Palusami Recipe
Palusami is a Samoan dish comprised mainly of taro leaves and coconut milk. There are numerous permutations of this dish all over polynesian islands but these two staples are always present. Usually there is also the addition of sliced onions, minced garlic, and a tin of corned beef or other similar meat. While corned beef is pictured below, I omitted it when cooking for people this week. It makes a delicious and healthy vegetarian dish when made without meat.
Traditionally all of the other ingredients are combined and wrapped in the taro leaves, which are then tied off and cooked for hours in an underground oven or nestled between glowing coals in a fire. Taro leaves are very difficult to find outside of tropical areas and I’ve been unable to find a market in SF that carries them, so I had to make some adjustments to the traditional recipe. Following is my mainland adapted version made with green chard and baby spinach instead of taro leaves. You can also use kale if you want.
Ingredients:
2 lbs green chard (stems removed and reserved)
1 lb baby spinach
2 onions (white or sweet) sliced thick
Handful of garlic cloves of garlic minced
1 can of coconut milk
1 can of coconut cream
1 can of corned beef (optional, not used here)
1 tbsp sriracha or other hot sauce to taste.
Salt and Pepper to taste
Directions:
Layer a baking dish with half of the chard and half of the sliced onion and reserved chard stems on top of that
Mix the coconut milk, coconut cream, corned beef (if using), and seasonings to taste.
Pour a third of the mixture over the dish and spread evenly.
Add all of the spinach in a layer and pour another third of the mixture over top.
Add the last of the onion and then the rest of the mixture and top everything with the remaining chard. Wrap the dish tightly in two layers of foil and bake for 1 hour in a preheated oven at 350 degrees F.
This recipe will yield roughly 20 servings of palusami as a side dish, or 10 as a main dish. It is very easy to scale up as much as you need to feed lots of people. Simply multiply the ingredients as needed and continue to create layers in the same order. You can get a disposable turkey pan to make a giant batch all at once since they are very deep and can accommodate enough to make 100 side servings in one go.
It comes out very close to its traditionally coal roasted cousin and is an excellent side dish to any barbecue staples. This week I served it with roasted pig head and shoulder pulled pork and coleslaw. It was a hit.
Even on its own palusami is a good way to get lots of nutrient dense greens into a dish that is inexpensive yet still very rich, has lots of quality calories, and is absolutely delicious!