Recipe
🍳 BREAKFAST
Fekei
A sweet Tuvaluan pudding of grated pulaka or banana cooked with coconut cream into a sticky, caramel-rich cake.
Tuvaluan · medium · serves 6
prep 15 min · cook 30 min
~538 cal · 4g protein · 71g carbs · 27g fat · 8g fiber · 22g sugars · 24g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Fekei is a sweet Tuvaluan pudding that turns the atoll staples of pulaka or banana and coconut into a rich, sticky treat. It belongs to celebrations and shared meals, a small indulgence in a place where sweetness is precious.
Grated pulaka (swamp ) or ripe banana is cooked slowly with and sugar until it thickens and caramelises into a dense, sticky, toffee-like cake. The long cooking deepens its colour and concentrates its sweetness.
Cut into pieces and shared, fekei is festive food that makes the most of what the atolls provide. It is sweet, chewy, and deeply coconut-rich.
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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 6
4 cups pulaka (swamp ) or ripe banana, grated
2 cups
1/2 cup sugar
1 pinch pinch of salt
Instructions
1
Grate the peeled pulaka, soak the gratings in a large bowl of water for two hours, then drain and squeeze them dry (or simply mash very ripe banana instead).
✎ Chef’s note
Do not skip the soak if you are using pulaka. Swamp taro is loaded with calcium oxalate, and soaking and squeezing is what draws out the acrid, throat-catching edge before it is cooked.
2
Stir in the coconut cream, sugar, and salt until smooth.
3
Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until thick, sticky, and pulling from the sides of the pot, about 25 minutes.
4
Spread into a dish to set, then cut into pieces and serve warm or cooled.
✎ Chef’s note
Traditionally the mixture is wrapped in taro leaves and cooked in an umu rather than on the stove. Fekei is a whole family of puddings rather than one recipe, and it is made across Tuvalu, Rotuma and their neighbours in a couple of dozen versions: banana, breadfruit and taro are the common ones, and a little tapioca starch is often worked in to firm the dough.
Tuvaluan atoll tradition, Funafuti.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Funafuti. Funafuti is a low atoll capital sustained by pulaka, the swamp taro grown in dug pits, alongside coconut, breadfruit, and reef fish. Tuvaluan cooking is built entirely around what the atoll and the lagoon provide.
🗺️
Tuvalu. Tuvalu's atoll food is built on coconut, fish, and root crops like pulaka (swamp taro), often baked in an earth oven. The sweet pulaka-and-coconut pudding fekei is a favorite on these low Pacific islands.
🌍
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 Tuvalu
Pulaka with Coconut FishEarthy swamp-taro pulaka served with fish baked in coconut cream, the mainstay of atoll life.
Grilled Breadfruit with MitiWhole breadfruit roasted over coals until smoky and tender, torn into pieces and dipped into miti, a fresh coconut cream sauce sharpened with onion, chili and lime.
Puleleti (Coconut and Coconut Syrup Sweet)A chewy Tuvaluan coconut candy, fresh grated coconut cooked down with sweet coconut toddy syrup until thick, sticky and glossy.
Browse all Tuvalu recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Pot or saucepan.
Storing it: Keep chilled and covered, and enjoy within 2 to 3 days.
Make it a Tuvalu meal
KaleveDrink
Talo Tokotokoi (Baked Taro with Coconut Cream)Dessert
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Frequently asked questions
What is Fekei?
A sweet Tuvaluan pudding of grated pulaka or banana cooked with coconut cream into a sticky, caramel-rich cake.
Where does Fekei come from?
Fekei is a Tuvaluan dish from Funafuti, Tuvalu.
Can Fekei be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Fekei 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 Fekei 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 Fekei take to make?
About 45 minutes total (15 minutes prep, 30 minutes cooking), serving 6.
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