Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia · Volume 13, One Reef, Two Flags
Eke
The Cook Islands
An illustration of the dish, not a photograph of it cooked.
- Time
- Not statedNo source states a time and the atlas has too few comparable dishes to estimate one.
- Researched
- 17 sources cited
- Reviewed
- Not yet reviewed from inside the tradition
- Cooked
- Not yet cooked and reported
Octopus finely chopped, boiled 15 to 20 minutes with onion, drained; returned to the pot with coconut cream, roughly 2 cups for one octopus, 2 to 3 grated garlic cloves, salt, and, in one version, turmeric and curry powder; simmered until the sauce thickens and the octopus is tender. Served with rice, taro or breadfruit. [thecoconet.tv, credited to named cooks Kura Happ and Tekura & Ngatipa Ruaporo]
As tradition built it
Octopus boiled 15 to 20 minutes, then simmered until tender.
Ingredients
- 1 octopus, finely chopped
- 1 small onion
- 2 cups coconut cream, per octopus
- 2 to 3 garlic cloves, grated
- to taste salt
- to taste turmeric and curry powder
- to serve rice, taro or breadfruit, to serve
Method
- Boil finely chopped octopus with onion for 15 to 20 minutes. Drain.
- Return to the pot with coconut cream, roughly 2 cups per octopus, grated garlic, salt, turmeric and curry powder.
- Simmer until the sauce thickens and the octopus is tender. Serve with rice, taro or breadfruit.
Notes
Credited to named Cook Islands cooks Kura Happ and Tekura & Ngatipa Ruaporo.
What a modern chef changes
The octopus's own texture chemistry treated properly, since the traditional method's biggest risk is toughness, not flavour.
No single named rung, a straightforward technique correction.
Method
- Sous vide the octopus low and slow until genuinely tender before it ever meets the coconut sauce, since a simmered-through octopus and a properly tenderised one are very different textures, and the traditional 15 to 20 minute boil is working against, not with, the muscle's own chemistry.
- Reduce the coconut cream and spices to a proper sauce separately, spice-grinding the turmeric and curry spice fresh rather than from a pre-mixed jar, then toss the finished tender octopus through it briefly at the end rather than simmering it in from the start.
- Serve the taro or breadfruit accompaniment roasted on the Big Green Egg rather than boiled, for the same smoky counterpoint recommended for ika mata above.