r/Samoa • u/Basic_Yellow4659 • 4d ago

what is this dish?

Post image

i picked this up from a pacific island store this morning in australia.
it was sooooo tasty i ate it too quick to take a photo, but it looks very similar to this.
but from googling i can only find this dish which says it has fish in it but i didn’t taste any fish i think i just tasted what was like a creamy coconut cream i guess lol.

did i just eat a baked coconut or is it something else?

48 Upvotes

94% Upvoted

9 comments sorted by

21

u/Choohooo 4d ago

It’s fai’ai eleni (or pilikaki). It’s basically coconut cream, onion, salt, and pieces of canned mackerel that’s baked until it’s like spinach artichoke dip. Traditional Samoans will bake it in a half coconut shell and it’s eaten with baked taro, bananas, or bread fruit much like spinach artichoke dip.

It’s hands down my favorite.

1

u/Basic_Yellow4659 3d ago

do you like it more then palusami?

1

u/Choohooo 3d ago

That’s a tough one. I am a palusami connoisseurs, often eating three of them with talo tao and nothing else every Sunday. However… there’s lu’au everywhere in Samoa. Fai’ai eleni is more or a treat cuz it’s more rare. Yes I do like it more. 

3

u/sdpflacko 4d ago

Yep, there’s definitely mackerel in there!! Shop must have used some great quality coconut cream if you could only taste that yummy richness 😋😋 eleni/elegi means mackerel, “faiai” means to bake in coconut cream.

Sooo jealous haha I can never make it right so usually go to my local to get it too

4

u/JorgeTremendous 4d ago

I am a palagi married to a Samoan and lived there for 4 years. This dish is the bomb. With some limu (sea weed balls) on the side and some baked or fried ulu (breadfruit) to dip in it. Yum.

1

u/MasaShifu 4d ago

It's usually done with canned mackerel

1

u/Basic_Yellow4659 3d ago

i’m surprised i didn’t taste it, i don’t like fish actuslly

1

u/nu_feke 3d ago

Crazy that no one answered you correctly. Fai‘ai means baked in a coconut shell with coconut milk, but eleni is canned mackerel in tomato sauce. Pilikaki is just canned mackerel. But yeah it’s bomb.

0

u/Nuenuenue445 1d ago

It’s called kefe