Recipe
🍽️ DINNER
Lū Pulu
Taro-leaf parcels of seasoned beef and onion drowned in coconut cream, baked low until silken, Tonga’s Sunday centerpiece.
Tongan · easy · serves 4
prep 20 min · cook 90 min
~1413 cal · 41g protein · 196g carbs · 54g fat · 32g fiber · 16g sugars · 41g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Lu pulu is the Sunday centrepiece of Tonga, the dish that emerges first when the umu is opened after church across Tongatapu and the outer islands. Like its Samoan cousin palusami, it belongs to the shared feast and to the rhythm of the Sabbath.
leaves are stacked into cups and filled with seasoned corned or fresh beef, onion, and tomato, then flooded with thick and folded closed. Baked long and slow, the leaves turn completely silken while the thickens around the meat into something rich and savoury.
Served with baked or , lu pulu is generous, comforting food meant to be shared among family and guests. It is inseparable from Tongan hospitality and faith, the taste of a communal Sunday table in the heart of the Pacific.
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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
16 leaves young leaves (or collard greens), taro leaves must be fully cooked before eating
12 oz corned beef (or fresh beef, diced)
2 cups thick
1 onion, diced
1 tomato, diced
as needed foil or banana leaves, for wrapping
to taste salt
to taste black pepper
for 4 baked kumara or rice, to serve
Instructions
1
Stack 4 taro (or spinach) leaves into a cup shape in your palm, overlapping them well so they hold liquid.
2
Mix the beef (or jackfruit and tofu) with the onion, tomato, seasoning and half the coconut cream, then divide it between the leaf cups.
✎ Chef’s note
Mix the filling and some of the cream together before it goes into the leaves rather than layering them in dry. It seasons evenly, and the coconut cream is already through the meat when the parcel starts to cook.
3
Pour more coconut cream into each cup until nearly full.
4
Fold the leaves over the filling, wrap each parcel snugly in foil or banana leaf, and set them in the dish folded side down so they cannot open, then pour the last of the coconut cream over the top.
✎ Chef’s note
Seam side down. It is the simplest way to stop a parcel unwrapping itself and spilling its cream into the tray.
5
Bake at 325F (160C) for 90 minutes, low and slow, until the leaves are completely silken and the cream has thickened.
✎ Chef’s note
The long, gentle bake is what makes lu pulu special: the taro leaves must cook fully soft, and slow heat keeps the coconut cream from splitting.
6
Unwrap at the table and serve with baked kumara or rice.
Tongatapu Sunday umu tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Tongatapu. The commonest lu here is lu pulu, made with tinned corned beef rather than fresh pork. Imported tins displaced fresh meat in Tongan households from the 1920s and became the festive ingredient, wrapped with coconut cream inside taro leaves and set in the umu.
🗺️
Tonga. The commonest lu is made with tinned corned beef, and that is worth saying plainly rather than hiding: imported tinned meat became part of Pacific cooking in the twentieth century and is now genuinely traditional. Taro leaves are wrapped around it with coconut cream and baked in the umu until the leaves collapse into something silky.
🌍
Oceania. Oceania spans Australia, New Zealand, and thousands of Pacific islands, where the ocean and the coconut palm define the pantry. Traditional Polynesian and Melanesian cooking centers on root crops, taro, yam, cassava, and sweet potato, slow-cooked in earth ovens (the umu or mumu) alongside fresh reef fish and rich coconut cream. Modern Australian and Māori kitchens blend these deep roots with waves of Asian and European influence.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Tonga
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.
Kapisi PuluCabbage stewed with tinned corned beef and onion in coconut cream, the quick weekday cousin of Tonga's Sunday lu pulu.
Browse all Tonga 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 Tonga meal
'OtaiDrink
Faikakai TopaiDessert
Kapisi PuluLunch
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Frequently asked questions
What is Lū Pulu?
Taro-leaf parcels of seasoned beef and onion drowned in coconut cream, baked low until silken, Tonga’s Sunday centerpiece.
Where does Lū Pulu come from?
Lū Pulu is a Tongan dish from Tongatapu, Tonga.
Can Lū Pulu be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Lū 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 Lū 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 Lū Pulu take to make?
About 110 minutes total (20 minutes prep, 90 minutes cooking), serving 4.
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