Recipe
🍽️ DINNER
Aigir (Tolai Coconut Chicken)
Chicken, kaukau and island greens cooked fast in fresh coconut cream brought to the boil with fire-heated stones, the signature dish of the Tolai people.
Papua New Guinean · medium · serves 6
prep 25 min · cook 30 min
~762 cal · 44g protein · 37g carbs · 50g fat · 7g fiber · 13g sugars · 39g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Aigir is the signature cooking method of the Tolai people of East New Britain Province in Papua New Guinea, and the dish that method produces. Where the mumu earth oven cooks slowly underground, aigir works fast and above the surface: stones are heated in a fire until scorching, then dropped straight into a pot of fresh , which erupts into a boil and cooks the food in minutes.
Into that coconut-rich heat go chicken or fish, kaukau (sweet potato), leafy greens such as aibika, and aromatics like onion, tomato and ginger. The pot is covered and the whole thing is done in under half an hour, giving a brighter, more coconut-forward flavour than the smoky mumu.
Aigir is prepared for family gatherings and special occasions in Tolai communities, passed down generation after generation. A home cook without hot stones can simply everything together in the ; the result is the same nourishing one-pot meal of protein, staple and greens.
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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 6
2 lbs chicken pieces
1.5 lbs kaukau (sweet potato), peeled and cut in chunks
1 large bunch island cabbage (aibika) or spinach
3 cups thick
1 onion, sliced
2 tomato, chopped
1 tbsp ginger, grated
to taste salt
Instructions
1
Put the chicken (or mushrooms and jackfruit), sweet potato, onion, tomato and ginger in a heavy pot and pour over the coconut cream so everything is nearly covered.
2
Bring to a boil, then reduce to a steady simmer, cover, and cook until the chicken and sweet potato are almost tender, about 20 minutes.
✎ Chef’s note
The traditional aigir skips the stove entirely: fresh coconut cream is poured over the food and stones heated in a fire are dropped in to bring it to a violent boil, cooking it in 15 to 20 minutes and leaving a faint smokiness. Lift the stones out before serving.
3
Add the greens, pressing them into the liquid, and cook, covered, for a further 5 to 10 minutes until wilted and tender.
4
Season with salt and serve hot, spooning the coconut broth over everything, with more kaukau, taro or rice alongside.
Tolai tradition, East New Britain, Papua New Guinea.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Highlands. Coffee is the highland cash crop and it is grown at household scale: arabica planted in garden plots under shade, picked by hand, and processed at communal wet mills, with smallholders accounting for the overwhelming majority of the national crop. Sweet potato does the daily feeding, and it is a relatively recent arrival that made settlement at these altitudes possible.
🗺️
Papua New Guinea. The lowlands and the highlands eat differently. Along the Sepik and the Fly delta the staple is sago, starch washed out of the pith of a felled palm, a job split by gender with men cutting and crushing and women extracting, then cooked into a stiff jelly eaten almost daily. The highlands, higher and cooler, live on sweet potato.
🌍
Oceania. The twentieth century changed the Pacific plate faster than anything before it. White rice, tinned corned beef, mutton flaps, flour and sugar arrived by ship and are now entirely everyday, and the public health consequences are among the most closely studied anywhere. Alongside that, Australian and New Zealand kitchens have taken up Asian technique and Maori and Pasifika cooking in a way they had not before.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Papua New Guinea
Highlands Mumu (Earth-Oven Vegetables)Sweet potato, greens, corn, and coconut milk steamed in banana leaves, an oven-friendly take on the mumu feast.
Roasted Kaukau with CoconutKaukau (sweet potato) roasted in the embers and eaten with fresh grated coconut, an everyday Papua New Guinean breakfast.
Saksak (Sago and Banana Dumplings)Pearls of sago and sweet banana set in coconut cream, the pudding that turns up at feasts across Papua New Guinea.
Browse all Papua New Guinea recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Pot or saucepan.
Storing it: Stews and braises keep 3 to 4 days refrigerated and often taste better the next day. Reheat gently, adding a splash of water if it has thickened.
Make it a Papua New Guinea meal
Papua New Guinea Highland CoffeeDrink
Dia (Sago and Banana in Coconut Cream)Dessert
Aibika with Tinned FishLunch
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Frequently asked questions
What is Aigir (Tolai Coconut Chicken)?
Chicken, kaukau and island greens cooked fast in fresh coconut cream brought to the boil with fire-heated stones, the signature dish of the Tolai people.
Where does Aigir (Tolai Coconut Chicken) come from?
Aigir (Tolai Coconut Chicken) is a Papua New Guinean dish from Highlands, Papua New Guinea.
Can Aigir (Tolai Coconut Chicken) be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Aigir (Tolai Coconut Chicken) 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 Aigir (Tolai Coconut Chicken) 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 Aigir (Tolai Coconut Chicken) take to make?
About 55 minutes total (25 minutes prep, 30 minutes cooking), serving 6.
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