Recipe
🥙 LUNCH
Grilled Breadfruit with Miti
Whole 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.
Tuvaluan · easy · serves 4
prep 10 min · cook 45 min
~310 cal · 3g protein · 34g carbs · 20g fat · 7g fiber · 15g sugars · 18g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Grilled with miti is an everyday Tuvaluan lunch, , mei, roasted whole on the coals until the skin chars and the inside turns soft and sweet.
Alongside it goes miti, the simple sauce of the islands, thick cream loosened with a little water and lifted with onion, chili and lime, the dip that turns a plain roasted starch into a meal.
On Funafuti, where fish and roasted staples carry the table, and miti are quick, filling and entirely local, eaten with the hands from a shared plate.
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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
1 large mature firm
1 cup thick
1/2 onion, finely diced
1 red chili, minced
1 tbsp lime or lemon juice
1/2 tsp sea salt
Instructions
1
Roast the whole breadfruit over hot coals or an open flame, turning often, until the skin is charred all over and the flesh is tender when pierced, about 45 minutes, or bake it at 400F for an hour.
2
Meanwhile, make the miti by stirring the coconut cream with the onion, chili, lime juice and salt, loosening it with a spoonful of water if needed.
3
When the breadfruit is done, let it cool briefly, then peel away the charred skin and cut out the core.
4
Tear or cut the warm flesh into chunks and arrange them on a plate.
5
Serve the breadfruit with the bowl of miti alongside for dipping.
Tuvaluan everyday cooking, Live and Learn Tuvalu cookbook.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Funafuti. The earth oven is the umu, and the sweet end of the repertoire is a family of puddings named for what goes into them: solopulaka, solotaro, solomei, grated starch cooked down with coconut cream. Nine islands, no high ground and no rivers, so nothing arrives that the atoll or the lagoon did not provide.
🗺️
Tuvalu. The sweet puddings are a family with a shared prefix: solopulaka, solotaro and solomei, made by grating the root or the breadfruit, mixing it with coconut cream, and baking it in the umu until it sets. Fekei belongs to that group, and the coconut in it is grated and squeezed rather than opened from a tin.
🌍
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 Tuvalu
Pulaka with Coconut FishEarthy swamp-taro pulaka served with fish baked in coconut cream, the mainstay of atoll life.
FekeiA sweet Tuvaluan pudding of grated pulaka or banana cooked with coconut cream into a sticky, caramel-rich cake.
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: Oven.
Storing it: Best straight off the heat. Leftovers keep 2 to 3 days refrigerated and reheat well in a hot oven rather than the microwave.
Make it a Tuvalu meal
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Talo Tokotokoi (Baked Taro with Coconut Cream)Dessert
Crab in LoloDinner
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Frequently asked questions
What is Grilled Breadfruit with Miti?
Whole 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.
Where does Grilled Breadfruit with Miti come from?
Grilled Breadfruit with Miti is a Tuvaluan dish from Funafuti, Tuvalu.
Can Grilled Breadfruit with Miti be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Grilled Breadfruit with Miti 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 Grilled Breadfruit with Miti 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 Grilled Breadfruit with Miti take to make?
About 55 minutes total (10 minutes prep, 45 minutes cooking), serving 4.
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