Recipe
🍽️ DINNER
Fish Baked in Coconut and Pandanus
Fresh reef fish baked in coconut cream and wrapped with fragrant pandanus leaf, the everyday cooked counterpart to Nauru's raw coconut fish.
Nauruan · easy · serves 4
prep 20 min · cook 35 min
~628 cal · 41g protein · 26g carbs · 41g fat · 4g fiber · 13g sugars · 30g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Where Nauru's famous coconut fish serves the catch raw and lime-, this is the cooked way with reef fish, gently baked in and perfumed with pandanus leaf. It follows the old island method of wrapping food in leaves and cooking it slowly, whether buried in a stone-lined ground oven or, today, in a covered dish in the oven.
Firm reef fish, tuna, snapper or whatever the reef gives up, is rubbed with salt and lime, laid on pandanus and banana leaves, and bathed in thick with a little onion and garlic. Wrapped up and baked, the fish steams in the fragrant cream until it flakes, taking on the sweet, grassy note of the pandanus and the richness of the coconut.
On an island where coconut and fish have fed people for generations, it is home cooking at its most essential, a quiet, rich dish for an evening meal served with rice or .
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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
1.5 lb firm reef fish fillets (tuna, snapper or mahi-mahi)
1.5 cups thick
1 lime, juiced
1 small onion, finely sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp sea salt
2 or 3 pandanus leaves (or banana leaf), for lining, a knotted pandanus leaf laid in the dish is enough if you cannot wrap fully
Instructions
1
Heat the oven to 375F. Rub the fish with the lime juice and salt and let it sit while you prepare the dish.
2
Line a baking dish with the pandanus or banana leaves and scatter half the onion and garlic across them.
3
Lay the fish on top, cover with the rest of the onion and garlic, and pour the coconut cream over so the fish is almost submerged.
4
Cover the dish tightly with a lid or foil and bake until the fish flakes easily and the cream is bubbling, 25 to 35 minutes.
✎ Chef’s note
Covering the dish traps the steam so the fish stays moist and the coconut cream does not split or dry out.
5
Serve hot, spooning the fragrant coconut sauce over rice or breadfruit.
Traditional Nauruan home cooking.
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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.
Banana in Coconut CreamRipe bananas warmed in sweet coconut cream with a hint of lime, a soft, quick Nauruan breakfast from the Pacific's smallest republic.
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.
Browse all Nauru 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 Nauru meal
Coconut WaterDrink
Nauruan Coconut MousseDessert
Nauruan Chop SueyLunch
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Frequently asked questions
What is Fish Baked in Coconut and Pandanus?
Fresh reef fish baked in coconut cream and wrapped with fragrant pandanus leaf, the everyday cooked counterpart to Nauru's raw coconut fish.
Where does Fish Baked in Coconut and Pandanus come from?
Fish Baked in Coconut and Pandanus is a Nauruan dish from Yaren, Nauru.
Can Fish Baked in Coconut and Pandanus be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Fish Baked in Coconut and Pandanus 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 Fish Baked in Coconut and Pandanus 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 Fish Baked in Coconut and Pandanus take to make?
About 55 minutes total (20 minutes prep, 35 minutes cooking), serving 4.
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