Rapa Nui: The Far Corner

Culinary Explorer

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

Chef Makoa

Rape Rape (Rapa Nui Slipper Lobster Grilled with Lime and Sea Salt)

Rapa Nui's own slipper lobster, grilled shell-side down with lime, coconut oil, and sea salt, a far-corner celebration dish cooked simple so the sweet reef meat stays itself.

Chef Makoa

Carpaccio de Atún Kahi (Rapa Nui Tuna Carpaccio)

Rapa Nui's kahi, tuna from the far eastern corner of the Triangle, sliced thin and dressed with lemon, olive oil, and capers. Same ocean fish, this island's modern bowl.

Chef Makoa

Kana Kana a la Parrilla (Rapa Nui Grilled Sierra with Kumara)

Rapa Nui's kana kana, the long sierra fish of the cold current, grilled simple over coals with boiled kumara. The far corner's weeknight plate, plain, good, and close to the sea.

Chef Makoa

Empanadas de Atún (Rapa Nui Kahi Tuna Hand Pies)

Fresh kahi from Rapa Nui folded with sweet onion and egg into Chilean-style dough, fried gold for the far corner's everyday hand pie: portable, salty, and meant for one more cousin.

Chef Makoa

Heke (Rapa Nui Grilled Octopus)

At Rapa Nui's far ocean edge, heke, reef octopus, is simmered tender, grilled until glossy and charred, then served with kumara and lemon, the cousin of Hawaiian heʻe and Māori wheke.

Chef Makoa

Tunu Ahi (Rapa Nui Hot-Stone-Seared Fish)

Rapa Nui fish seared on black volcanic stones, salted simply and eaten with kumara by the water. Ahi means fire here, and the old way still fits a weeknight grill.

Chef Makoa

Umu Pae Rapa Nui (Stone Earth Oven, Curanto Pascuense)

At the far corner of the Triangle, Rapa Nui cooks fish, pork, chicken, kumara, taro, and green banana under red volcanic stones. The umu by any name is one oven.

Chef Makoa

Taro Rapa Nui (Rapa Nui Boiled and Roasted Taro)

Rapa Nui's quiet taro, boiled whole or roasted after boiling until the edges crisp, served as the old canoe-crop starch beside fish, greens, or the food of the week.

Chef Makoa

Kumara (Rapa Nui Sweet Potato)

Rapa Nui kumara, the sweet potato of stone gardens and salt wind, roasted tender in a home oven or boiled for the weeknight table, the daily bread of the far corner.

Chef Makoa

Ura Rapa Nui (Grilled Rapa Nui Spiny Lobster)

Rapa Nui's ura is the cold-reef lobster of the far eastern corner, split, grilled over live fire, and brushed simple with coconut, lime, and salt.

Chef Makoa

Koreha (Rapa Nui Grilled Eel)

Rapa Nui koreha, reef eel salted and grilled over hot stone heat until the skin crisps and the rich flesh turns glossy, served simply with kumara and a squeeze of modern citrus.

Chef Makoa

Uhi (Rapa Nui White Yam, Boiled or Roasted)

Rapa Nui uhi, the old white yam of the far eastern corner, boiled tender, roasted at the edges, and finished simply with coconut, salt, and lime.

Chef Makoa

Poʻe Rapa Nui (Banana and Pumpkin Pudding)

Rapa Nui's poʻe folds ripe banana and pumpkin into a dense, tender pudding, baked in leaf and finished with coconut cream. Same ocean, different bowl, the far corner speaking its own hand.

Chef Makoa

Ceviche de Atún Rapa Nui (Rapa Nui Tuna Ceviche with Kumara)

Fresh kahi from Rapa Nui, turned bright in lemon with onion, chili, and cilantro, then served with sweet kumara. A Chilean overlay, yes, but eaten in the island's own hand.

Chef Makoa

Papas con Salsa de Camarones (Rapa Nui Potatoes in Shrimp Sauce)

Boiled potatoes under a warm, creamy shrimp sauce, the kind of Rapa Nui comfort plate that tells the truth: old canoe roots beside Chilean overlay, ocean food made weeknight-simple.

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