About the dish
In Micronesia breadfruit is what bread or rice are elsewhere, and in season the trees bear it in abundance. The ripe but still firm fruit is roasted in a fire or boiled, then pounded while hot with a heavy pounder on a board until it becomes a smooth, elastic mass rather like dough. It is shaped into loaves or balls and topped with fresh coconut cream. Prepared this way it is eaten with fish and seafood, and pounding large amounts for celebrations is shared work. Taro is treated the same way, and surplus fruit was once fermented in leaf-lined pits as a store for famine or typhoon seasons.
Main ingredients
- breadfruit
- coconut cream
- salt
Micronesia: Especially typical of Chuuk, where it is traditionally pounded with stone pounders on wooden boards.