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Po'e

Name: Banana po'e with coconut cream (home-oven adaptation)
Prep time: 40 min
Cook time: 60 min
Yield: one 20 x 20 cm dish, about 12 pieces
Cuisine: Pacific Islands
Ingredients: 1000 g very ripe bananas; 200 g arrowroot starch; 0.5 vanilla pod; 2 tbsp sugar; 2 banana leaves; 400 ml coconut cream; 1 tbsp sugar

DSDated textFamily H · Leaf-wrapped grain parcels (separate inventions)

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History

Name from proto-Polynesian poke, "to mix, knead" (Greenhill & Clark 2011)

Sources

A'Of the Cocoa nut kernels they make a food which they call Poe by scraping them fine and mixing them with yams also scrapd; these are put into a wooden trough and hot stones laid among them, by which means a kind of Oily hasty pudding is made which our people relishd very well especialy fryd.' (1769-07-19). The Endeavour Journal of Joseph Banks, entry for 19 July 1769 (South Seas project transcription), Joseph Banks; South Seas / National Library of Australia transcription hosted by Paul Turnbull
ASydney Parkinson (Endeavour, Tahiti 1769; printed London 1773) describes 'Makey Poe Poe ... made of fermented bread-fruit, and a substance called Meiya, mixt with cocoa-nut milk, and baked, tastes very sweet'. This is mahi popoi (fermented breadfruit paste), a related pudding, not po'e. (1769 (printed 1773)). A Journal of a Voyage to the South Seas (London, 1773), South Seas project transcription, Sydney Parkinson
DThe Tahitian word po'e derives from Proto-Polynesian *poke 'to mix, knead' (Greenhill & Clark 2011, POLLEX); traditional po'e is mashed banana with arrowroot starch baked in banana leaves and served with coconut cream (Lal & Fortune 2000, The Pacific Islands: An Encyclopedia, p. 33).. Po'e (en.wikipedia), citing POLLEX-Online and Lal & Fortune 2000, Wikipedia
ADavies's 1851 Tahitian dictionary has 'Poe, s. a pearl, also beads' and 'Popoi ... a sort of soft pudding' but no pudding sense under 'poe' (checked in OCR text; the missionary spelling does not mark the glottal stop). (1851). A Tahitian and English Dictionary (Tahiti: London Missionary Society's Press, 1851), [John Davies]; Internet Archive scan

Found by research in October 2026; awaiting editorial review.

Banana po'e with coconut cream (home-oven adaptation)

one 20 x 20 cm dish, about 12 piecesPrep 40 min · Cook 60 mineasyFold: leaf wrap

How to fold: Leaf wrap

1 Lay out a softened leaf or husk
2 Spread the dough or batter in the middle
3 Fold in the long sides, then the ends
4 Tie the parcel and steam or boil it

Placeholder diagram. The atlas's illustrated fold animations will replace it.

Ingredients for 6

Pudding

1000 gvery ripe bananas (weight unpeeled; gives about 800 g pulp)
200 garrowroot starch (tapioca starch or cornflour also work)
0.5 vanilla pod (seeds scraped; optional, common in Tahiti)
2 tbspsugar (optional; only if the bananas are not very sweet)

Wrapping

2 banana leaves (optional; to line the dish)

Coconut cream

400 mlcoconut cream (freshly squeezed from grated coconut if possible)
1 tbspsugar (optional)

Method

Peel the bananas and simmer them in water until very soft and turning pinkish. This deepens the colour and flavour; skip it and use raw ripe bananas for a quicker version. · timer 20 min
Drain the bananas and let them cool completely.
Heat the oven to 180°C. Line a 20 x 20 cm dish with softened banana leaves, or grease it well.
Mash or blend the bananas to a smooth purée, then work in the starch, vanilla and sugar until there are no lumps.
Spread the mixture in the dish about 3 cm deep, sprinkle a little water over the top and fold the leaves over or cover loosely with foil.
Bake until the centre turns glossy and translucent and a skewer comes out clean. · timer 50 min
While it bakes, warm the coconut cream with the sugar over low heat, stirring, until slightly thickened. Do not let it boil hard. · timer 10 min
Cut the hot po'e into pieces or scoop it with two spoons into bowls.
Pour the warm coconut cream over and let it soak in for a few minutes. Serve warm or cold. · timer 5 min

Notes. Po'e (Tahiti, French Polynesia) and poke (Cook Islands, Rapa Nui) is a starch-set fruit pudding. Traditionally the mashed fruit and arrowroot (pia) are wrapped in banana leaves and cooked in an earth oven (ahima'a in Tahiti, umu in the Cook Islands) for an hour or more, then served with fresh coconut cream. This recipe is a home-oven adaptation, not the earth-oven method. Pumpkin, papaya (red po'e), taro, mango and cabin bread versions are common. In the Cook Islands poke can be a savoury-sweet side to a meal as well as a dessert. Sources differ widely on the fruit-to-starch ratio: Cook Islands recipes use much more starch for a firm, jelly-like slab, Tahitian home recipes much less for a soft pudding. This draft sits in between.

Written for the atlas from several sources, cross-checked: Cook Islands Poke, Maine Andrews (Aitutaki) via RNZ; Cook Islands Recipes - Poke, Cook Islands (ck) community recipe pages; Po'e tahitien à la banane, Jackie (Jackie Cuisine; recipe from a Moorea friend). Not yet kitchen-tested.

History sources are from the atlas and not yet independently checked.

Family H