Best RecipesPuka Kopai - Kopai Dumplings News Recipes

By panipopos

Samoa, and much of the Pacific, is prone to cyclones. If one of these tropical storms hits really hard, then the natural food resources that Samoans depend upon are severely depleted. When such a disaster happened in the past, food relief and aid came in mainly from New Zealand, Australia, and the US. Now, where am I going with all this seriousness?

Oh yeah, I was trying to give you guys a historical context for kopai. So anyway, because assistance was coming in from benevolent Western nations, the food aid packages typically consisted of flour, sugar, rice, canned fish and canned meats.

In my imagination, the first native cyclone survivors to receive these packages of Western staple foods were probably thinking,"What the -?!? Huh?!?"

But then Samoan ingenuity kicked in. Cooking fires were started up, cans were forced open with sapelu (machetes), and people thought of as many ways as they could to use the foreign white stuff - rice, flour and sugar.

I'm convinced that Samoan classics like sua alaisa, koko alaisa, fa'apapa, panikeke, and alaisa fa'apopo, all originated during a post-cyclone burst of cooking creativity. But prize for the most inventive Samoan dish using only three ingredients has got to be...(drumroll)...kopai.

I mean, how...really, HOW do you take flour, sugar and water and make a dish that's super tasty, stands the test of time, and is beloved by Samoans the world over?

I'll never know. But it's GENIUS.

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 RecipesFa'ausi video News Recipes

By panipopos

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Best RecipesFa'ausi - Coconut caramel smothered fa'apapa News Recipes

By admin

My Dad went through a stage where he was eating fa'ausi every morning for breakfast. No-one knew this because the man rises at an obscene hour of the morning and does work outside or goes for a walk - or at least that's what we thought he did.

One day, I snapped him out sitting in front of the house, spoon in hand, huge mug of koko samoa (like seriously, who drinks that much koko?) next to an unwrapped, half-eaten package of fa'ausi.

"Oh, since when did you start eating fa'ausi in the morning?" I asked him.

"Oi, se...The other day this kid came around selling fa'ausi and I felt sorry for him so I bought a package. He's been coming around ever since." Dad replied.
"Since when?" I asked again.
"Oh, maybe a week now", he admitted, with a smug, self-satisfied grin on his face, much like a cat that's just swallowed the family goldfish.

See the title picture up above? Behind 'Panipopos Kitchen'? The far left photo is what my father was eating that morning - pumpkin fa'ausi.

One taste of this, and you might get ideas about eating in secret too. 

The fa'ausi sauce is so simple that you can make it while your fa'apapa are baking, and then leave it to cool. By the time you've cut up your fa'apapa, your fa'ausi sauce will be ready to pour over it.

Fa'ausi (serves 4)
2 fa'apapa (coconut or pumpkin)
1 cup (200g) sugar
¼ cup (60ml) water
1 can (400ml) coconut milk

Make sure your fa'apapa has cooled to room temperature. Then cut into cubes (½-1 inch squares) and set aside in a bowl.

Put the sugar and water in a heavy-based saucepan and boil over medium high heat, stirring occasionally, until the sugar caramelises to a dark golden brown. 

Immediately add the coconut milk, being careful to stand back a little because the sauce will bubble up vigourously. Be careful not to burn your hand on the steam that rises up either. Once the mixture has settled, stir the sauce well until well-combined. Turn off the heat and leave the caramel to cool. (See the puligi recipe for things that can go wrong while you're making coconut caramel).

Pour the coconut caramel over the fa'apapa and mix well to cover all surfaces of the cubes. Leave for at least an hour (preferably longer) for the sauce to soak into the fa'apapa.

Serve as a dessert or snack. Keep leftovers in the refrigerator and gently reheat to serve. 

http://www.SamoaFood.com