti has ahimaʻa, fāfā, ʻuru, and taro, while the post-contact table also made room for cabbage, turnips, soy sauce, rice, and pork belly cut the butcher's way. The surprise is the name itself, Tahitian puaʻa beside French choux chinois beside a Hakka hand, one island telling its history in a stew pot.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
skinless pork belly (puaʻa)
Quantity
2 pounds
cut into 1 1/2-inch chunks
coarse sea salt
Quantity
1 1/2 teaspoons
plus more to taste
freshly ground black pepper
Quantity
1 teaspoon
neutral oil (optional)
Quantity
1 tablespoon
onion
Quantity
1 large
sliced
garlic cloves
Quantity
4
smashed
fresh ginger
Quantity
1 tablespoon
minced or thinly sliced
soy sauce
Quantity
3 tablespoons
oyster sauce (optional)
Quantity
1 tablespoon
water or light chicken stock
Quantity
4 cups
bay leaf (optional)
Quantity
1
carrots
Quantity
3
cut into thick rounds
white turnips
Quantity
2 medium
peeled and cut into wedges
Chinese cabbage (choux chinois), preferably napa
Quantity
1 large head
cored and cut into wide ribbons
green onions (optional)
Quantity
2
thinly sliced
steamed white rice, boiled taro, or roasted ʻuru (breadfruit) (optional)
Quantity
as needed
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| skinless pork belly (puaʻa)cut into 1 1/2-inch chunks | 2 pounds |
| coarse sea saltplus more to taste | 1 1/2 teaspoons |
| freshly ground black pepper | 1 teaspoon |
| neutral oil (optional) | 1 tablespoon |
| onionsliced | 1 large |
| garlic clovessmashed | 4 |
| fresh gingerminced or thinly sliced | 1 tablespoon |
| soy sauce | 3 tablespoons |
| oyster sauce (optional) | 1 tablespoon |
| water or light chicken stock | 4 cups |
| bay leaf (optional) | 1 |
| carrotscut into thick rounds | 3 |
| white turnipspeeled and cut into wedges | 2 medium |
| Chinese cabbage (choux chinois), preferably napacored and cut into wide ribbons | 1 large head |
| green onions (optional)thinly sliced | 2 |
| steamed white rice, boiled taro, or roasted ʻuru (breadfruit) (optional) | as needed |
Equipment Needed
- •Heavy 6-to-7-quart Dutch oven or wide stew pot with a tight lid
- •Ladle and wide spoon for skimming fat
- •5-to-6-quart slow cooker, optional
Instructions
- 1
Salt the puaʻa
Pat the pork belly dry and season it all over with the salt and black pepper. Let it sit while you cut the vegetables, just long enough for the salt to start pulling into the meat. Puaʻa means pig, and in Tahiti this cut is going into a later, living family pot, not an old earth-oven ceremony.
- 2
Brown and render
Set a heavy pot over medium heat. Add the oil only if the belly looks lean, then brown the pork in batches until the edges are honey-brown and the fat has begun to render into the bottom of the pot. If the pork throws water, wait it out. Let the water cook off and the browning come back.
- 3
Build the broth
Pour off excess fat until about 2 tablespoons remain. Add the onion and cook until it softens and smells sweet, then add the garlic and ginger and stir for a minute. Add the soy sauce and oyster sauce if using, scraping the browned bits from the pot, then pour in the water or stock and add the bay leaf.
- 4
Simmer to soft
Return the pork to the pot, bring the broth to a gentle simmer, then cover and cook 75 to 90 minutes. You want the lean tender and the fat soft enough a chopstick or fork slides through without much fight. No rush this part. Belly needs time to become kind.
For a slow cooker, move the browned pork, aromatics, sauces, bay leaf, and stock into a 5-to-6-quart cooker. Cook on low until the pork yields, then add the roots and cabbage in the last stretch so they don't vanish into the broth. - 5
Add the roots
Add the carrots and turnips, tuck them down into the broth, and simmer covered for 20 to 25 minutes. They should be tender at the edge but not falling apart. The broth will taste richer now, pork fat, onion sweetness, soy, and the quiet earthiness of the turnip.
- 6
Lay in cabbage
Lay the Chinese cabbage, the choux chinois, over the top in loose handfuls. Cover and cook 20 to 30 minutes, folding it through once or twice only after it softens. The cabbage should turn glossy, pale jade and ivory, with a little body left. Tender, not gray mush.
- 7
Rest and serve
Taste the broth and adjust with salt or pepper. Skim a little fat if the pot feels too heavy, but leave enough sheen to carry the flavor. Rest 10 minutes off the heat, then serve in deep bowls with rice, taro, or ʻuru, breadfruit. Put the pot in the middle. Somebody will want another spoon.
Chef Tips
- •This is Tahiti's Hakka-Tahitian pot, not a nameless Polynesian stew. Keep the island named and the hand named, and the family table gets bigger without smearing anybody out.
- •Pork belly gives the broth its soft body. Pork shoulder works too, but give it more time and don't expect the same silky fat.
- •Choux chinois means Chinese cabbage. Napa is the closest easy find. Green cabbage works if that's what you have, just slice it wider and cook it a little longer. Eat what you have.
- •If you want the slow cooker path, brown the pork first if you can. Cook the pork and broth on low for 5 to 6 hours, add carrots and turnips for the last 90 minutes, then add cabbage for the last 45 minutes.
- •Serve it with rice because that's how this pot wants to eat, but taro or ʻuru beside it brings the old root back to the table. One ocean, one canoe, one root, and still room for the foods that came later.
Advance Preparation
- •Cut and salt the pork up to 24 hours ahead, covered in the refrigerator. The seasoning settles deeper and the morning cook goes easier.
- •For the cleanest make-ahead pot, cook the pork and broth a day ahead, chill it, lift off any firm fat you don't want, then reheat and add the vegetables fresh.
- •Leftovers keep 3 to 4 days refrigerated. The cabbage will soften more each day, so stretch the pot with a fresh handful of cabbage when reheating if you want that sweet bite back.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 425g)
Calories
735 calories
Total Fat
69 g
Saturated Fat
25 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
40 g
Cholesterol
95 mg
Sodium
1125 mg
Total Carbohydrates
13 g
Dietary Fiber
4 g
Sugars
6 g
Protein
16 g
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