Recipe
🥙 LUNCH
Kapisi Pulu
Cabbage stewed with tinned corned beef and onion in coconut cream, the quick weekday cousin of Tonga's Sunday lu pulu.
Tongan · easy · serves 4
prep 10 min · cook 20 min
~530 cal · 25g protein · 12g carbs · 43g fat · 3g fiber · 7g sugars · 32g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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AI-generated illustration
Where lu pulu wraps leaves and corned beef into parcels for the Sunday umu, kapisi pulu is its weekday shortcut. The name says it plainly: kapisi is cabbage, pulu is beef, and the two cook together on the stove in the time it takes to boil rice.
Tinned corned beef, pulu masima, has been a Pacific staple since the trading era, when it arrived as durable ships' and never left. Salty and rich, it needs little more than onion and the sweetness of stewed cabbage to become a meal.
binds it all into a soft, savoury stew, poured over rice or eaten with boiled . It is the food of an ordinary Tongan weeknight, quick, filling, and made almost entirely from what keeps in the cupboard.
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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
8 large outer cabbage leaves
as needed banana leaves or foil, for wrapping
1 can (12 oz) tinned corned beef
1 1/2 cups
1 onion, sliced
1 tomato, chopped
to taste black pepper
Instructions
1
Separate the large outer cabbage leaves, trim the thick stems down, blanch them a minute or two until pliable, then cool them in cold water and pat dry.
✎ Chef’s note
Blanching is what lets the leaves fold without splitting. Trim the thick central stem right down or it will crack the moment you try to wrap.
2
Mash the drained corned beef with the chopped onion, tomato and pepper.
3
Overlap 2 or 3 leaves on a piece of foil or banana leaf to make a cup, spoon in a share of the filling, and pour 2 or 3 tablespoons of thick coconut cream over it.
4
Fold the leaves over the filling, wrap the whole parcel tightly in foil so nothing leaks, and bake at 350F (180C) for an hour to an hour and a half.
✎ Chef’s note
Kapisi pulu is a parcel, not a stir-fry: the name is simply cabbage (kapisi) and beef (pulu), and traditionally the parcels go into an umu, the underground oven, alongside the lu. Seal them properly, because the coconut cream will find any gap. Corned beef is already very salty, so taste before adding any; pepper is usually all it needs. If you want it quickly on the stove instead, fry the onion, break in the beef, add shredded cabbage and tomato, then the coconut cream, and simmer 10 minutes.
5
Serve hot over rice or with boiled taro.
Tongan weekday home cooking.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Tongatapu. Tongatapu is the royal island, where the umu, an earth oven of hot stones, cooks lu parcels of taro leaf filled with coconut cream and meat or fish. Root crops, breadfruit, and reef fish anchor a Sunday table built around family and church.
🗺️
Tonga. Tongan food is Polynesian at heart, built on root crops like taro and cassava, coconut cream, and the underground ʻumu oven. Lu pulu (corned beef and taro leaves in coconut) is a Sunday-feast favorite.
🌍
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 Tonga
Lū PuluTaro-leaf parcels of seasoned beef and onion drowned in coconut cream, baked low until silken, Tonga’s Sunday centerpiece.
Keke IsiteTongan fried "yeast cakes", crisp-shelled, fluffy doughnuts eaten warm with tea, a Saturday-morning island tradition.
Faikakai TopaiSoft boiled dumplings drowned in a thick, dark coconut-sugar caramel, a Tongan after-feast sweet.
Browse all Tonga recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Oven.
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.
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Frequently asked questions
What is Kapisi Pulu?
Cabbage stewed with tinned corned beef and onion in coconut cream, the quick weekday cousin of Tonga's Sunday lu pulu.
Where does Kapisi Pulu come from?
Kapisi Pulu is a Tongan dish from Tongatapu, Tonga.
Can Kapisi Pulu be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Kapisi Pulu 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 Kapisi Pulu 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 Kapisi Pulu take to make?
About 30 minutes total (10 minutes prep, 20 minutes cooking), serving 4.
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