Recipe
🍽️ DINNER
Bwiro with Fish
Preserved-breadfruit dumplings in sweet coconut, served with grilled reef fish.
Marshallese · medium · serves 4
prep 25 min · cook 40 min
~752 cal · 42g protein · 60g carbs · 41g fat · 10g fiber · 30g sugars · 30g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
↓ Jump to Recipe
AI-generated illustration
Bwiro is preserved , a cornerstone of Marshallese food culture born of the need to store the seasonal harvest against leaner times. and kept, it becomes a dense, tangy staple that carries families through the year.
Here (traditionally the bwiro, or ripe fresh for a quicker home version) is worked into soft dumplings and served in sweet coconut, the richness of the balancing 's savoury, slightly sour depth. Grilled reef fish alongside makes it a full and sustaining meal.
On atolls where fresh land crops are scarce and precious, dishes like this reflect deep knowledge of preserving and of the sea. Comforting and resourceful, bwiro with fish is a taste of Marshallese resilience and the rhythms of atoll life.
Saved recipes and passport stamps are kept on this device. Sign in to keep them across your devices and leave reviews.
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
1.5 lb ripe , mashed (or reconstituted bwiro)
Hard to find? 1.5 lb canned breadfruit, drained and mashed - Caribbean grocers stock it; it is firmer and less sweet than a ripe fresh fruit, so mash it with a spoonful of the coconut cream to soften, and none of bwiro's fermented tang survives the can
1.5 lb reef fish, whole or fillets
1.5 cups thick
2 tbsp sugar
to taste salt
as needed banana leaves or foil
Instructions
1
Form the mashed breadfruit into small dumplings and wrap in leaves or foil.
2
Steam the dumplings 25 minutes until firm.
3
Warm the coconut cream with the sugar and a pinch of salt into a sweet sauce.
4
Grill the fish (or hearts of palm) until charred and cooked.
5
Serve the dumplings in the coconut sauce with the grilled fish.
Majuro tradition.
Ratings & reviews
Cooked it? Rate this dish:
No account needed. Sign in to leave a full review with a comment.
Cooked it?
Kept on this device, no account needed. Sign in to leave a review and keep your passport across your devices.
No reviews yet, be the first to cook it.
🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Majuro. The giant swamp taro here is iaraj and the earth oven is the um. Beyond those the atoll gives coconut, pandanus and arrowroot and the sea gives tuna and reef fish, while rice and tinned meat have become just as everyday over the last few generations.
🗺️
Marshall Islands. The Marshallese-English dictionary records around twenty distinct breadfruit preparations, which is a fair measure of how central the tree is. Iaraj is the giant swamp taro, grown in dug pits like Kiribati's babai, and the um is the earth oven, the same hot-stone method used across the Pacific under other names.
🌍
Oceania. The staple crops here were carried on purpose. Lapita voyagers moving east from roughly three thousand years ago brought taro, yam, banana, breadfruit and coconut with them along with pigs and chickens, because most of the islands they settled had almost nothing edible growing on them. The earth oven travelled too, as umu, imu, hangi, lovo, mumu, motu and um.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Marshall Islands
Marshallese Banana PancakesThick, sweet banana pancakes flecked with coconut, griddled golden, a modern Marshall Islands breakfast favorite.
Marshallese Macaroni SaladA cool, creamy macaroni salad with tinned tuna and crisp vegetables, the potluck staple of the Marshall Islands.
Benben in Mokmok (Arrowroot and Coconut Sap Dumplings)Marshallese arrowroot simmered with sweet coconut sap into a soft jelly, shaped into little balls and rolled in fresh grated coconut.
Browse all Marshall Islands recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Grill or barbecue, Steamer.
Storing it: Uncooked parcels freeze well and cook from frozen. Cooked ones keep 2 to 3 days refrigerated and steam or pan-warm to serve.
Make it a Marshall Islands meal
JekaroDrink
Benben in Mokmok (Arrowroot and Coconut Sap Dumplings)Dessert
Marshallese Macaroni SaladLunch
Similar dishes from around the world
MetemgeeGuyana
Ackee and SaltfishJamaica
Sini MantiArmenia
Jiaozi (Pork and Cabbage Dumplings)China
MantiTurkey
Kazakh MantiKazakhstan
Cuisine
Diet
Gluten-Free Recipes from Around the World
Dairy-Free Recipes from Around the World
Egg-Free Recipes from Around the World
Pork-Free Recipes from Around the World
Dairy-Free Marshallese Recipes
Gluten-Free Dinners from Around the World
Dairy-Free Dinners from Around the World
Egg-Free Dinners from Around the World
Frequently asked questions
What is Bwiro with Fish?
Preserved-breadfruit dumplings in sweet coconut, served with grilled reef fish.
Where does Bwiro with Fish come from?
Bwiro with Fish is a Marshallese dish from Majuro, Marshall Islands.
Can Bwiro with Fish be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Bwiro with 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 Bwiro with 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 Bwiro with Fish take to make?
About 65 minutes total (25 minutes prep, 40 minutes cooking), serving 4.
Get the Sunday Spin
One dish from somewhere in the world, in your inbox every Sunday. No spam, just dinner inspiration you can cook that day.