Recipes from Samoa

Pineapple Pie

• • 5 cups self-raising flour

  • 2 cups sugar

  • 2 tins of crushed pineapple

  • 6 oz butter

  • 1 litre of water

  • 5 tablespoons of custard powder

Melt the butter. Put flour and 1 cup sugar in a bowl. Add melted butter; use your hands to mix flour, sugar and butter together. Use a little of the water if necessary to bind the mixture. Roll out like pastry to twice the size of the tin. Spread the  pineapple custard over the pastry and fold the remaining pastry over the top. Bake for about 20-30 minutes at approximately 200C. 

Custard filling

Boil water with crushed pineapple and 1 cup of sugar Add 5 tablespoons of custard powder and stir until the mixture thickens.

(Emily Mareko)

Coconut Buns

(mixture for 3 baking tins)

• • 12 cups of plain flour

  • 8 tsp yeast

  • 2 cups of sugar

  • 4 tins of coconut cream

Mix flour & sugar. Measure tsp of yeast in a bowl. Mix with water and leave for ½ hour for yeast to dissolve until ready and then mix with flour.

Roll and cut, shape into buns, put in a deep-sided cooking tray and leave for 3-4 mins to rise and be ready to cook. Empty coconut cream into a large pot, mix with 2 jugs of water. (Consistency to suit)

Pour most of the coconut cream mix over the buns in tray and cook at 200C for 20 to 30 minutes or until brown on top and cream is absorbed.

Remove the buns from the oven and pour on remaining cream mix. Leave to cool or eat warm...

(Fuatino Saumuina)

Sapasui (Chopsuey)

serves 10

• • 1.5 kg of meat (rump steak, leg of lamb, corn brisket) diced

  • 1.5 kg of pork pieces (optional)

  • 6 clove clusters of garlic finely chopped

  • 2 large onions finely chopped

  • ¾ cup cooking oil

  • 1.5 bottles of dark soy sauce

  • 2 packets vermicelli soaked in 1.5 litres of hot water (do this

  • when meat is cooked)

  • 3 litres of hot water

Place meat in large pot. Pour in cold water to cover the meat. Boil meat until tender (do not over cook). Pour out the liquid from the boiled meat into a plastic bowl. Leave to sit. Pour into pot of drained meat the oil, onions, garlic and half a bottle of soy sauce. Fry and stir until garlic and onions are cooked. Drain the soaking vermicelli. DO NOT CUT WITH SCISSORS. Leave vermicelli whole. Pour vermicelli into the pot of meat and other

ingredients. Add 1.5 litres of water and the liquid from the boiled meat. Leave to boil. Stir pot gently to mix in vermicelli with meat. Add half a bottle of soy sauce while ingredients are cooking. Stir gently again until soy sauce is fully mixed into vermicelli. Leave to simmer for 3-4 minutes on low temperature. Add more soy sauce according to taste. Add more hot water if vermicelli has soaked up liquid and looks a bit dry.

(Emily Mareko)

Faalifo Taro and Fa’I (Taro and Green bananas in coconut cream)

serves 10

• • 5 medium taro

  • 2 bunches of green bananas

  • 2 tins of coconut cream

  • 1 small onion

  • 1teaspoon salt

Equipment for peeling taro and bananas: sharp edged tin or a sharp edged coconut shell. A pointed flat stick like a letter opener or an eating knife.

Scrape taro with a sharpened edge of a coconut shell or tin until skin completely peeled. Slice off stalk end. Cut taro into quarters. Peeling the Green banana Split the banana peel down the middle on the back not inside curve. Pry each side open with the peeling stick or knife until the skin is

completely detached from the banana. Place the taro in a large pot, cover completely with water and boil till tender.

Cook green bananas the same way in a separate pot. Drain the taro and bananas. Do not put the pot lid back on the bananas after draining as they will turn black immediately. Pour the coconut cream into a bowl. Mix with finely chopped onion and salt. Stir with fork. Pour half of the mixture into banana and taro pots. Let it simmer for 5 minutes or until coconut cream boils and onion is cooked.

(Emily Mareko)