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.
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Koʻele Pālau (Hawaiian ʻUala Sweet Potato Pudding)
Created by
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.
Desserts
Polynesian, Hawaiian
Celebration
Comfort Food
Make Ahead
15 min
Active Time
35 min cook•50 min total
Yield6 servings
My kumu used to say, eat what you have, and on the dry side of Hawaiʻi, plenty of times what you had was ʻuala, the sweet potato. Not the loud sweet kind buried under marshmallow. The old kind. The canoe crop kind. Koʻele pālau belongs to Hawaiʻi, and it tastes like a people who knew how to feed themselves from lava ground, wind, rain, and patience.
ʻUala is kin too, not the elder brother like kalo, but still carried close in the canoe and planted where wet loʻi couldn't always go. You steam it until it gives up clean under the fork, then mash it while warm and fold in coconut cream until it turns glossy and smooth. That's the why under the method: the warm ʻuala drinks the cream better, and the pudding comes together soft, not pasty. No rush it. No beat it angry. Let the root come around.
Across the Triangle, the cousins know this same move: a canoe starch cooked soft, sweetened, enriched with coconut. The Cook Islands pound and enrich their poʻe, Tahiti has pōpoi and sweet preparations of ʻuru, breadfruit, and Sāmoa and Tonga keep coconut close to the table in ways both everyday and chiefly. This one is Hawaiian. Same ocean, different bowl.
Serve it warm, chilled, or room temperature, in a wooden ʻumeke, a bowl, or straight from the fridge after the kids have been circling it all day. Deep food is not fancy. It's not precious. It's the old knowledge sitting easy in a real kitchen.
ʻUala, the Hawaiian sweet potato, was one of the canoe crops carried and spread through Polynesia before European contact, and in Hawaiʻi it became especially important in dryland systems such as Kona, Kohala, and parts of Maui where flooded kalo loʻi were not always possible. Koʻele pālau comes from that older food grammar: cooked sweet potato mashed with coconut cream into a dessert before plantation-era sweets and before haupia became the better-known party pudding. The dish also points to a wider Polynesian pattern, where taro, breadfruit, banana, and sweet potato were cooked, pounded, or softened with coconut into foods that fed both ceremony and ordinary days.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
Hawaiian ʻuala, sweet potatoes
Quantity
2 pounds
scrubbed, peeled after cooking if desired
fresh coconut cream
Quantity
1 cup
or thick canned coconut cream
brown sugar, coconut sugar, or raw sugar
Quantity
1/3 cup
plus more to taste
fine sea salt
Quantity
1/2 teaspoon
fresh ginger (optional)
Quantity
1 teaspoon
grated
vanilla extract (optional)
Quantity
1 teaspoon
optional contemporary pantry addition
warm water or coconut milk (optional)
Quantity
2 to 4 tablespoons
only if needed to loosen
toasted grated coconut (optional)
Quantity
2 tablespoons
for serving
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| Hawaiian ʻuala, sweet potatoesscrubbed, peeled after cooking if desired | 2 pounds |
| fresh coconut creamor thick canned coconut cream | 1 cup |
| brown sugar, coconut sugar, or raw sugarplus more to taste | 1/3 cup |
| fine sea salt | 1/2 teaspoon |
| fresh ginger (optional)grated | 1 teaspoon |
| vanilla extract (optional)optional contemporary pantry addition | 1 teaspoon |
| warm water or coconut milk (optional)only if needed to loosen | 2 to 4 tablespoons |
| toasted grated coconut (optional)for serving | 2 tablespoons |
Equipment Needed
- •Large steamer basket or covered pot with rack
- •Wide mixing bowl
- •Potato masher or potato ricer
- •Wooden ʻumeke or serving bowl
Instructions
- 1
Steam the ʻuala
Set the whole ʻuala in a steamer basket over simmering water, cover, and cook until a knife slides through the center with no hard heart left, 30 to 35 minutes depending on size. The skin may wrinkle and split a little. Good. The root is telling you it's ready.
Boiling works if that's what you have, but steaming keeps the sweet potato from taking on too much water. Koʻele pālau wants silk, not soup. - 2
Peel while warm
Let the ʻuala cool just until your hands can handle it, then slip off the skins. Work while the flesh is still warm, because warm ʻuala takes in coconut cream like dry ground taking rain.
- 3
Mash it smooth
Put the warm ʻuala in a wide bowl and mash with a potato masher until no big lumps remain. For a very smooth pudding, pass it through a ricer or press it with the back of a spoon. Don't whip it hard. Too much beating makes it gluey, and no blame the ʻuala if you rough it up.
- 4
Fold in cream
Warm the coconut cream gently just until fluid, then fold it into the mashed ʻuala with the sugar, salt, ginger if using, and vanilla if using. Stir until the pudding turns glossy and thick, holding soft waves when you pull the spoon through.
Fresh coconut cream gives the cleanest taste. A good thick can is fine for a weeknight, just stir it smooth before it meets the ʻuala. - 5
Adjust the body
Taste it. If the ʻuala is very dry, fold in warm water or coconut milk one tablespoon at a time until it sits like a soft pudding, not a stiff mash. If your sweet potatoes are already sweet, stop with the sugar where it tastes right. Eat what you have.
- 6
Rest and serve
Spoon the koʻele pālau into a wooden ʻumeke, a carved Hawaiian bowl, or a plain serving bowl set on lauhala. Smooth the top, scatter toasted coconut if you like, and let it rest 10 minutes so the cream settles into the root. Serve warm, room temperature, or chilled.
Chef Tips
- •Use the best ʻuala you can find: firm, heavy for its size, and not sprouting hard. Purple Hawaiian or Okinawan-style sweet potatoes make a beautiful bowl, but gold or orange sweet potatoes still feed the table.
- •Fresh coconut cream is quiet and rich. If canned cream is what you've got, choose one with as few additives as possible and warm it gently so it folds in smooth.
- •This is sweet, but it shouldn't taste like candy. The root should still speak first, then coconut, then sugar behind it.
- •Leftovers are good cold from the fridge, or warmed with a splash of coconut milk. We no throw out good food.
Advance Preparation
- •Steam the ʻuala up to 2 days ahead and refrigerate it whole in the skin; warm it gently before mashing so it takes in the coconut cream.
- •Koʻele pālau can be made 1 day ahead and chilled. Before serving, stir in a spoonful of coconut milk if it has tightened in the refrigerator.
- •Toast the grated coconut up to 3 days ahead and keep it covered at room temperature.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 205g)
Calories
325 calories
Total Fat
15 g
Saturated Fat
13 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
2 g
Cholesterol
0 mg
Sodium
280 mg
Total Carbohydrates
45 g
Dietary Fiber
6 g
Sugars
19 g
Protein
4 g
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