Recipe
🍰 DESSERT
Sweet Banana Laplap
The sweet, dessert cousin of Vanuatu's savory national dish: grated cassava and ripe banana bound in coconut cream, wrapped in banana leaves and baked until dense and pudding-like.
Ni-Vanuatu · easy · serves 6
prep 20 min · cook 60 min
~430 cal · 3g protein · 62g carbs · 20g fat · 5g fiber · 22g sugars · 18g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Sweet banana laplap is the pudding version of Vanuatu's national dish, made when the bananas ripen faster than a family can eat them and a cook wants something sweet from the earth oven.
Grated gives it a chewy, gluten-free body, ripe mashed banana carries the sweetness, and ties it together; the parcel is wrapped in banana leaves and baked low until it sets into a dense slab.
Across Vanuatu's islands laplap changes with what grows nearby, and the sweet banana version is the one children wait for, sliced warm and eaten with extra poured over the top.
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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 large ripe bananas, mashed
2 cups, squeezed dry (manioc), peeled and finely grated
1.5 cups, divided thick
1/4 cup brown sugar
a pinch sea salt
as needed banana leaves or foil, for wrapping
Instructions
1
Heat the oven to 350F (175C) and soften the banana leaves over a flame or in hot water until pliable.
2
Mix the grated cassava with 1 cup of the coconut cream and the salt until it forms a thick, sticky paste.
3
In another bowl, mash the ripe bananas with the brown sugar, then fold them through the cassava paste until even.
4
Line a small baking dish with banana leaves, spoon in the mixture, level it, and fold the leaves loosely over the top.
5
Cover with foil and bake for 50 minutes until set and firm to the touch, then uncover for the last 10 minutes to dry the surface.
6
Cool slightly, cut into squares, and serve warm with the remaining coconut cream poured over.
Ni-Vanuatu sweet laplap variation.
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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. Laplap is a paste rather than a dish of pieces: taro, yam, breadfruit or banana grated on a stone or a spiral of bamboo, spread on banana leaves with coconut cream and often pork, beef, chicken or flying fox laid in, then wrapped and buried under hot stones. The communal stone-oven feast around it is called a bunia and is a kastom event.
🌍
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 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: 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 Vanuatu meal
Aelan Kabis (Island Cabbage in Coconut Milk)Dinner
Nakamal KavaDrink
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Frequently asked questions
What is Sweet Banana Laplap?
The sweet, dessert cousin of Vanuatu's savory national dish: grated cassava and ripe banana bound in coconut cream, wrapped in banana leaves and baked until dense and pudding-like.
Where does Sweet Banana Laplap come from?
Sweet Banana Laplap is a Ni-Vanuatu dish from Efate (Port Vila), Vanuatu.
Can Sweet Banana Laplap be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Sweet Banana Laplap 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 Sweet Banana Laplap 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 Sweet Banana Laplap take to make?
About 80 minutes total (20 minutes prep, 60 minutes cooking), serving 6.
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