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.
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Faraoa ʻIpo (Tahitian Coconut Dumplings)
Created by
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.
Breads
Polynesian, Tahitian
Comfort Food
Special Occasion
Celebration
20 min
Active Time
25 min cook•45 min total
Yield6 servings
The atoll teaches a different kind of patience. Out in the Tuamotu, where the land is a thin ring of coral and the ocean is the big room around you, people learned to feed the family with what the place could honestly give: coconut, fish, pandanus, a little flour when the ships brought it, and hands that knew how to make enough for one more.
Faraoa means bread in reo Tahiti, and ʻipo are these soft coconut dumplings, rolled small, steamed gentle, and eaten warm with more coconut cream. This is Tahitian and Tuamotu food, not mine from home, so I come to it open-handed. Back in Hawaiʻi my family pounds kalo into paʻiʻai; in the Cooks the cousins pound taro and breadfruit into poʻe; in Sāmoa and Tonga the coconut cream runs through palusami and lū. One ocean, one canoe, one root, but every island has its own hand.
Here the method is humble. Don't make the dough fancy. Mix it until it just comes together, rest it so the flour drinks the coconut milk, roll it with wet hands, then steam until the balls go soft and spring back when touched. If they crack a little, no shame. Eat what you have. The point is the bowl on the table, the coconut gloss, the quiet sweetness, and everybody reaching in.
Faraoa ʻipo is strongly tied to the Tuamotu atolls of French Polynesia, where coconut shaped daily cooking and imported flour became part of island kitchens through trade and colonial-era provisioning. Faraoa, from the French farine by way of reo Tahiti usage, points to that later bread history, while the coconut milk keeps the dish rooted in the atoll pantry. It sits beside older deep foods like ʻuru (breadfruit), taro, and fish, showing how Tahitian foodways kept living as new staples entered the table.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
all-purpose flour
Quantity
3 cups
plus more only if the dough is too sticky
baking powder
Quantity
1 tablespoon
fine sea salt
Quantity
1/2 teaspoon
sugar
Quantity
2 tablespoons
thick coconut milk
Quantity
1 1/2 cups
plus 1/4 cup more if needed
neutral oil
Quantity
1 tablespoon
for hands and steamer
coconut cream
Quantity
1 cup
for serving
banana leaf or parchment
Quantity
as needed
for lining the steamer
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| all-purpose flourplus more only if the dough is too sticky | 3 cups |
| baking powder | 1 tablespoon |
| fine sea salt | 1/2 teaspoon |
| sugar | 2 tablespoons |
| thick coconut milkplus 1/4 cup more if needed | 1 1/2 cups |
| neutral oilfor hands and steamer | 1 tablespoon |
| coconut creamfor serving | 1 cup |
| banana leaf or parchmentfor lining the steamer | as needed |
Equipment Needed
- •Large steamer basket or wide pot with a fitted steamer insert
- •Banana leaf or parchment liner
- •Wide mixing bowl
Instructions
- 1
Mix the dry
Whisk the flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar in a wide bowl. Keep it simple. This is atoll bread, not pastry, and the tenderness comes from a light hand more than any trick.
- 2
Bring the dough
Pour in the coconut milk and mix with your hand or a spoon until a soft, slightly tacky dough comes together. If dry flour is still sitting at the bottom, add coconut milk one tablespoon at a time. If it sticks hard to your fingers, dust in a little flour, but don't make it stiff.
- 3
Rest and roll
Cover the bowl and let the dough rest 10 minutes, so the flour drinks and settles. Oil your hands lightly, then roll the dough into 18 to 20 small balls, about the size of a golf ball. They don't need to be perfect. Auntie food rarely is, and usually tastes better for it.
Wet or oiled hands keep the dough smooth without forcing in extra flour, and extra flour is what makes ʻipo heavy. - 4
Line the steamer
Line a steamer basket with banana leaf if you have it, or parchment with a few holes poked through. Lightly oil the liner, then set the dough balls in with space between them. They swell as they cook, soft and quiet.
- 5
Steam until tender
Steam over steady simmering water for 20 to 25 minutes, until the ʻipo are puffed, matte on the outside, and spring back when pressed. Break one open if you're unsure; the center should be fluffy and cooked through, not wet or gummy.
- 6
Serve with cream
Warm the coconut cream gently just until loose and glossy, then spoon it over the ʻipo or serve it in a bowl for dipping. Eat them warm, family-style, with fish, fruit, coffee, or whatever the table has. Eat what you have.
Chef Tips
- •Fresh coconut milk gives the deepest flavor, especially for a dish born from coconut country. A good canned coconut milk is honest weeknight food, just stir it well before measuring.
- •The dough should feel soft, not bouncy like dinner-roll dough. If you knead it hard, the dumplings turn tough. Mix, rest, roll, steam. That's enough.
- •For a richer table, split warm ʻipo and spoon coconut cream inside like the atoll aunties do. For everyday breakfast, eat them plain with coffee or alongside grilled fish.
- •This is Tahitian and Tuamotu food. For the deeper family stories and ceremony around atoll cooking, go sit with Tahitian and Paʻumotu elders. They should tell their own story.
Advance Preparation
- •Mix the dry ingredients a day ahead and keep them covered at room temperature.
- •Roll the dough up to 1 hour before steaming, cover lightly, and keep cool so the surface does not dry out.
- •Cooked ʻipo are best the same day. Rewarm leftovers in a covered steamer for 5 minutes, then refresh with warm coconut cream.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 175g)
Calories
535 calories
Total Fat
32 g
Saturated Fat
26 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
6 g
Cholesterol
0 mg
Sodium
450 mg
Total Carbohydrates
57 g
Dietary Fiber
3 g
Sugars
8 g
Protein
9 g
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