Recipe
🍽️ DINNER
Babai with Coconut Fish
Grated giant swamp taro (babai) steamed with coconut cream, served with reef fish poached in coconut.
I-Kiribati · medium · serves 4
prep 30 min · cook 60 min
~838 cal · 34g protein · 73g carbs · 48g fat · 13g fiber · 9g sugars · 38g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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This Kiribati dish pairs babai, the giant swamp cultivated with great care in pits across the low atolls, with fish poached in coconut, a meal that speaks to the ingenuity of life on coral islands with little soil.
Babai is grown slowly over years and prized as a prestige food for feasts, its dense corms grated and steamed with until rich and satisfying. Alongside it, reef fish is gently cooked in , keeping the flavours soft and unified.
Together they make a celebratory plate from a place where every crop is hard-won. Earthy, creamy, and filling, the dish honours the swamp- pits and the lagoon that have long sustained I-Kiribati communities.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally 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 4
2 lb giant swamp or root, grated
Hard to find? ordinary taro, or waxy potato at a push - giant swamp taro is starchier and coarser than the taro sold in most shops, so expect a softer result; whatever you use, cook it right through, since taro carries calcium oxalate and undercooked it catches at the throat
1 lb reef fish fillets
2 cups thick
1 onion, finely chopped
1 lime
to taste sea salt
Instructions
1
Mix the grated taro with half the coconut cream and salt.
2
Wrap in foil or leaves and bake at 375°F for about 45 minutes until dense and set.
3
Gently poach the fish (or hearts of palm and mushrooms) with the onion in the remaining coconut cream.
4
Finish the fish with lime and salt.
5
Slice the baked taro and serve with the coconut fish spooned over.
Tarawa feast tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Tarawa. Babai is grown in pits dug down to the freshwater lens beneath the atoll, sometimes in woven baskets packed with composted mulch, and a prestige tuber can be tended for years before it is lifted. The corms need hours of cooking to be safe to eat, so nothing about it is quick.
🗺️
Kiribati. Babai is a long-term investment. Giant swamp taro is grown in pits dug down to the freshwater lens under the coral, and a prestige tuber may be tended for up to ten years before it is cut for a feast. The corms need hours of cooking to bring down their acridity, which is part of why the crop carries the status it does.
🌍
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 Kiribati
Kiribati Coconut RiceRice simmered in fresh coconut milk and sweetened with coconut toddy, a soft, fragrant breakfast from the atolls of Kiribati.
Kiribati Palu (Marinated Reef Fish)Raw reef fish cured in lime and salt, then folded through fresh coconut cream with onion and chili, a bright, no-cook lunch of the atolls.
Buatoro (Pumpkin Coconut Cake)A moist Kiribati cake of grated pumpkin or swamp taro baked with coconut milk and kamaimai, the islands' dark coconut toddy syrup.
Browse all Kiribati recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Oven.
Storing it: Keeps 2 to 3 days refrigerated. Resteam or warm through gently to serve.
Make it a Kiribati meal
Te KareweDrink
Buatoro (Pumpkin Coconut Cake)Dessert
Kiribati Palu (Marinated Reef Fish)Lunch
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Cuisine
Diet
Frequently asked questions
What is Babai with Coconut Fish?
Grated giant swamp taro (babai) steamed with coconut cream, served with reef fish poached in coconut.
Where does Babai with Coconut Fish come from?
Babai with Coconut Fish is a I-Kiribati dish from Tarawa, Kiribati.
Can Babai with Coconut Fish be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Babai with Coconut Fish 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 Babai with Coconut Fish 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 Babai with Coconut Fish take to make?
About 90 minutes total (30 minutes prep, 60 minutes cooking), serving 4.
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