Recipe
🍽️ DINNER
Palusami (Baked Coconut Taro Parcels)
Taro leaves wrapped around rich coconut cream and onion, baked until silky, the crown of the umu feast.
Samoan · easy · serves 4
prep 20 min · cook 60 min
~1084 cal · 16g protein · 169g carbs · 41g fat · 28g fiber · 10g sugars · 36g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Palusami is one of the most cherished dishes of Samoa and the wider Pacific, the parcel everyone reaches for first when the umu is uncovered for to'ona'i, the big Sunday lunch that follows church.
It is built from young leaves layered around a filling of thick seasoned simply with onion and salt. Wrapped into neat bundles and baked slowly, the leaves soften completely while the thickens into something between a vegetable and a custard.
Rich, savoury, and meltingly soft, palusami is eaten alongside , , and roast pork as part of a shared feast. It carries deep communal meaning, cooked in quantity for family and guests, and it is a proud expression of the Samoan table.
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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
16 leaves young leaves (or collard greens/spinach), taro leaves must be fully cooked before eating
2 cups thick
1 yellow onion, finely diced
1.5 tsp sea salt
as needed foil or banana leaves, for wrapping
1 tbsp lemon juice
Instructions
1
Strip the stalks and the thick central ribs out of the taro leaves, rinse them and shake them dry, then stir the coconut cream, onion, salt and lemon juice together.
✎ Chef’s note
Take out the ribs as well as the stalks. They are the toughest part of the leaf and the slowest to soften, and left in they stay stringy however long the parcel bakes.
2
Stack 5 or 6 leaves in your palm like a cup, overlapping them enough that the cup will not leak, and spoon in a quarter of the coconut mixture.
3
Fold the leaves over into a snug parcel and wrap in foil or banana leaf. Repeat for 4 parcels.
4
Bake at 350°F for 60 minutes (taro leaves need the full hour to be safe and silky; sturdy greens can go 40).
5
Unwrap carefully and serve hot, traditionally alongside baked taro, green bananas or breadfruit, or simply with rice.
Upolu Sunday umu tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Upolu. Two of the most-eaten foods on the island are twentieth-century arrivals and nobody pretends otherwise. Pisupo, from the English pea soup, now means tinned corned beef and appears at every large gathering; sapasui is a Chinese-derived noodle stir-fry that became Samoan by adoption. Both sit comfortably beside taro and coconut cream.
🗺️
Samoa. Samoan food is Polynesian to its core, ruled by taro, breadfruit, coconut cream, and the umu earth oven. Palusami (taro leaves baked in coconut cream) and Sunday to'ona'i feasts define a table of abundance and family.
🌍
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 Samoa
Koko AlaisaSamoan cocoa rice: short-grain rice simmered with rich local cocoa, coconut, and sugar into a warm, chocolatey porridge.
Fa'ausiWarm squares of grated-taro cake folded through a dark, salty-sweet coconut caramel, a Samoan Sunday favorite.
Sapasui (Samoan Chop Suey)Slippery glass noodles tossed with pork, soy, and ginger, the potluck and Sunday lunch Samoa borrowed and made its own.
Browse all Samoa 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 Samoa meal
Koko SamoaDrink
Fa'ausiDessert
Oka I'a (Samoan Raw Fish in Coconut Cream)Lunch
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Frequently asked questions
What is Palusami (Baked Coconut Taro Parcels)?
Taro leaves wrapped around rich coconut cream and onion, baked until silky, the crown of the umu feast.
Where does Palusami (Baked Coconut Taro Parcels) come from?
Palusami (Baked Coconut Taro Parcels) is a Samoan dish from Upolu, Samoa.
Can Palusami (Baked Coconut Taro Parcels) be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Palusami (Baked Coconut Taro Parcels) 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 Palusami (Baked Coconut Taro Parcels) 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 Palusami (Baked Coconut Taro Parcels) take to make?
About 80 minutes total (20 minutes prep, 60 minutes cooking), serving 4.
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