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The Cook Islands sweet called poke meika, over-ripe banana bound with pia and baked until glossy, then served in soft slabs with boiled coconut cream poured over.
The canoe carried roots and cuttings, but it carried sweetness too. In the Cook Islands, poke meika, banana pudding, is the kind of dessert a relative sets down without fuss: ripe meika, banana, mashed soft with pia, Polynesian arrowroot, baked until it turns glossy and amber, then covered with boiled coconut cream. First thing I tell my Hawaiʻi people is this is not our poke with fish and limu, seaweed. Same spelling in English. Different island, different hand.
A Cook Islands auntie taught it to me at a table where the bowl stayed in the middle and nobody acted precious about it. She looked at the bananas going black on the counter and said, in her way, Eat what you have. That is the law of this pudding. The fruit must be past pretty, soft enough to collapse under your hand, because the starch needs that ripe sweetness and moisture to set right.
Across the Triangle it has cousins, but not twins. Tahiti has poʻe, fruit pudding cooked with starch and coconut. Hawaiʻi has kūlolo, taro and coconut baked dense and deep. The Cook Islands have poke, and this one is poke meika. One ocean, one canoe, one root does not mean one dish, yeah? It means we name each hand and let the family show.
So don't rush the bake. If the pudding looks pale and pasty, it isn't ready. When it turns darker, glossy, a little elastic under the spoon, then the pia has done its work. Pour the coconut cream over with a generous hand. This is comfort food, celebration food, make-ahead food, old knowledge brought right into the kitchen you actually have.
In Cook Islands Māori, poke names a pudding, not the Hawaiian raw-fish dish; common versions use meika, pumpkin, pawpaw, or breadfruit bound with pia, the Polynesian arrowroot starch old island kitchens relied on before imported flours became common. The dish sits close to Tahitian poʻe, another fruit-and-starch pudding served with coconut, showing how one ocean carried related crops and methods while each island kept its own hand. Its modern pantry versions with tapioca or cornstarch and canned coconut cream are not a failure of memory; they are how Cook Islands families kept the dish cooking through mission, migration, and work-week kitchens.
Quantity
6 large
black-spotted, about 2 pounds peeled
Quantity
3/4 cup, plus up to 1/4 cup more
as needed for the set
Quantity
1/4 cup
only if the bananas need help
Quantity
1/4 teaspoon
Quantity
1 tablespoon
for the baking dish
Quantity
1
for lining the baking dish
Quantity
2 cups
fresh-squeezed if you can, or one 13.5-ounce can
Quantity
2 tablespoons
for the coconut cream
Quantity
1/4 teaspoon
for the coconut cream
Quantity
1 tablespoon starch mixed with 2 tablespoons cold water
for a thicker coconut sauce
Quantity
2 tablespoons
for serving
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| very ripe bananas (meika)black-spotted, about 2 pounds peeled | 6 large |
| arrowroot starch (pia) or tapioca starchas needed for the set | 3/4 cup, plus up to 1/4 cup more |
| sugar (optional)only if the bananas need help | 1/4 cup |
| sea salt | 1/4 teaspoon |
| coconut oil or neutral oilfor the baking dish | 1 tablespoon |
| banana leaf (optional)for lining the baking dish | 1 |
| thick coconut creamfresh-squeezed if you can, or one 13.5-ounce can | 2 cups |
| sugarfor the coconut cream | 2 tablespoons |
| sea saltfor the coconut cream | 1/4 teaspoon |
| arrowroot or tapioca starch slurry (optional)for a thicker coconut sauce | 1 tablespoon starch mixed with 2 tablespoons cold water |
| freshly grated mature coconut (optional)for serving | 2 tablespoons |
Heat the oven to 350F. Rub an 8-inch square baking dish or 2-quart shallow pan with coconut oil. If you have banana leaf, soften it over a burner or under hot water until it bends, then line the dish with it. If not, oil alone is fine. Eat what you have.
Peel the bananas and mash them in a wide bowl until soft and pulpy, with a few small fibers still showing. You want about 3 cups of mash. The smell should be deep and sweet, not green. If the bananas are only yellow and firm, wait another day. No blame the bananas if you asked them to work before they were ready.
Whisk the pia, sugar if using, and salt together so the starch has no hard pockets, then stir it into the banana mash. Let it stand 10 minutes, then stir again. It should be thick and spreadable, falling from the spoon in heavy ribbons. If it looks loose, add more pia 1 tablespoon at a time. If it stands stiff like paste, loosen it with a spoonful of coconut cream.
Spread the banana mixture into the prepared dish and smooth the top. Bake 45 to 55 minutes, until the pudding darkens to amber-brown, the surface shines, the edges pull slightly from the dish, and the center gives back softly when pressed. A knife should come out sticky but not wet. If the inside tastes chalky, the starch is not cooked yet. Give it more time.
While the pudding rests, bring the coconut cream, sugar, and salt to a gentle boil in a heavy saucepan, stirring often. Lower the heat and simmer 4 to 5 minutes, just until glossy and rounded in flavor. If you want a thicker sauce, whisk in the starch slurry and cook another minute until it coats the spoon. Keep it gentle. A hard boil can split the cream and make it oily.
Let the poke rest 10 to 15 minutes so it settles, then cut it into squares or scoop it in soft slabs. Spoon the warm coconut cream over and around it, enough that the pudding sits in a little pool. Serve warm, room temperature, or chilled the next day. The texture should be glossy, dense, and a little elastic, sweet banana held together by the old starch.
1 serving (about 190g)
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