
Chef Makoa
Baked ʻUala (Hawaiian Sweet Potato in the Embers)
Whole Hawaiian ʻuala baked in embers or a hot oven until the skins char and the flesh goes honey-soft, finished plain with paʻakai so the canoe crop tastes like itself.

Updated June 8, 2026
The deep food of the windward Oʻahu home seat: the pounded taro and the canoe crops of the loʻi, the Kanaka Maoli dishes the sovereignty revival is bringing back. Food you sit down with like a relative, not a side dish.
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Chef Makoa
Whole Hawaiian ʻuala baked in embers or a hot oven until the skins char and the flesh goes honey-soft, finished plain with paʻakai so the canoe crop tastes like itself.

Chef Makoa
Hawaiian paʻiʻai is kalo steamed soft, cleaned, and pounded by hand until it shines, thick enough to lift from the stone, ready to eat as is or loosen into poi.

Chef Makoa
Hawaiʻi's ʻulu, breadfruit, roasted whole until the skin blackens and the inside turns soft and bread-like, the old canoe crop made real for a weeknight oven.

Chef Makoa
Steamed Hawaiian kalo pounded warm with water until it turns from stubborn pieces into smooth, living poi, fresh and sweet today, tangy tomorrow, always eaten like kin.

Chef Makoa
Hawaiʻi's koʻele pālau turns steamed ʻuala into a soft coconut-cream pudding, sweet but grounded, the canoe crop brought forward for a celebration table or a quiet bowl at home.

Chef Makoa
Kauaʻi's kalo country gives us kūlolo: grated taro, coconut cream, and sugar baked slow in ti leaves until dark, glossy, and firm enough to slice.

Chef Makoa
Firm Hawaiian maiʻa baked in its own skin until the starch relaxes into quiet sweetness, split open with coconut cream and paʻakai, a canoe-crop side for weeknight rice or a lūʻau table.

Chef Makoa
Roasted kukui nut pounded soft with paʻakai ʻalaea, the salty, oily Hawaiian relish that makes poke taste like home and carries the old hand into a weeknight kitchen.

Chef Makoa
Hawaiʻi's sweet potato poi, pounded from ʻuala instead of kalo, smooth and faintly sweet, a canoe-crop starch for the table when the loʻi isn't the only teacher.

Chef Makoa
Hawaiian ʻulu cooked until tender, peeled while warm, and pounded dense and smooth into paʻiʻai, the thick stage before poi ʻulu, simple enough for a weeknight and old enough for the canoe.

Chef Makoa
Fresh Hawaiian poi left to turn ʻawaʻawa, sour, over a few days, tangy and clean from its own kalo life, ready beside fish, kālua puaʻa, laulau, or tomorrow's plate lunch.

Chef Makoa
Hawaiʻi's piele is kalo from the loʻi grated with coconut cream and sugar, wrapped in ti leaf, and baked soft and set, a tender cousin to kūlolo.
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