Best RecipesFa'apapa - Baked coconut bread News Recipes

By panipopos

So the other day, my mother called me "old school".
She didn't use those exact words but the implication was clear. I've been away too long.

How did this happen?
Well, I was telling her how I was making fa'apapa, the way we used to have it when I was little. Fa'apapa in those days were these heavy, thick, dense coconut slabs that you could break your teeth on. An old Samoan woman could keep this kind of fa'apapa in her bag and nibble a lump off while waiting for the bus, sitting in church, in the doctor's waiting room. And the fa'apapa also doubled as a weapon in case she got mugged. One hit, and the guy would be out like a light.

So I was telling my mother how I had succeeded in recreating the same kind of hard crunchy crust around a dense coconut texture, weighing the requisite one pound, and the woman says "Oh, we don't make them like that anymore".

"What? What do you mean?" I ask her.
"Yeah, these days, we like lighter, fluffier fa'apapa." my mother replies.
"Huh? What are you talking about, 'lighter' 'fluffier'? They're supposed to be bricks of coconut right?"
"No, that's how they used to make them. Some people still make it that way (eg. my old-school daughter). But these days, we add baking powder to give it a bit of lift and don't add so much coconut. It tastes better too."

Well, I'll be darned. Who would have thought that fa'apapa would evolve without me.

So I've been experimenting with the traditional and updated versions of fa'apapa, and my mother is right, the modern stuff is easier on the palate. But I still think the old-fashioned fa'apapa is better for fa'ausi, which in truth, was the whole reason I was trying to make fa'apapa anyway. Feel free to try either version. They both taste good, but only the original fa'apapa can prevent mugging.

Old-school Fa'apapa (makes 2)
2 cups (250g) flour
⅓ cup (65g) sugar 
1⅓ cup (120g) unsweetened coconut flakes 
½ can (200ml) coconut milk

Put everything together in a bowl and mix well with your hands. Divide into two equal portions. Generously grease some baking paper with butter. Flatten each portion of dough into a slab no bigger than 1 inch/2.5 thick. Wrap each portion tightly in the baking paper. Bake at 390°F/200ºC for 35-40 minutes or until crust is well-browned.

If you get a chance, check out this video of fa'apapa straight from the umu!
http://panipopos.blogspot.com/

Best RecipesOka I'a Video News Recipes

By panipopos

I really appreciate every email or comment I get, especially from people who have tried the recipes on this blog. Vali from Hawai'i wrote that her and her sister made keke pua'a and panipopo all in one weekend! She even sent photos which had me salivating at the computer. Check out Vali's baking:

She writes:

It was an amazing weekend of fun, baking,
bonding and great memories created.

Vali, you made me miss all those times I cooked with my sisters.

Thank you for sharing.

And thank you to all you readers that support and encourage this blog.

Here is the video for making oka i 'a. Enjoy!



http://panipopos.blogspot.com/

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 RecipesPuligi Video News Recipes

By panipopos



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Best RecipesPuligi - Pudding News Recipes

By panipopos

Following the tradition of English steamed puddings, Samoan puligi is a unique combination of coconut caramel and traditional holiday spices. It's texture is soft and springy and the crumb is moist.

Eaten plain or with butter, puligi is delicious.
Served with hot, steaming custard, it is divine.

When I was growing up, puligi was a real treat. Firstly, there were not many people who had the time to make it. Traditionally steamed, a large puligi could take up to four hours from start to finish. In addition, the puligi ingredients were not in everyone's cupboards in those days. Heavens knows how cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves ended up on the islands (I'm guessing, missionaries?), but looking over the ingredient list, nothing is native to Samoa except for coconut milk. These days, even though steamed puligi is still ideal, some people bake puligi to save time. As for the ingredients, well, if they're not already in your cupboards, they can be found in any local supermarket.

The puligi is done when you test the centre of it with a wooden skewer and the skewer comes out clean. Gently loosen the sides of the puligi with a knife, and turn it out immediately onto a wire rack to cool, with the right side up to prevent cracking.

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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 RecipesPaifala - Samoan half-moon pies (modern recipe) News Recipes

By panipopos

A couple of months ago, I made paifala using a traditional recipe with coconut milk and cornstarch. Here are some delicious paifala from a fellow blogger, Lotus, at Whymsicallotus, that also used that recipe. When I made it, I noticed that quite some filling leaks out during baking, and the crust on that paifala is very much like Masi Samoa.

So this is Paifala II - with a shortcrust pastry, a custard filling and without coconut milk. It's flavour is not better or worse than the traditional recipe, just different. In terms of structure, however, this modern take on paifala has minimal leakage and the crust can hold even more filling than the traditional recipe.

Paifala (makes 5)
Filling
1 cup (240ml) milk
4 tablespoons custard powder
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
2 cups (500g) crushed pineapple, drained
½ cup (100g) sugar*
½ teaspoon nutmeg (optional)

* If you have a sweet tooth, increase to 3/4 cup (150g) sugar.

Put the custard powder, milk, vanilla essence and sugar in a saucepan and mix until smooth. Put this over medium heat and cook, stirring constantly, until the custard thickens. Finally, turn the heat off and add your pineapple and nutmeg (if using). Mix until well-combined, then set aside to cool to room temperature.

Crust

3½ cups (400g) flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
pinch of salt
⅓ cup (70g) sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
4 tablespoons (60ml) milk
¾ cup (150g) butter, room temperature

Sift the flour and baking powder and salt into a bowl. Mix together. Then add the rest of the crust ingredients and mix with a wooden spoon until everything just comes together.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured board and knead together into a smooth ball. Try not to handle the dough too much because you don't want to melt the butter. Also, don't add too much flour, or you'll get a tough dough. If you find the dough is too sticky to handle, then refrigerate for half an hour, and try working with it again.

Assembling the paifala
Cut your dough into 5 equal pieces. Roll each piece out into an 8” (20cm) circle. Put some of your cooled pineapple filling into the centre. Lightly wet the edges of the piecrust with water, and then fold one half of the pie over the other. Press the edges together with a fork. See the paifala video if you want visuals.

Pierce the top of the pie several times (steam vents) then bake at 350°F (180°C) for 25-30 minutes until light golden. Remove from the oven and cool. Be careful not to overbake these or the crust will be too crumbly.

My pie was stuffed till crammed with filling, but this is the only leak I had:

In the big picture, this leak was next to nothing.



Enjoy warm or cold, with a hot drink.



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