Best RecipesCoconut Cream Pie News Recipes

Before making this recipe I'd never eaten a coconut cream pie in my life. I'd had all manner of fruit pies - pineapple, blueberry, apple, peach, strawberry, apricot - but never a coconut cream pie, or any cream pie for that matter. Oh I'd had pumpkin pie, banoffee pie, sweet potato pie, lots of chocolate pies, even a mango pie ...OK, I'm starting to sound like Bubba from Forrest Gump, aren't I? 

Anyway, a reader once mentioned banana cream pie and that probably planted the seed in my head to make this pie. Now, I read the recipe through a couple of times, not wanting a repeat of the brown sugar chicken situation. I even measured out all my ingredients beforehand, which is something I do only on the most auspicious occasions.

But no matter how good of a cook you are, there are always moments in the kitchen that just knock you back to your childhood self when you tried to peel fa'i maka (green bananas) the traditional Samoan way and you ended up mutilating the banana so badly that the leftover stub was thrown at your head and then you were thrown out of the kitchen. 

This pie had a few of those moments, and I'm not ashamed to share them with you here. 

Recipe comes from Me'a Kai and can be found here. But don't blame the recipe for what you see below. Blame the cook who to this day, cannot really peel perfect fa'i maka.

Started by mixing the butter and sugar for the crust. So far so good, but hey, it's only two ingredients.

Pressed the very soft sticky dough into my baking dish. Smoothed it out as best I could. Not very smooth though, is it?

Prettied it up around the edges with a fork, then baked it.

Crust came out of the oven looking kind of sad and depressed. It had shrunk down to half its height and had just slithered to the bottom of the baking dish, looking like it had lost the will to go on. 

Coconut cream layer thickened up nicely,

as did the lemon cream layer.

Here's the finished pie.

When I was putting the lemon layer on the pie the coconut cream layer spread out to the sides. Not sure if my coconut layer wasn't thick enough or if I was supposed to let it set. In any case, the layers of the pie were not very even as you can see here. Also, my crust was slightly under-cooked in the corners where the pastry had collapsed. 

Of course, none of these points were enough to keep me from devouring the pie. It was truly delicious.

Best RecipesMoa Samoa - Polynesian Brown Sugar Chicken News Recipes

Here's another recipe from Me'a Kai's Samoan section. I've been wanting to do more with this book than just reading it and slobbering over the pictures so I've been marking (with the three pretty coloured ribbons attached to the book) recipes that I want to make.

I was easily seduced by the photo in the book of a succulent, glazed chicken leg, and thought, 'Yum! That's dinner.'

My plan of action was simple. See, my chicken was already defrosted and I had two hours before dinner time. I figured it would take me mere minutes to throw together the marinade, the chicken would soak in it while I got the coals going, then, like the domestic goddess I am, I'd throw the marinated pieces on the grill - baste and turn them with one hand while making a garden and potato salad with the other hand - and Voila! Bon appetit!

In an ideal world, that would have happened. 

In my world, I realised halfway through mixing the marinade that I needed limes and star anise, so I had to run down to the store. Returned with said ingredients, finished mixing, threw the chicken in, then decided, belatedly, to refer to the book for the minimum marinading time. 

3 hours.

Hm.

And up to 2 days.

Huh.

And forget about the coals. There's too much sugar in the marinade, so the chicken would burn before it cooked.

I sighed heavily, stomach rumbling. Guess it's the old alaisa (rice) and elegi (tinned fish) tonight. Again.

So I learned my lesson, a lesson that I learn every couple of weeks actually: Read the recipe.

Put all the marinade ingredients together in a bowl and mix. Divide the marinade in half.

Put half the marinade in a pot and reduce to a third. In other words, simmer until two thirds of it is gone. The remainder should be thicker and darker than the original.

Strain the reduced marinade and set aside until needed. This may be three hours later, or two days later, depending on how long you leave the chicken. The other half of the marinade is what you leave the chicken in.

Bake the chicken until done, basting frequently. Brush with the reserved glaze.

Best RecipesFancy Sapasui News Recipes

This recipe comes from the Samoan section of Me'a Kai. I think the ingredients are flexible so I made substitutes here and there, but try to use lobster meat or prawns as the recipe suggests because it really makes for a light but flavourful sapasui.

Prepare your vegetables using whatever is local and in season. Ginger and garlic are essential.

Quickly saute the ginger and garlic. Add the lobster or prawns and fry until the seafood is cooked.

Add your presoaked lialia and seasonings.

Finally add the vegetables and mix well to combine.

Enjoy!