Chef Makoa
Povi Masima (Sāmoan Salted Beef with Cabbage)
Sāmoa’s povi masima is hard-cured beef boiled soft, salt tamed by water and time, then finished with cabbage for the Sunday toʻonaʻi table.
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Chef Makoa
Pisupo (Sāmoan Fried Tinned Corned Beef)
Sāmoa's pisupo is food off the barge made family food: tinned corned beef drained, fried down with onion, and served with taro, rice, or breadfruit.
Chef Makoa
Sapasui (Sāmoan Chop Suey with Bean-Thread Noodles)
Sāmoa's sapasui, glassy noodles dark with soy and pork, born from Chinese plantation kitchens and carried now to every toʻonaʻi, church hall, potluck pan, and weeknight table.
Chef Makoa
Puaʻa Umu (Sāmoan Umu-Roasted Pork, Oven Adapted)
Sāmoa’s puaʻa umu, the toʻonaʻi pork from the above-ground hot-stone umu, brought into a home oven with banana leaf, salt, smoke, and patient hands.
Chef Makoa
Oka Iʻa (Sāmoan Raw Fish in Coconut Cream)
Sāmoa’s oka iʻa bathes fresh fish in citrus and peʻepeʻe, fresh coconut cream, then runs tomato, cucumber, and onion through it cold. Same fish as Tahiti’s ʻia ota, different bowl.
Chef Makoa
Faiʻai Feʻe (Sāmoan Octopus in Coconut Cream)
Sāmoa's faiʻai feʻe is reef octopus simmered patient in fresh coconut cream, rich and glossy enough to eat beside talo at toʻonaʻi, with the ocean feeding the whole aiga.
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.
Chef Makoa
Palusami (Sāmoan Taro Leaves Baked in Coconut Cream)
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.
Chef Makoa
Peʻepeʻe (Sāmoan Fresh-Squeezed Coconut Cream)
Fresh peʻepeʻe is Sāmoa's first squeeze of mature coconut, thick and white under palusami and oka iʻa, ready for Sunday toʻonaʻi and the weeknight kitchen too.
Chef Makoa
Faʻalifu Talo (Sāmoan Taro in Coconut Cream)
Sāmoa’s talo, peeled and simmered until it gives, then folded through salted coconut cream until every piece drinks deep and shines.
Chef Makoa
Faʻalifu Faʻi (Sāmoan Green Bananas in Coconut Cream)
Sāmoa's everyday faʻalifu faʻi takes green cooking bananas, firm from the pot, and lets salted peʻepeʻe (coconut cream) settle around them with onion. Simple food, canoe-crop comfort, ready for a weeknight table.
Chef Makoa
Faʻalifu ʻUlu (Sāmoan Breadfruit in Coconut Cream)
Sāmoa’s ʻulu, breadfruit, cut into soft wedges and simmered faʻalifu style in salted coconut cream and onion until the sauce clings rich and white.
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