🥔 SIDE
Te Taki (Breadfruit in Coconut Cream)
Chunks of starchy breadfruit slow-simmered in rich coconut cream until soft and silky, an everyday Kiribati way with the atoll's most reliable crop.
I-Kiribati · easy · serves 4
prep 15 min · cook 40 min
~646 cal · 6g protein · 75g carbs · 41g fat · 14g fiber · 33g sugars · 36g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Te taki is one of the plainest and most satisfying dishes of Kiribati, cooked down slowly in until the dense, starchy flesh turns tender and almost custardy. On the coral atolls, where and the coconut palm are two of the few crops that thrive, the pairing is close to inevitable.
Ripe but still firm is peeled, cored and cut into chunks, then left to bubble gently in thick pressed from grated mature nuts. As it cooks the fruit drinks in the cream, softening at the edges while the sauce around it into something rich and faintly sweet. A little onion, garlic or chili is sometimes stirred in, but the dish leans on its two main ingredients.
Served warm alongside grilled reef fish or on its own, te taki is comfort food on islands where the kitchen has always made the most of what grows within reach of the sea.
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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 4
- 1 medium (about 2 lb) firm , peeled and cored
- 2 cups thick
- 1 small onion, finely chopped
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1/2 cup water, as needed
- 1 tsp sea salt
Instructions
- 1Cut the peeled, cored breadfruit into rough 1-inch chunks and drop them into a bowl of water so they do not brown while you work.
- 2Bring the coconut cream to a gentle simmer in a wide pot with the onion, garlic and salt.✎ Chef’s noteKeep the coconut cream at a bare simmer and stir now and then; a hard, rolling boil makes it split and turn oily.
- 3Drain the breadfruit and add it to the pot, adding a splash of water if needed so the pieces are almost covered.
- 4Cover and cook over low heat until the breadfruit is completely tender and the cream has thickened around it, 30 to 40 minutes.
- 5Taste for salt and serve warm, on its own or alongside grilled fish.
I-Kiribati atoll cooking.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Tarawa. Tarawa is a low atoll capital sustained by swamp taro grown in dug pits, coconut in every form, and reef fish eaten raw or grilled. Kiribati cooking is spare and resourceful, built on what an atoll can actually grow and catch.
🗺️
Kiribati. Karewe, the toddy tapped from the cut coconut spathe, is drunk fresh and sweet or left to ferment, and it is boiled down into a syrup that keeps. The pits that grow babai are threatened by saltwater intrusion as sea level rises, which is a plain fact about these atolls rather than a metaphor.
🌍
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
Babai with Coconut FishGrated giant swamp taro (babai) steamed with coconut cream, served with reef fish poached in coconut.
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.
Browse all Kiribati recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Pot or saucepan.
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
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Cuisine
Diet
Frequently asked questions
What is Te Taki (Breadfruit in Coconut Cream)?
Chunks of starchy breadfruit slow-simmered in rich coconut cream until soft and silky, an everyday Kiribati way with the atoll's most reliable crop.
Where does Te Taki (Breadfruit in Coconut Cream) come from?
Te Taki (Breadfruit in Coconut Cream) is an I-Kiribati dish from Tarawa, Kiribati.
Can Te Taki (Breadfruit in Coconut Cream) be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Te Taki (Breadfruit in Coconut Cream) recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions. Treat the substitutions as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Te Taki (Breadfruit in Coconut Cream) 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 still count coconut as a tree nut to be cautious, although the FDA stopped listing it as one in 2025), 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 Te Taki (Breadfruit in Coconut Cream) take to make?
About 55 minutes total (15 minutes prep, 40 minutes cooking), serving 4.
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