Recipe
🍽️ DINNER
Fish with Slippery Cabbage & Kumara
Reef fish and kumara simmered in coconut cream with slippery cabbage (aibika) greens.
Solomon Islander · easy · serves 4
prep 20 min · cook 35 min
~684 cal · 44g protein · 38g carbs · 41g fat · 8g fiber · 13g sugars · 30g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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This everyday Solomon Islands plate brings together the three pillars of local cooking: reef fish, coconut, and leafy greens. It is honest home food, cooked across the archipelago's villages with whatever the reef and garden provide.
Fish and kumara are simmered together in until tender, then slippery cabbage, the local name for aibika, is stirred in near the end. The greens give the dish its characteristic silky, slightly mucilaginous body, which is exactly the point.
Warm, nourishing, and mild, it is the kind of meal that feeds a family simply and well. It reflects a cuisine rooted in the sea, the coconut palm, and the leafy greens that grow readily in the tropical Solomons.
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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 reef fish, cut in chunks
1 lb kumara (sweet potato), cubed
1 bunch slippery cabbage (aibika) or spinach
1.5 cups
1 onion or shallots, chopped
1 tbsp ginger, grated
3 tomatoes, sliced
1 small hot chili
1 lime
to taste salt
Instructions
1
Pinch the slippery cabbage leaves off their stalks and wash them, cutting each leaf only once or twice rather than shredding it.
✎ Chef’s note
The stalks stay tough however long you cook them, so strip the leaves off by hand. And leave the leaves in big pieces: aibika turns silky and slightly viscous as it cooks, which is where the name slippery cabbage comes from, and cutting it fine only makes it slimy.
2
Simmer the kumara with the onion and ginger in a little water until nearly tender.
3
Pour in the coconut cream and bring to a gentle simmer.
4
Add the fish (or hearts of palm and mushrooms) and cook until nearly done.
5
Fold in the greens with the sliced tomato and the crushed chili and cook, covered, until the leaves are tender and the sauce has thickened.
✎ Chef’s note
Traditionally this is cooked without a fire under the pot at all: the ingredients and coconut milk go into a pot, four or five stones heated in a motu (earth oven) are dropped in with tongs, the lid goes on tight, and the stones cook it in a quarter of an hour, leaving a faint smokiness nothing else gives it.
6
Finish with lime and salt and serve hot, with roasted yam, taro, banana or rice.
Honiara tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Honiara. Slippery cabbage is aibika, and the slipperiness is its own mucilage, which thickens a coconut milk sauce without anything else being added to it. The motu, the stone-lined earth oven, also exists in miniature: hot stones dropped straight into a covered pot of cabbage and coconut milk.
🗺️
Solomon Islands. Slippery cabbage is aibika, Abelmoschus manihot, and the slipperiness is its mucilage, the same quality okra has; it is cooked down in coconut milk until it thickens the pot itself. The motu is the earth oven, and there is a small version where hot stones go straight into a covered pot rather than into a pit.
🌍
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 Solomon Islands
Boiled Kumara with Fresh CoconutTender boiled kumara (sweet potato) tossed with fresh grated coconut and a little salt, an honest, everyday Solomon Islands breakfast.
Chili Taiyo (Tinned Tuna Noodles)The Solomon Islands' favorite fast lunch: tinned Taiyo tuna tossed with noodles, fresh chili, tomato and onion into a quick, fiery plate.
Solomon Islands Cassava PuddingA sticky, chewy Solomon Islands pudding of grated cassava baked with coconut cream and sugar, served at weddings and feast days.
Browse all Solomon Islands 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 Solomon Islands meal
KulauDrink
Solomon Islands Cassava PuddingDessert
Chili Taiyo (Tinned Tuna Noodles)Lunch
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Frequently asked questions
What is Fish with Slippery Cabbage & Kumara?
Reef fish and kumara simmered in coconut cream with slippery cabbage (aibika) greens.
Where does Fish with Slippery Cabbage & Kumara come from?
Fish with Slippery Cabbage & Kumara is a Solomon Islander dish from Honiara, Solomon Islands.
Can Fish with Slippery Cabbage & Kumara be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Fish with Slippery Cabbage & Kumara 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 with Slippery Cabbage & Kumara 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 with Slippery Cabbage & Kumara take to make?
About 55 minutes total (20 minutes prep, 35 minutes cooking), serving 4.
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