Maʻa Tahiti: The Sunday Table

Culinary Explorer

A cooking platform built around craft, culture, and the stories behind what we eat.

Chef Makoa

Poulet Fāfā (Tahitian Chicken in Taro Leaves and Coconut Milk)

Tahiti's Sunday chicken, poulet fāfā, brings tender bird and young taro leaves together in coconut milk until the leaf turns silky, the sauce turns rich, and the whole table leans in.

Chef Makoa

Taro au Lait de Coco (Tahitian Taro in Coconut Milk)

Tahitian taro boiled soft, salted gently, and bathed warm in coconut milk until every piece shines. The fenua feeds first, the coconut finishes, and the bowl stays open.

Chef Makoa

Poʻe ʻUmara (Tahitian Sweet Potato Pudding with Coconut Milk)

Tahiti's poʻe ʻumara turns sweet potato into a glossy baked pudding, cut cool and served under fresh coconut milk. A canoe-crop sweet, soft enough for comfort and generous enough for celebration.

Chef Makoa

ʻUru Rōti (Tahitian Roasted Breadfruit)

Tahiti's ʻuru roasted whole in its skin, blackened outside and creamy within, the daily bread of maʻa Tahiti brought from embers into a real home oven.

Chef Makoa

Poʻe Meika (Tahitian Banana Pudding in Coconut Milk)

Ripe banana mashed soft, bound with pia or tapioca starch, baked until amber and springy, then drowned in fresh coconut milk. Tahiti calls this poʻe meika, the banana one.

Chef Makoa

Ragoût de ʻUru Puaʻatoro (Tahitian Breadfruit and Corned Beef Stew)

Tahiti's weeknight ragoût folds ʻuru, the breadfruit canoe crop, together with puaʻatoro, the colonial tin, in coconut milk, curry, tomato, and a pot made for feeding everybody.

Chef Makoa

Faraoa ʻIpo (Tahitian Coconut Dumplings)

Soft Tahitian ʻipo, coconut-milk dough rolled by hand and steamed until tender, born from the atoll table of the Tuamotu and carried now to Society Islands kitchens.

Chef Makoa

Miti Hue (Tahitian Fermented Coconut Sauce)

Tahiti's sharp, funky coconut condiment, grated coco fermented with brine and shrimp until it smells of reef and feast, then spooned over fish, ʻuru, taro, and maʻa Tahiti.

Chef Makoa

Fēʻi (Tahitian Roasted Cooking Bananas)

Tahiti's fēʻi are orange-fleshed mountain bananas, cooked until tender and served like a starch, warm with sea salt, coconut cream, and the quiet sweetness of the high valleys.

Chef Makoa

Saladrus (Tahitian Russian Salad)

Tahiti's pink feast salad, potatoes and vegetables bound in mayonnaise, colored by beet juice, and finished with grated egg for the tamaʻaraʻa table.

Chef Makoa

Poʻe Mautini (Tahitian Pumpkin Pudding with Coconut Milk)

Deep-gold Tahitian poʻe mautini, orange squash mashed with starch and vanilla, baked until firm and tender, then cooled and spooned with fresh coconut milk at the table.

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