Chef Makoa
Faikai Ika (Tuvaluan Baked Tuna in Coconut)
Tuvalu's faikai ika bakes fresh tuna in coconut cream until the fish flakes soft and drinks the nut in, lagoon catch and palm brought together on one low coral island plate.
Culinary Explorer
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Teasu (Tuvaluan Stuffed Breadfruit with Fish and Coconut Cream)
Created by
Tuvalu hollows a whole breadfruit, fills it with fresh fish, onion, and coconut cream, then bakes it until the shell darkens and the inside turns rich and soft.
Main Dishes
Polynesian, Tuvaluan
Special Occasion
Comfort Food
35 min
Active Time
1 hr 15 min cook•1 hr 50 min total
Yield4 to 6 servings
The first relative I think of in Tuvalu isn't the breadfruit. It's pulaka, the giant swamp taro dug from pits cut down into coral, hauled up heavy from the island's low belly. That is identity food in Tuvalu, same way Hāloa is elder brother back home in Hawaiʻi, and those pits are going saline now as the sea keeps pushing in. Food on a barge is the wound. Feeding the island from its own ground is the repair.
Teasu belongs to Tuvalu, and I hold it open-handed because these are not my home waters. A whole breadfruit is hollowed like a bowl, filled with fresh fish, onion, and coconut cream, then baked until the skin darkens and the inside turns into something between starch, seafood, and savory custard. No need make it precious. This is the kind of dish a relative teaches by putting the knife in your hand and saying, leave enough wall so it doesn't collapse.
You can see its cousins across the Triangle without smearing them together. The breadfruit, ʻulu in Hawaiʻi, ʻuru in Tahiti, mei in parts of the western ocean, rode the canoe paths with taro and coconut. The fish and coconut speak to oka iʻa in Sāmoa, ʻota ʻika in Tonga, ʻia ota in Tahiti, ika mata in the Cook Islands, and poke back home, same fish, different bowl. Tuvalu's hand is this one: the tree crop becomes the vessel, the lagoon fish fills it, the coconut cream ties it shut.
If you have no fire pit and no coral-island yard, your oven is fine. Eat what you have. Squeeze the coconut cream fresh if you can, because that carries the soul of the food, but a good can will still feed your people on a weeknight. For the deep parts of Tuvaluan ceremony, go sit with Tuvaluan elders and aunties. They should tell their own story. I just keep the table wide enough.
Tuvalu's old food world is a coral-soil world: pulaka, the giant swamp taro, grows in hand-dug pits below the water lens, while breadfruit, coconut, pandanus, toddy from the coconut palm, and reef fish carry much of the table. Teasu shows that atoll grammar clearly, using the breadfruit itself as both starch and vessel, then filling it with fish and coconut cream from the sea-edge larder. Tokelau has its own distinct atoll foodways, close in ecology but not the same hand, and both places now live with the pressure of saltwater intrusion, imported rice, and tinned meats beside the older deep foods.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
firm mature breadfruit
Quantity
1 (2 to 3 pounds)
green to yellow-green
very fresh firm white fish
Quantity
1 pound
cut into 1-inch pieces
fresh coconut cream
Quantity
1 1/2 cups
or 1 can thick coconut cream
onion
Quantity
1 medium
finely sliced
green onions
Quantity
2
thinly sliced
sea salt
Quantity
1 teaspoon
plus more to taste
freshly ground black pepper
Quantity
1/2 teaspoon
lime juice (optional)
Quantity
1 tablespoon
banana leaves or breadfruit leaves
Quantity
as needed
softened, or use parchment and foil
coconut oil
Quantity
as needed
for rubbing the breadfruit
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| firm mature breadfruitgreen to yellow-green | 1 (2 to 3 pounds) |
| very fresh firm white fishcut into 1-inch pieces | 1 pound |
| fresh coconut creamor 1 can thick coconut cream | 1 1/2 cups |
| onionfinely sliced | 1 medium |
| green onionsthinly sliced | 2 |
| sea saltplus more to taste | 1 teaspoon |
| freshly ground black pepper | 1/2 teaspoon |
| lime juice (optional) | 1 tablespoon |
| banana leaves or breadfruit leavessoftened, or use parchment and foil | as needed |
| coconut oilfor rubbing the breadfruit | as needed |
Equipment Needed
- •Sturdy spoon or melon baller for hollowing breadfruit
- •Rimmed baking sheet
- •Banana leaves or breadfruit leaves with foil for a tight wrap
Instructions
- 1
Ready the breadfruit
Heat the oven to 375F. Scrub the breadfruit, rub the skin lightly with coconut oil, then cut a round lid from the top and set it aside. Scoop out the core and enough flesh to make a deep bowl, leaving about 1 inch of breadfruit all around so it holds itself. That shell is your cooking pot now.
- 2
Season the fish
Toss the fish with onion, green onion, salt, pepper, and the lime juice if you want that little bright edge. Keep the hand gentle. Fresh fish from Tuvalu's reef and lagoon doesn't need bullying, just enough seasoning so the coconut cream can carry it.
Buy fish from somebody who can tell you when it came out of the water. If it smells strong or looks tired, cook it another way and no shame. - 3
Fill with cream
Pack the fish mixture into the hollowed breadfruit, then pour in the coconut cream until it settles around the fish. It should look full but not flooded. Put the breadfruit lid back on and press it snug.
- 4
Wrap and bake
Wrap the breadfruit in banana leaf or breadfruit leaf, then wrap tight in foil if you're cooking in a home oven. Set it on a rimmed pan and bake for 60 to 75 minutes, turning once, until a skewer slides through the wall with no fight and the outside is darkened in patches.
- 5
Rest and open
Let it rest 10 minutes before opening. When you lift the lid, the fish should be just cooked, the coconut cream thick and savory, and the breadfruit soft enough to scoop from the wall into the filling. Taste the cream for salt. Add only what it asks for.
- 6
Serve family-style
Set the whole teasu on a leaf-lined platter and spoon it out at the table, getting fish, cream, and breadfruit in every serving. This is comfort food, special food, and working food all together. Enough for one more, same as the ocean table should be.
Chef Tips
- •Pick breadfruit that is mature and firm, not ripe and sweet. It should feel heavy, with green to yellow-green skin and only a little give. Too ripe and it turns dessert-soft before the fish is ready.
- •Fresh coconut cream is worth the work here. Grate mature coconut, squeeze it first with little or no water for thick cream, then use that first squeeze for the filling. A thick canned coconut cream is a fair weeknight stand-in.
- •Tuvalu and Tokelau both know the atoll life, but don't blur them into one nameless place. Name whose table you're cooking from, then cook with respect.
- •Corned beef and rice off the barge are part of the truth too. Keeper, not gatekeeper. But when you can put breadfruit, fish, coconut, and pulaka back at the center, that's the repair showing up on the plate.
Advance Preparation
- •The fish can be cut and kept cold up to 4 hours ahead, but season it only when you are ready to fill the breadfruit.
- •Fresh coconut cream is best squeezed the same day. Keep it chilled and stir it well before pouring.
- •The breadfruit can be hollowed 1 hour ahead. Rub the cut surfaces lightly with coconut oil, cover, and keep it cool so it doesn't dry out.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 335g)
Calories
560 calories
Total Fat
29 g
Saturated Fat
24 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
5 g
Cholesterol
45 mg
Sodium
550 mg
Total Carbohydrates
64 g
Dietary Fiber
12 g
Sugars
25 g
Protein
22 g
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