Panipopo

As tradition built it

Makes 24. Two rises of about 2 hours and an hour or more; about 45 minutes at 200°C.

Ingredients

The dough

• 960 ml (4 cups) plain flour, to start
• 1 tsp salt
• 50g butter
• 3 tbsp white sugar
• 3 tsp active dry yeast
• 240 ml warm water, for the yeast
• 480 to 720 ml warm water, for the batter
• 480 to 720 ml plain flour, for kneading

The coconut cream sauce

• 1 can (425ml) coconut cream
• 2 tbsp plain flour
• as needed warm water
• 240 ml white sugar

Method

The buns

1. Put the first 4 cups of flour in a large bowl with the salt and rub in the butter until silky.
2. Make a well and add the sugar.
3. Dissolve the yeast in the cup of warm water in a non-plastic bowl and pour it into the well.
4. Add the 2 to 3 cups of warm water and mix to a thick, jiggly batter.
5. Cover and leave about 2 hours, until doubled with holes showing.
6. Fold in the further 2 to 3 cups of flour and knead about 5 minutes, until less sticky.
7. Cover for a second rise of an hour or more, until doubled again.
8. Shape into balls or ropes and set them in rows in a pan that holds 24. Leave them rising while you make the sauce.
9. Heat the oven to 200°C.

The sauce and the bake

10. Pour the coconut cream into a jug. Stir warm water slowly into the 2 tbsp of flour until it dissolves, then mix it into the cream with the sugar and a little more water.
11. Pour the sauce round the buns, keeping back about a cup.
12. Bake 20 minutes. Add the rest of the sauce and bake 20 to 25 minutes more, until golden on top with the cream bubbling round the bottom.
13. Cover with foil as they cool, so they do not dry out.

Notes

The recipe is Lilieni's, an old Palelei family recipe from her aunt, on Manaui. Destiny Momoisea and her mother Taulagi, on The Coconet, enrich the dough with warm milk and melted butter and part self-raising flour, with a sauce of 200ml each coconut milk and water and 100g sugar.

What a modern chef changes

After Tala's "Umu Sweets."

Rung 4

Method

1. Reduce the coconut milk separately before it meets the dough, building a thicker, more concentrated sauce than the traditional raw pour achieves in the oven alone. Rung 4.
2. Finish with a torched or caramelised top, giving the roll's surface a contrast the traditional bake, soft throughout, does not have.
3. Serve as an individual course rather than a shared tray, following the same single-portion logic this chapter has already documented at Tala and Metita.

Notes

Onesemo reworks panipopo as an "Umu Sweets" dessert course. novacircle.com, Tala menu aggregation