Tonga | Lu Pulu

CLICK HERE FOR THE RECIPE I USED

Tonga is a small island nation in the South Pacific Ocean and island nations are challenging for me. I live in the middle of nowhere the desert with no access to fresh fish and with someone who is extremely grossed out by the aroma of fish. I also can’t acquire many of the fruits and vegetables native to the islands which adds another level of difficulty.

I would love to try dishes that are more authentic and give the nation’s cuisine a chance to shine but, unfortunately, that’s not always possible in my house/geographic location. So, I work with I’ve got!

Lu Pulu is made up of canned corned beef with coconut milk, tomatoes, onions, and, in my case, spinach. The recipe calls for taro leaves but I couldn’t figure out how to get my hands on those. It suggested large spinach leaves as a substitute but the local store only had baby spinach so I rolled with that.

I ordered a specific brand of New Zealand corned beef (Palm) because several sites insisted that it was THE canned corned beef to use in Lu Pulu.

Honestly, I did not feel optimistic about this dish. There isn’t any one ingredient in it that I dislike, I just wasn’t sure about them all together in one dish.

How did it turn out?

Spectacularly unphotogenic but not bad at all!

It basically tasted like corned beef with a creamy sauce and spinach. I’m sure it turns out differently if cooked in taro leaves or large spinach leaves but, I suspect, the sauce will taste the same. I was hot and didn’t feel like eating additional carbs so I didn’t eat it with anything on the side. If you need carbs, I feel like it would go with some kind of potato.

Would I make it again?

I don’t know. It was very easy to make and it wasn’t bad but I don’t know that I’d crave it. I do still have another can of Palm corned beef so I probably will make it one more time but, after that, I don’t think I will.