Recipe
🍰 DESSERT
Pawpaw Poke
The orange poke of Rarotonga: ripe pawpaw thickened with arrowroot, baked into a soft pudding and eaten on its own under sweet coconut cream.
Cook Islands · easy · serves 8
prep 15 min · cook 40 min
~264 cal · 1g protein · 33g carbs · 15g fat · 3g fiber · 12g sugars · 14g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Pawpaw poke is the Cook Islands sweet made when pawpaw, or papaya, hangs heavy on the tree, a baked fruit pudding thickened with pia, the arrowroot starch islanders grow and grate for exactly this.
While the everyday banana poke is often eaten alongside a savory meal, the orange pawpaw version is the one Rarotongans treat as a dessert, spooned up on its own with a lake of sweetened .
It is cooling, gently sweet and a little wobbly, market food and home food at once, and it tastes of the Cook Islands sun that ripened the fruit.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally vegetarian, vegan and gluten-, dairy-, egg- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 8
3 cups ripe pawpaw (papaya), peeled, seeded and mashed
1 cup arrowroot (pia) or cornstarch
2 tbsp sugar
1.5 cups, divided thick
a pinch salt
Instructions
1
Heat the oven to 350F (175C) and lightly grease a square baking dish.
2
Mash the pawpaw smooth, then stir in the arrowroot, sugar, salt and 1/2 cup of the coconut cream until no lumps remain.
3
Pour the mixture into the greased dish and spread it into an even layer.
4
Bake for 40 minutes, until set and the surface turns from opaque to slightly translucent.
5
While it bakes, warm the remaining coconut cream in a small pan until it just thickens.
6
Cool the poke to warm, cut into squares, and serve with the sweet coconut cream poured over.
Rarotongan poke tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Rarotonga. The traditional fish for ika mata is maroro, the flying fish, taken at night by boats carrying bright lights that make the fish leap toward them and into the nets. The coconut cream is grated and squeezed by hand on the day, which is the part islanders insist on.
🗺️
Cook Islands. An umukai is the whole occasion rather than the oven. Stones are heated in a pit, food wrapped in leaves is layered over them, and the pit is covered and left for hours while everyone waits; taro, breadfruit, pork and chicken come out together. Rukau, taro leaves cooked in coconut cream, is the green that goes with it.
🌍
Oceania. Oceania spans Australia, New Zealand, and thousands of Pacific islands, where the ocean and the coconut palm define the pantry. Traditional Polynesian and Melanesian cooking centers on root crops, taro, yam, cassava, and sweet potato, slow-cooked in earth ovens (the umu or mumu) alongside fresh reef fish and rich coconut cream. Modern Australian and Māori kitchens blend these deep roots with waves of Asian and European influence.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Cook Islands
Ika MataRaw fish cured in lime and bathed in fresh coconut cream with cucumber, tomato, and spring onion.
Cook Islands PokeCooked ripe banana bound with arrowroot and baked until translucent, drowned in thick coconut cream, eaten at breakfast, at teatime, or alongside the main meal.
Curried SausagesBrowned sausages simmered in a mild curry-and-coconut gravy over rice, a Rarotongan family lunch.
Browse all Cook Islands recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Oven.
Storing it: Keeps 3 to 4 days refrigerated and reheats covered in the oven. Most bakes can be assembled a day ahead and baked when needed.
Make it a Cook Islands meal
Eke Takare (Curried Octopus in Coconut Cream)Dinner
Tumunu (Bush Beer)Drink
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Frequently asked questions
What is Pawpaw Poke?
The orange poke of Rarotonga: ripe pawpaw thickened with arrowroot, baked into a soft pudding and eaten on its own under sweet coconut cream.
Where does Pawpaw Poke come from?
Pawpaw Poke is a Cook Islands dish from Rarotonga, Cook Islands.
Can Pawpaw Poke be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Pawpaw Poke recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions, including several at once such as gluten-free and dairy-free together. Treat them as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Pawpaw Poke safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Pawpaw Poke take to make?
About 55 minutes total (15 minutes prep, 40 minutes cooking), serving 8.
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