Chef Makoa
Faraoa ʻIpo (Tahitian Coconut Dumplings)
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.
Culinary Explorer
A cooking platform built around craft, culture, and the stories behind what we eat.
ʻUru Rōti (Tahitian Roasted Breadfruit)
Created by
Tahiti's ʻuru roasted whole in its skin, blackened outside and creamy within, the daily bread of maʻa Tahiti brought from embers into a real home oven.
Side Dishes
Polynesian, Tahitian
Comfort Food
Outdoor Dining
Celebration
10 min
Active Time
1 hr cook•1 hr 10 min total
Yield4 to 6 servings
The canoe carried this relative before it carried any recipe. In Tahiti they call him ʻuru, breadfruit, and he stands right in the middle of maʻa Tahiti, the Tahitian table: roasted by the fire, split open, salted, and eaten with fish, pork, coconut, or whatever the day gives. Same root family as the Hawaiian ʻulu, the Cook Islands kuru, the Sāmoan ʻulu, and the Marquesan mei. One ocean, one canoe, one root.
I learned breadfruit first at home in Hawaiʻi, but the Tahitian hand knows this one deep. ʻUru rōti, roasted breadfruit, is not a dressed-up thing. The skin blackens so the inside can turn soft and creamy. The fire makes its own bowl, and when you open it, the flesh pulls away pale and tender, smelling like warm bread, earth, and a little smoke from the yard.
If you have embers, use them. If you have an oven, use that too, no shame. The old people cooked with the heat they had, and we cook with what we have now. What matters is that you don't treat ʻuru like filler. This is canoe food, sovereignty food, comfort food, the starch that feeds the table before anybody starts talking fancy.
Breadfruit was one of the great Polynesian canoe crops, carried and cultivated from the western islands through Tahiti, the Marquesas, the Cook Islands, Hawaiʻi, and out toward Rapa Nui, where starch crops marked survival as much as taste. In Tahiti, ʻuru became a daily staple of maʻa Tahiti, roasted, fermented, pounded, and stored in ways that let families eat from the land instead of waiting on ships. European visitors in the late 1700s noticed breadfruit so strongly that it helped drive the Bounty voyages, but the older story is not empire's hunger for cheap food, it is island people knowing how to feed themselves from tree, fire, and season.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
mature firm ʻuru (breadfruit)
Quantity
1 (2 to 3 pounds)
coconut oil or neutral oil (optional)
Quantity
1 tablespoon
for oven roasting
sea salt
Quantity
1 to 2 teaspoons
to taste
fresh coconut cream (optional)
Quantity
1/2 cup
or thick canned coconut cream, for serving
lime wedges (optional)
Quantity
as needed
for serving
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| mature firm ʻuru (breadfruit) | 1 (2 to 3 pounds) |
| coconut oil or neutral oil (optional)for oven roasting | 1 tablespoon |
| sea saltto taste | 1 to 2 teaspoons |
| fresh coconut cream (optional)or thick canned coconut cream, for serving | 1/2 cup |
| lime wedges (optional)for serving | as needed |
Equipment Needed
- •Charcoal grill, fire pit with embers, or heavy rimmed sheet pan
- •Long tongs for turning the whole breadfruit
- •Skewer or thin knife for checking doneness
Instructions
- 1
Choose the ʻuru
Pick a mature firm ʻuru, the breadfruit, heavy for its size with green-yellow skin and a little give under your thumb. Too green and it eats tight and dry. Too ripe and it turns sweet and soft, still good food, just not this dish. Eat what you have, but know what stage you're cooking.
- 2
Score the skin
Rinse the ʻuru and cut a shallow cross through the skin at the stem end so pressure can escape while it roasts. Don't cut deep into the flesh. The skin is the vessel here, holding the starch while the outside blackens and the inside turns creamy.
- 3
Roast over fire
Set the whole ʻuru near steady embers, turning every 10 to 15 minutes, until the skin is charred all over and a skewer slides into the center with no fight, 45 to 60 minutes. You want the outside black and blistered, the inside soft and fragrant, like warm bread and chestnut. No rush it. The fruit gives when it's ready.
For a home oven, rub the skin lightly with oil if you like, set the ʻuru on a sheet pan, and roast at 425F for 60 to 75 minutes, turning once or twice. - 4
Rest and open
Let the roasted ʻuru sit 10 minutes so the creamy center settles. Split it open with a knife, pull out the tough core, and lift the pale flesh away from the charred skin in big tender pieces. The surface should look moist and satiny, not dry and crumbly.
- 5
Season and share
Break the ʻuru into wedges or chunks, sprinkle with sea salt, and pass coconut cream at the table if you want that richer Tahitian comfort. Some families eat it plain beside fish, puaʻa, or ʻia ota. Some fold leftovers into the next day's plate. Deep food is not fancy. It's enough.
Chef Tips
- •Ask for mature firm breadfruit, not soft ripe breadfruit, unless you want a sweeter, pudding-soft result. For ʻuru rōti, the flesh should roast up starchy and creamy.
- •Char is part of the method. The skin can go black because you are not eating the skin; it protects the inside and gives the roasted flavor.
- •No fresh coconut cream? A good thick can is fine on a weeknight. Fresh is better when coconut carries the soul of the dish, but we no make food precious just to make people tired.
- •Leftover roasted ʻuru is good pan-fried the next morning with a little salt, or tucked beside grilled fish, canned corned beef, or rice. Keeper, not gatekeeper.
Advance Preparation
- •Roast the ʻuru up to 1 day ahead, cool it, remove the core, and store the flesh covered in the refrigerator.
- •Rewarm wedges in a covered skillet or oven with a spoonful of water or coconut cream so the flesh comes back soft instead of drying out.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 220g)
Calories
280 calories
Total Fat
8 g
Saturated Fat
6 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
2 g
Cholesterol
0 mg
Sodium
710 mg
Total Carbohydrates
54 g
Dietary Fiber
9 g
Sugars
22 g
Protein
2 g
Where cooking meets culture.
Culinary guides, cultural storytelling, and the editorial depth that makes cooking meaningful.
Discover Culinary ExplorerMore from Maʻa Tahiti: The Sunday Table
Browse the full collection
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.
Chef Makoa
Miti Hue (Tahitian Fermented Coconut Sauce)
Tahiti's sharp, funky coconut condiment, grated coco fermented with brine and shrimp until it smells of reef and feast, then spooned over fish, ʻuru, taro, and maʻa Tahiti.
Chef Makoa
Poʻe Mautini (Tahitian Pumpkin Pudding with Coconut Milk)
Deep-gold Tahitian poʻe mautini, orange squash mashed with starch and vanilla, baked until firm and tender, then cooled and spooned with fresh coconut milk at the table.