Around the World in 12 Dishes: French Polynesia: Tahitian Fruit Pudding

The kids and I magically traveled to the beautiful French Polynesian islands this month and explored the tastes of Tahitian fruit pudding. Tahitian fruit pudding or Po’e is a popular dessert which is normally eaten after Tahitian tamara’a barbecues. Normally it is wrapped in banana leaves and baked in the fire pit, but luckily for us we found a modern kitchen recipe. Po’e can be made from fresh fruit such as pumpkin, papaya, bananas, and yuca. We decided to start easy and make a banana po’e.

Ingredients:

6-8 ripe bananas (the recipe calls for 4 cups of puree). I think our bananas were small because we ended up using nine bananas.
1/2 cup of brown sugar
1 cup of cornstarch or arrowroot
2 teaspoons of vanilla
1 cup of coconut cream (coconut cream is the think coconut milk that rises to the top of a can of coconut milk. If you don’t shake the can before opening, you can skim it right off the top. (We didn’t use 1 cup…more like 1/2 cup)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375°F. Then have your kids peel 6-8 bananas.

Then slice them up into small pieces.

Place the bananas into a food processor.

Puree the bananas in a blender or food processor. There should be enough puree to make 4 cups.

Mix together the brown sugar and arrowroot or cornstarch with the pureed bananas. I had my kids sift the cornstarch to get all the lumps out.

Add the vanilla to the bananas and mix well. There should not be any lumps of starch. Adjust sugar to taste.

Butter a 2-quart baking dish and pour in the puree. Bake for 30 to 45 minutes, or until the pudding is firm and bubbling. Remove from oven and allow to cool. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until well chilled.

Cut into cubes and place into a large serving bowl or in individual bowls. Top with a dollop of coconut cream, a little more brown sugar and serve.

The kids loved this dish and even asked for seconds! I wasn’t sure if they would like it or not, especially since I kept telling them we were making a banana pudding, yet the consistency of this pudding is not the same as what we normally eat her in the U.S.