Recipe
🥙 LUNCH
Aibika with Tinned Fish
Tender aibika greens simmered in coconut with tinned mackerel over rice, the honest everyday lunch of Papua New Guinea.
Papua New Guinean · easy · serves 4
prep 10 min · cook 20 min
~628 cal · 21g protein · 74g carbs · 28g fat · 8g fiber · 6g sugars · 19g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Aibika, the leafy green also called island cabbage or bele, grows in every garden in Papua New Guinea. Soft-leaved and faintly mucilaginous like when cooked, it is the country's everyday vegetable, picked fresh and cooked down in minutes.
Tinned fish, mackerel or tuna, is the everyday protein: cheap, shelf-stable, and found in every trade store from the coast to the highlands. Simmered together with and served over rice, the two make the single most common weekday lunch in the country.
It is honest, unfussy food, the kind cooked on a single burner or an open fire, brightened with a fresh chili if there is one to hand. Where the coconut does not grow, a splash of water stands in, and the dish is just as at home.
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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 lb aibika or other leafy greens, chopped
2 cans (5 oz each) tinned mackerel or tuna
1 cup
1 onion, sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tomato, chopped
2 tbsp oil
to taste salt
4 cups cooked rice, to serve
Instructions
1
Soften the onion and garlic in the oil, then add the tomato and cook to a pulp.
2
Add the greens and a splash of water, cover, and cook until wilted and tender, about 5 minutes.
3
Fold in the tinned fish with its liquid and the coconut cream, and simmer 5 minutes.
✎ Chef’s note
Add the coconut cream near the end and keep the heat gentle. Boiled hard, it splits and turns oily.
4
Season with salt and serve over hot rice.
Papua New Guinean everyday cooking.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Highlands. Papua New Guinea's Highlands cook the mumu earth oven, piling sweet potato (kaukau), greens, and pork over hot stones. In one of the world's most culturally diverse places, the garden and the pig are central.
🗺️
Papua New Guinea. Sweet potato is not ancient here. Its arrival transformed highland agriculture, allowing settlement at altitudes that could not support the older crops and supporting the pig herds that go with ceremonial exchange. The mumu earth oven belongs to the same family as the Fijian lovo, the Samoan umu, the Maori hangi and the Solomon Islands motu.
🌍
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 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
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
Aigir (Tolai Coconut Chicken)Dinner
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Cuisine
Diet
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Dairy-Free Recipes from Around the World
Egg-Free Recipes from Around the World
Pork-Free Recipes from Around the World
Gluten-Free Papua New Guinean Recipes
Dairy-Free Papua New Guinean Recipes
Gluten-Free Lunches from Around the World
Dairy-Free Lunches from Around the World
Egg-Free Lunches from Around the World
Frequently asked questions
What is Aibika with Tinned Fish?
Tender aibika greens simmered in coconut with tinned mackerel over rice, the honest everyday lunch of Papua New Guinea.
Where does Aibika with Tinned Fish come from?
Aibika with Tinned Fish is a Papua New Guinean dish from Highlands, Papua New Guinea.
Can Aibika with Tinned Fish be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Aibika with Tinned 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 Aibika with Tinned 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 Aibika with Tinned Fish take to make?
About 30 minutes total (10 minutes prep, 20 minutes cooking), serving 4.
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