Best RecipesLemon Coconut Scones News Recipes

My cast has come off, yay! and now I'm learning how to use my arm again. Very busy now winding up some long overdue projects and busy packing because I'm moving to a new country soon. 

So anyway, here's a quickie. I made this recipe for a friend's cookbook, but he didn't end up using it. Still, I think it's too delicious to keep to myself. It's a moist, delectable scone with lemon accents. Kind of like gourmet fa'apapa. Enjoy.

Lemon Coconut Scones

Makes 12

3 cups (375 g) flour

4½ teaspoons baking powder

6 tablespoons (90 g) sugar

¾ teaspoon salt

½ cup (110 g) cold butter

¾ cup (60 g) shredded coconut, unsweetened

2-3 teaspoons (10-15 ml) lemon zest

1½ cups (360 ml) thick coconut milk

Lemon glaze:

¼ cup sugar (50 g)

3 tablespoons (45 ml) lemon juice

Preheat the oven to 210°C (410°F) and grease or line a baking sheet.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, sugar and salt in bowl. Add the butter and cut into the flour mixture with a pastry cutter or two knives until it is crumbly. Add the coconut and lemon zest, mixing to combine. Add the coconut milk and mix just until the dry ingredients are moistened. Cut or shape into 12 scones. 

Place on the baking sheet and bake for about 15 minutes or until golden brown and risen.

While they are baking, make the lemon glaze by heating the sugar and lemon juice in a small pot over gentle heat until the sugar is dissolved. When the scones come out of the oven, brush the glaze generously over them.

Best RecipesI'iga's Icecream News Recipes

His life reads like a Hollywood movie. Born in 1882, I'iga Pisa was a feisty matai (chief) who rose in prominence to become Lauaki Namulau'ulu's right hand man. The two matai travelled around Samoa gathering support for their cause, and Lauaki even sent I'iga to American Samoa to garner support for the Mau a Pule (Independence Movement). When the Mau leaders were banished to Saipan in 1909, I'iga was among their number.


From there, I'iga's life takes on a Rambo-like turn because when Saipan fell into Japanese hands, the Samoans hatched an escape plan. They carved out a paopao (canoe) and I'iga was chosen to paddle the 124 miles (200 km) from Saipan to Guam. 

The islands that I'iga navigated:
124 miles (200 km)

Along the way, he was pursued by Japanese troops but he hid in the Aguijan Islands until he could continue his journey. Then I'iga crashed into Rota Island, quite literally, and suffered numerous injuries from his landing. He was nursed back to health by the locals, who also hid him from the Japanese authorities, and as soon as he could, I'iga set out again to complete his mission. 


I'iga successfully reached Guam and it is rumoured that a German cartographer called the strait between Rota and Guam 'I'iga's Pass' or 'I'iga's Strait' because of the magnificent feat that our countryman achieved. But I haven't seen any evidence of this (yes, I can read German). The only sign that our people were anywhere near Saipan is a bridge called 'Samoa Bridge' which still exists today.


Back to I'iga - he reached Guam and picked up a job working for the US Navy. He brushed up on his English (he had been learning German while in exile) and eventually wound up in Hawai'i. I'iga returned to Samoa to serve in several high-ranking government positions, even contributing to the Constitutional Convention of 1954.


When the Samoan flag was raised on the first day of independence,1 January, 1962, I'iga Pisa was the only one of the exiled matai (chiefs) that attended, for he was the only one that had survived.


And what a survivor he was!


I can't imagine doing half of what this historical great has done, and only hope that one day someone writes the screenplay for I'iga's Spielberg-worthy life.


To celebrate the colourful adventures of this Independence hero, I offer I'iga's Icecream.

I'iga's Icecream
(serves 4)
2 cans coconut milk
2/3 cup cocoa 
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
tiny pinch of salt


Pour all the ingredients into a bowl and whisk together until the sugar has dissolved. Pour into an ice-cream machine or, if you don't have one (I don't), pour the mixture into a large ziplock bag and make the ice-cream Harold McGee's way. The result is a perfectly luscious, smooth, cool treat.


Serve with fruit salad.

Best RecipesChicken and Taro Leaves...I wish News Recipes

By panipopos


Finally gave in. 


I didn't want to make anything that required lautalo (taro leaves) because I can't get those where I live. And I wanted to be as true-blue-baby-I-love-you to Samoan food. When email requests came in for palusami, taro leaves baked with coconut milk, I faithfully replied "No can do. Cannot source genuine ingredients. Over and out." 


But there comes a time - a 'defining moment' in Oprah-ese - when you just have to face facts: sometimes you have to substitute. 


When koko samoa is unavailable, you use cocoa powder; when coconuts don't grow in your back yard, reach for a can; when you can't afford butter, mash an avocado; when you got no candy, chew on some sugar cane...I could go on.


So I've used spinach in place of lautalo. Actually, spinach is not a bad substitute for taro leaves. It's just not as good as the original. Once you've had the real deal, it gives you a food memory that is hard to overwrite.


The following recipe makes a quick, satisfying dinner and I haven't met a single person on earth who doesn't like it. 

(Serves 2-3)


1 pound (450 gr) chicken (dark meat)
1 can (400 ml) coconut milk
1 medium onion
1-2 teaspoons salt
1 pound (450 gr) cooked drained spinach OR 
        1 pound (450 gr) of uncooked young taro leaves

If using spinach: Cut the chicken into bite-sized pieces. Put in a medium saucepan with the coconut milk. Chop the onion and add to the saucepan. Add salt and stir to mix. Bring to the boil then turn down, simmering until the chicken is cooked. Add the spinach and bring to the boil once more, then turn off the heat. 


If using taro leaves: Cut the chicken into bite-sized pieces. Put in a medium saucepan with the coconut milk. Chop the onion and add to the saucepan. Add salt and taro leaves stir to mix. Bring to the boil then turn down, simmering gently until the chicken is cooked.


Serve hot with taro, green bananas, breadfruit or rice. 

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Best RecipesSua I'a video News Recipes

By panipopos



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Best RecipesSua I'a - Fish Soup News Recipes

By panipopos

I've met two people in my life who avoid meat served with bones in it. According to these folk, it's too much trouble, too messy, and just plain primative to be gnawing meat from a bone. These guys (yes, they are both men, grown men) think that chicken, pork, beef and fish must be able to be cut with a knife and eaten with a fork. If, by some great misfortune, they happen to get served a bone, they'll cut a little meat here and there. But when their plate is returned to the kitchen, you may as well serve that meat right back out to someone else for all the flesh that will be left on the bone.

Now obviously, these people are not Samoan.

You see, a Samoan's plate would be returned to the kitchen with bones as clean as a whistle. Or maybe that's just the Samoans in my family.

Let me illustrate. If my family had chicken legs for dinner, we'd be crunching away at the cartilage like it was a carrot. If we had beef, we'd be sucking out the gelatinous marrow from inside the bones. Pork, well, if it was straight from the umu and fall-off-the-bone-tender, no work involved there. But if we were eating trotters, all twenty-something of the individual bones in the pig's foot would be so clean, you could wire them together and exhibit them at a natural museum.

But let me tell you about the fish. When my family ate fish, dinner conversation was scarce. Instead, you'd hear slurping and sucking sounds and lots of finger licking, pausing only to pick out the bones from our mouth and place them in a neat pile on the side of our plate. I mean, fish took our bone-cleaning skills to the highest level of expertise. I'm not talking about eating the fish's body and tail - that's child's play. I'm talking about breaking down a fish head, getting a full meal out of it, eyeballs and all!

The following recipe is for those of you who are right now thinking "Oh yeah, I totally know what she's talking about". It's for you that have read this far, and have not screwed up their face in disgust. It's for the shameless cartilage-crunching, marrow-sucking, trotter-eating, fish-eye-loving bone cleaners amongst us. I know you're out there.

Sua I'a (serves 3-4)
1 lb (450-500g) whole fish or fish pieces with bones
½ an onion
1 can (400ml) coconut milk
1-2 (400-800ml) cans water*
salt to taste
2 spring onions (optional)

* Add enough water so that your fish is mostly if not completely covered.

Any medium-firm textured fish (snapper, sea bass, yellowtail etc) works well in this soup.

If you're using a whole fish, clean, scale and gut it, then chop it into serving size pieces.

Slice your onion thinly.

Put the fish pieces and onion in a small pot. Add the coconut milk and water. Season with salt. Bring to the boil and then turn down and simmer for up to 10 minutes, depending on the size of the fish pieces. Don't overcook your fish, or you might find all the flesh has fallen off the bones, and is floating at the bottom of your soup.

While that's cooking, slice the spring onions. When the fish is cooked, turn off the heat, throw in the spring onions and cover.




Serve hot, either in a bowl, or with the fish on a plate and the soup in a mug.

And enjoy fishing out dem bones!

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Best RecipesPoi video News Recipes

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Best RecipesPoi - Banana Pudding News Recipes

By panipopos

With the weather getting warmer, it's the perfect time for poi. While Hawaiian poi is made from taro, Samoan poi is made from beautifully ripe bananas. (Incidentally, Maori poi is made from natural fibres and should not be eaten.)

Poi is a chilled dessert that also makes a refreshing snack on a warm day. In olden times, poi was mashed with the hands and mixed with cool drinking water. Our version, updated for the 21st century, uses a blender and ice. But feel free to use your hands, or even your feet, like the French used when stomping grapes for wine.

OK, just kidding about the feet. What do you think we are? Savages?

Some people use lautipolo/laumoli to flavour this, but I find that the lemon zest adds a nice texture to the poi. Also, the sugar is optional, but if you have really sweet bananas, it's not necessary. Bon appetit!

Poi (serves 2)
1 lb ripe (500g) peeled ripe bananas
zest of 1 lemon or 2 lautipolo/laumoli
½ can (200ml) coconut milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
sugar to taste
ice for serving

Mash or blend the bananas until smooth.
Add the lemon zest or lautipolo/laumoli.
Add the coconut milk and vanilla. Mix until well-combined.

Taste for sweetness.
Add sugar if desired.
Chill for at least 30 minutes.

Immediately before serving, stir the discoloured top layer into the rest of the poi. Serve over ice in small bowls or wide-mouth glasses.

* If you find your poi is too thick, add ½ cup of cold water to dilute it.

* Keep refrigerated for up to a day, but best eaten with a few hours.

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Best RecipesOka I'a - Fish Salad News Recipes

By panipopos

Fijian 'kokoda', Tahitian 'poisson cru', and Hawaiian 'poke' are all delicious variations of the same dish. The Samoan version is oka i'a.

Everything about this dish is according to personal taste, so you'd be hard-pressed to find two people that make it exactly the same.

However, three elements are common across all recipes. Firstly, you need fresh seafood, emphasis on FRESH. How fresh? Well, preferably the specimen you use was swimming in the ocean the same morning of the day you're going to cook. Frozen, canned or any other kind of preserved seafood will just not work for this recipe.

Secondly, you need citrus juice, the acid that flavours and 'cooks' the fish. Samoans commonly use lime or lemon juice. (In South American ceviche, some people use bitter orange, so if you're feeling creative or want to get in touch with your South American side, why not give it a go?) The third element of oka i'a is a selection of vegetables or even just one. If you simply add onions and nothing else, that's still oka.

What follows is a basic recipe, but I encourage you to make it your own. Don't limit yourself to fish. Try fresh mussels, scallops or crabmeat. Add whatever vegetables you like, although crisp and crunchy veges like celery and cucumber provide a nice contrast to the fish. My sister O likes to add a finely minced hot chili pepper for a bit of kick. Some people like to add fresh herbs, cilantro or parsley, and I've also seen oka with lemon slices floating in it. If you have any suggestions for how you put your own twist on oka i'a, I'd love to hear them.

Oka I'a (serves 4)

1 pound (500g) fresh tuna or snapper
½ cup (120ml) lemon or lime juice
¼ onion
2 spring onions
2 medium tomatoes
1 large or 2 small cucumbers
1 cup (240ml) coconut milk
salt to taste

Cut your fish into medium dice. Cover with lemon or lime juice and set aside for 1 minute to an hour. Yes, you read that right - 1 minute. My mother doesn't even marinate the fish in the lemon juice, just throws everything together. So it's completely up to you how raw you want your fish. The longer you leave the fish in the citrus acid, the more it's 'cooked' and the texture will be firmer than soft, raw fish. But you will also lose some of the clean, fresh flavour of newly-caught fish.

I marinate the fish for as long as it takes me cut up the vegetables. So this is the next step. Finely dice your onion, slice the spring onion, dice your tomatoes and chop up your cucumber. Everything should be bite-size or smaller.

Drain your fish and discard the lemon or lime juice. Add the vegetables and coconut milk to the fish. Mix well, then season with salt to taste. Refrigerate for at least half an hour to allow the flavours to blend and develop.

Don't worry if your oka looks thick, like it doesn't have much juice. As the oka sits in the refrigerator, liquid from the vegetables will seep out and mix with the coconut milk, and your salad will be juicy in no time.

Serve as an appetizer or side dish.

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Best RecipesCoconut cake News Recipes

By panipopos

I wish this dense, subtely-flavoured coconut cake was a real Samoan recipe. But it's not. Still, anything that uses leftover coconut milk, and is easy to make deserves to be in the "Samoan-inspired" file.

Coconut Cake
makes an 8 inch (20cm) square cake or 9 inch (22cm) round cake
2 eggs
⅔ cup (160g) coconut milk (divided)
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
1 teaspoon coconut essence (optional)
1¾ cup (200g) flour
1 cup (200g) sugar
2½ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt

1 stick (100g) butter, very soft but not melted

Line your baking tin with parchment/baking paper and preheat the oven to 350ºF (180ºC).

Whisk the eggs, a third (50g) of the coconut milk, and the essences together.

Sift the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt into another bowl and mix together. Add the butter and the rest of the coconut milk.

With an electric beater, mix on the lowest setting until you can't see any more dry ingredients. Then turn your mixer on high and beat for 3 minutes. The mixture will be very thick, so scrape down occassionally with a spatula.

Take your egg mixture and add it in three parts to the flour mixture, beating on high for 1 minute after each addition.
After all the ingredients are added, your cake batter should be creamy and light, but thick.

Pour the batter into your lined cake tin.

Spread to fill the corners and smooth the surface with a spatula.

Bake for 35-40 minutes until a wooden skewer comes out clean. Dry crumbs on the skewer are fine. What you don't want is wet batter.

Leave the cake in the pan for about 10 minutes before turning it out. Although the baked cake comes out pretty well-risen, it will shrink on cooling.

Peel off the paper and leave to cool.






Serve plain or with a dusting of powdered sugar.

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Best RecipesMasi Samoa video News Recipes

By panipopos

Masi Samoa is really one of the simple pleasures in life. Like eating watermelon with the juices running down your chin. Like bathing in a cool river on a hot day. Like mixing hot white rice, onions and eleni (canned mackarel in tomato sauce) in a big bowl for dinner. OK, masi samoa is nothing like mixing rice, onions and eleni but I'm hungry and that's what I feel like eating.  

Here's the vid for making one of the simplest but most gratifying cookies in the world.




Oh, and don't forget to store them in an airtight container so they don't soften.

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Best RecipesMasi Samoa – Samoan coconut cookies News Recipes

By panipopos

In Samoa, these are usually sold in neatly piled-up stacks which are wrapped in unmarked plastic bags. They look very plain, and on looks alone, you wouldn’t expect much flavour from the masi samoa.

But don't let their bland golden surfaces deceive you.

Just one bite of this buttery, flaky, not-too-sweet, shortbreadish cookie will have you going back for more.

Which is probably why they're sold in stacks and not one by one.

And a word of warning. When masi samoa are baking, the whole house will smell like Willy Wonka's cookie factory (if Willy Wonka had a cookie factory). You cannot hide these from those you live with.

Masi Samoa (makes 24)

Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C). Grease a cookie sheet or, for easy clean-up, line a cookie sheet with baking paper.

Beat together the butter and sugar. Add the eggs and beat well. Add the coconut milk and vanilla and beat some more. Add the flour and baking powder and mix until it forms a dough.

Knead lightly then roll the dough out thinly (less than ¼ inch; 6mm thick) on a lightly floured surface. Cut into 3 x 3” (7.5 x 7.5 cm) squares. Transfer to the cookie sheet and bake for 20 to 25 minutes until golden brown.

Remove from oven and cool completely.

These are rich enough that they don’t need any spread, but I know people who like masi samoa with a thin pat of butter and strawberry jam.

Enjoy masi samoa with a piping hot cup of – you guessed it! – kokosamoa (Samoan cocoa).

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Best RecipesAlaisa Fa'apopo Video News Recipes

By panipopos

Short and sweet, here's how you make "coconuttified" rice!


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Best RecipesAlaisa fa’apopo – Coconut rice News Recipes

By panipopos


If you ever have leftover rice, and you can’t make fried rice (like me), this simple Samoan recipe is a nice way to give it new life. I use the term “Samoan recipe” loosely though because wherever there are coconuts, there is a version of this dish. Thailand, India, the Carribbean - they even eat this in East Africa! There it’s known as wali wa nazi (wali = rice, nazi – coconut). Ours is called alaisa (= rice) fa’apopo (= coconuttified).

OK, I’m no linguist.

I’ll just stick to cooking.

Alaisa fa’apopo (serves 4)

2 cups (400-450g*) long-grain rice

water to wash the rice

2 cups (480ml) water
1 cup (240ml) coconut milk
½ - 1 tsp salt 

* Weight varies depending on type of rice.

Wash the rice well. Put the rice and measured water in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Once it boils, turn the heat down as low as it’ll go, and leave to cook, tightly covered, for about 20 minutes until the rice is has absorbed all the water and the grains are cooked through. Turn off the heat. Add the coconut milk and salt to the cooked rice and combine well. Leave for about 10 minutes for the rice to absorb some coconutty flavour.

If you’re using leftover rice, omit the water. Simply mix the coconut milk with the salt in a saucepan, then add the rice. Cook over gentle heat until the rice is heated through, stirring frequently so it doesn’t burn.

Serve hot or at room temperature. 

In Samoan cuisine, this is not a side-dish, more like a savoury snack.

Wash it down with a hot cup of kokosamoa (Samoan cocoa), or a strong cup of coffee.

And the chopsticks are for display purposes only. Samoans eat this with a spoon.



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