Palusami

Palusami is Samoan: young taro leaves packed around coconut cream, salt, and onion, wrapped in more leaf, and cooked in the umu until the parcel collapses into something between creamed greens and a savory custard. Fiji makes its own version under the same name, and Hawaii's laulau is a cousin. Corned beef in the middle is a modern addition and a genuinely traditional one at this point — nobody in Apia is going to argue with you about it.

One thing that isn't optional: taro leaves carry needle-shaped calcium oxalate crystals, and undercooked leaf will make your mouth and throat itch and burn. One hour is the floor, not a suggestion, and you don't taste it early to check. Spinach carries no such crystals, so a spinach version is safe at 30 minutes — it just never gets the same silk.

Ingredients

• 30-40 young taro (lū'au) leaves, thick stems and center ribs cut out — or 2 lbs spinach
• 2 cans (13.5 oz each) coconut cream, or 3 cups fresh
• 1 large sweet onion, diced fine
• 1 Tbsp coarse salt
• 1/2 lb corned beef, broken up (optional but standard)
• 6 large outer taro leaves or banana leaf squares for wrapping
• Heavy foil, plus ti leaf or twine to tie

Cook Sequence

1. Strip every center rib. The rib holds the most oxalate, never softens, and is the single most common reason a batch comes out itchy.
2. Stack 5-6 leaves per parcel, cupped like a bowl. Onion, salt, and corned beef if you're using it into the cup.
3. Pour coconut cream in until it pools at the top. Don't measure this shy — the cream is the cooking medium, not a seasoning.
4. Fold each cup into a closed pouch, wrap in banana leaf or foil, and set them seam side up on a sheet pan so what escapes stays with them.
5. 300-325F indirect with a kiawe chunk on the coals. Pan on the cool side, lid closed.
6. 60 minutes for taro leaf, hard minimum. The leaf goes near-black and the inside sets to a loose custard. If you're not sure, give it another 15 — there's no penalty for overcooking and a real one for undercooking.
7. Spinach version: wilt and squeeze the water out first or the parcel goes soupy, then 30 minutes at the same temp.
8. Rest 10 minutes and open at the table. The steam coming off the leaf is half the point.

Round Out the Plate

• Kalua Pork — salt pork against sweet cream is the whole plate
• Steamed Sweet Potatoes — the starch it's meant to be eaten with
• Fluffy Coconut Rice — if you're feeding a crowd and want it to stretch