Recipe
🍳 BREAKFAST
Banana in Coconut Cream
Ripe bananas warmed in sweet coconut cream with a hint of lime, a soft, quick Nauruan breakfast from the Pacific's smallest republic.
Nauruan · easy · serves 4
prep 5 min · cook 10 min
~469 cal · 4g protein · 52g carbs · 31g fat · 6g fiber · 32g sugars · 27g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Bananas warmed in make a soft, quick breakfast on Nauru, the Pacific's smallest republic, where simple dishes built on a few good ingredients are the everyday norm.
Ripe bananas are gently heated in sweet with a hint of lime until soft and fragrant, the coconut turning silky and the lime keeping it from cloying. It comes together in minutes with almost nothing on hand.
Warm, sweet, and comforting, it is the kind of homely dish that reflects an island larder of banana and coconut. Unfussy and satisfying, it is an easy start to a Nauruan morning.
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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
5 ripe bananas
1.5 cups
3 tbsp sugar
1/2 lime
1 pinch salt
Instructions
1
Peel the bananas and cut them into thick chunks on the diagonal.
2
Warm the coconut cream with the sugar and a pinch of salt in a wide pan until steaming.
3
Add the bananas and simmer gently, spooning the cream over, until they are soft but still holding their shape and the coconut cream has reduced enough to coat the back of a spoon, about 10 to 15 minutes.
✎ Chef’s note
Give the cream time to thicken. Underdone it stays thin and washes off the fruit; reduced until it coats a spoon it clings to every piece.
4
Squeeze in the lime, warm through, and serve in bowls with the coconut cream poured over.
✎ Chef’s note
Bananas cooked down in sweetened, salted coconut cream turn up all across the region, and the same pot is not always a pudding: in Palau, where it is eluit el tuu, it is just as likely to be spooned alongside grilled or fried fish as eaten on its own.
Nauruan home breakfast, Yaren.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Yaren. What the island still has is the sea. Nauru sits in some of the richest tuna water in the Pacific and licenses much of that fishery to distant fleets, while coastal fishing and the pandanus and coconut on the narrow fertile rim supply what is left of the older table.
🗺️
Nauru. What the island does have is water. The waters around Nauru are rich tuna grounds and fishing licences are a significant part of national income, and coconut grows on the narrow fertile coastal strip where almost everybody lives. Reef fish and coconut remain the local half of a diet that is otherwise shipped in.
🌍
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 Nauru
Coconut FishNauru's national dish: freshly caught tuna diced raw and steeped in thick coconut cream with lime, served cool with rice.
Nauruan Chop SueyNauru's everyday plate: chicken stir-fried fast with cabbage, carrot and onion in a light soy sauce, a dish the island's Chinese kitchens made a staple.
Nauruan Coconut MousseA light, cool Nauruan coconut mousse: coconut milk sweetened and set soft with agar and folded through whipped coconut cream, made for special days.
Browse all Nauru recipes →
Good to know
Storing it: Thickens as it sits. Reheat with extra water or milk to loosen, and keep 2 to 3 days refrigerated.
Make it a Nauru meal
Coconut WaterDrink
Nauruan Coconut MousseDessert
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Frequently asked questions
What is Banana in Coconut Cream?
Ripe bananas warmed in sweet coconut cream with a hint of lime, a soft, quick Nauruan breakfast from the Pacific's smallest republic.
Where does Banana in Coconut Cream come from?
Banana in Coconut Cream is a Nauruan dish from Yaren, Nauru.
Can Banana in Coconut Cream be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Banana in Coconut Cream 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 Banana 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 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 Banana in Coconut Cream take to make?
About 15 minutes total (5 minutes prep, 10 minutes cooking), serving 4.
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