This excellent recipe was passed to me by my sister, O. It uses tapioca pearls which are more widely available than the traditionally used cassava root. Since tapioca comes from cassava there is no difference in taste between this and the traditional pisua, only a difference in form.
Pisua
(serves 4)
1 cup small tapioca pearls
½ cup sugar
2½ cups water
Mix everything in a medium saucepan and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Leave to soak for at least 6 hours or overnight.
After soaking, add another 2½ cups water and bring the mixture to a boil then reduce to simmer. Cook for about half an hour, stirring frequently, until the tapioca pearls are clear. When the tapioca is cooked, pour the mixture into a shallow rectangular pan to cool.
Once the tapioca mixture has cooled completely, cut it into small squares.Make a coconut caramel sauce by caramelising 1½ cups of sugar until dark amber. Add 1 can of coconut cream and stir until combined. Cool slightly then pour into a bowl. Add the tapioca cubes and a 1/4 cup of sugar. Stir to combine.
Serve for dessert or as a sweet snack.
I love your work! It's great how you keep our culture alive by sharing your recipes. My grandma, mum, aunts etc don't measure anything and just go with what they feels right when cooking Samoan food. That's the reason why I didn't cook the food I love and grew up with because knowing my luck, It would of been a fat fail. Having your recipe gave me great confidence to make the Samoan food. I've made several of the dishes you've listed successfully. When you do the dishes a few times then you get what they are talking about with not having to abide by recipes. My family/friends think I got their magic touch ae leiloa ga makamaka faafia le youtube or I was hiding your recipe measurements somewhere while cooking at first. Thank you very much and continue to share your talent. Bless ya
ReplyDeleteThanks for your wonderful comment. You're exactly the kind of reader that I write for. Really happy you find my blog useful and I hope my recipes give you an authentic taste of home. Happy cooking!
DeleteThanks for sharing these recipes, my husband is Samoan. So I try to cook for him some Samoan dishes when he feels home sick. :) thanks please keep them coming!!!!
ReplyDeleteNo worries, happy my blog is useful to you.
DeleteHi :) Just wondering if I can use sago for this?? My sis-in-law sent me some sago from NZ (some of which I used for suafa'i, yum!) and I just want to make sure it will work for this recipe too. Fa'afetai lava & keep up the good work!!
ReplyDeleteHey Naomi, sago and tapioca are usually interchangeable so go for it. Good luck!
DeleteOh thank u for sharing this. I had a major craving and ur recipe popped up. Gonna try this now! Faafetai tele lava from Georgia!
ReplyDeleteOMG! This is the best blog site I've visited for Samoan recipes. I've been searching for a very long time and finally I've found the best resource to actually model some of the dishes to. I've known the basics of how to make most of the Samoan dishes but some were a blur because I was to young to know exactly what ingredients were used. I use to watch my aunts and uncles cook up a storm in the faleumu. I miss those days. You bring back so many great memories for me. Thank you so much for this site.
ReplyDeleteThanks very much for your comment. Hope you can recreate some of your favourite dishes now. Good luck!
DeleteOMG!..Finally I have found this site, because I have been looking all over on YouTube on how to make a Pisua but I have found nothing. Thank you so much..I am gonna go make one right now..Hope it turns out to good result..:)
ReplyDeleteAwesome site!
ReplyDeleteIf you had the cassava root how would you prepare it? Thanks. This is my favourite dessert.
ReplyDeleteHave you made it with masoa root b4?
ReplyDelete