Pele pulu

I made tongan food the other night! I've made it before but usually Aisea is around so I can ask if I layered enough leaves or put enough coconut milk. The other night I wanted to surprise him and do it myself. His auntie had given us some pele leaves because I mentioned they were the kind I like and she had some. The next day I went to costco and got some corned beef and I was ready.

I'll give you a little info about tongan food. The basic food that they eat is lu which are taro leaves. They boil meat, usually lamb or chicken, and then add coconut milk and taro leaves. They call this lu sipi(lamb), or lu followed by the word for whatever meat is in there. The way I like lu is when you lay the leaves out on foil, put the meat in the middle with some onions, and then gather up foil and pour coconut milk in the middle, then you seal it up and boil the packages in a pot or bake them with water in a pan in the oven. Lu pulu is the only kind I really like or pele pulu which is what I made with the pele leaves. This is before

this is after
The picture of the after doesn't look that appetizing but that's because of the lighting. The white stuff in there is the coconut milk fat I believe. I'm sort of picky but this really is good. After we ate I said, "I did good didn't I honey?" To which he replied, "No you did great!" I was really proud!