Recipe
🍽️ DINNER
Aelan Kabis (Island Cabbage in Coconut Milk)
Island cabbage leaves simmered in coconut milk with onion, the everyday green of the Vanuatu table.
Ni-Vanuatu · easy · serves 4
prep 10 min · cook 15 min
~281 cal · 3g protein · 16g carbs · 25g fat · 5g fiber · 8g sugars · 19g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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AI-generated illustration
Aelan kabis, island cabbage, is the leafy green eaten almost daily across Vanuatu. Botanically it is Abelmoschus manihot, the same plant others call bele or slippery cabbage, and like it turns silky and faintly mucilaginous as it cooks.
The simplest and most common preparation is just to boil the leaves in , sometimes with a little onion and, in some households, a spoon of tinned fish. The coconut carries the greens, which balance the starchy root crops that make up the rest of a Ni-Vanuatu meal.
It is home food rather than feast food, cooked in minutes from what grows in the garden. Mild, nourishing and rich in iron, aelan kabis rounds out a plate of , yam or rice.
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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 lb island cabbage (bele) or spinach/chard, chopped
1.5 cups
1 onion, sliced
1 tbsp vegetable oil
to taste salt
to taste black pepper
Instructions
1
Heat the oil in a pot and cook the sliced onion gently until soft and translucent.
2
Add the chopped greens and stir until they begin to wilt.
✎ Chef’s note
If you are using island cabbage, tear or cut the leaves off their stalks first; the stalks stay tough however long they cook.
3
Pour in the coconut milk, season with salt and pepper, and bring to a gentle simmer.
4
Simmer, covered, for about 10 minutes until the greens are tender and the sauce has thickened slightly. Serve hot with taro, yam, breadfruit or rice.
✎ Chef’s note
Some households stir in a tin of tuna or mackerel near the end to turn the side into a light main.
Ni-Vanuatu home cooking.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Efate (Port Vila). Laplap is a paste before it is a parcel. Taro, yam, banana or breadfruit is grated down to a smooth paste, spread onto banana leaves with coconut cream and meat laid in if there is any, then the whole bundle goes under hot stones for hours. The feast built around that oven is called a bunia.
🗺️
Vanuatu. Vanuatu's cuisine is rooted in root crops and the earth oven, epitomized by laplap, grated taro or yam baked in banana leaves with coconut cream. Fresh fish, tropical fruit, and communal cooking define island life.
🌍
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 Vanuatu
Lap LapGrated root vegetables and coconut cream wrapped in banana leaf and baked in an earth oven, Vanuatu's national dish.
TulukGrated cassava wrapped around heavily seasoned pork, bound in leaves and baked, sold by the piece at markets and kava bars.
SimboroGrated cassava rolled in island-cabbage leaves and simmered in coconut cream, Vanuatu's everyday take on laplap.
Browse all Vanuatu recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Pot or saucepan.
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 Vanuatu meal
Nakamal KavaDrink
Sweet Banana LaplapDessert
SimboroLunch
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Frequently asked questions
What is Aelan Kabis (Island Cabbage in Coconut Milk)?
Island cabbage leaves simmered in coconut milk with onion, the everyday green of the Vanuatu table.
Where does Aelan Kabis (Island Cabbage in Coconut Milk) come from?
Aelan Kabis (Island Cabbage in Coconut Milk) is a Ni-Vanuatu dish from Efate (Port Vila), Vanuatu.
Can Aelan Kabis (Island Cabbage in Coconut Milk) be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Aelan Kabis (Island Cabbage in Coconut Milk) 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 Aelan Kabis (Island Cabbage in Coconut Milk) 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 Aelan Kabis (Island Cabbage in Coconut Milk) take to make?
About 25 minutes total (10 minutes prep, 15 minutes cooking), serving 4.
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