Rourou

Rourou is a Vanuatu vegetable dish of taro leaves simmered in coconut cream until they are soft and rich. It is cooked in Vanuatu, and the same dish is also made in Fiji, Tonga and Samoa. Taro is grown across the Pacific as a staple root crop, and in rourou the leaves are cooked as the vegetable.

What it really is

Taro leaves, also called dasheen leaves, are cooked with onion and salt in coconut cream over a low heat until they break down into a soft, dark green mass. The cream gives the dish its richness and a mild sweetness. The leaves must be cooked thoroughly: raw taro leaves contain calcium oxalate, which irritates the mouth and throat, and cooking breaks that irritant down. The classic version contains no meat, fish or dairy.

Rourou is not a spinach dish. Taro leaves have a different texture and flavour from spinach, and the coconut cream is what makes the dish.

How it's served

• Warm, spooned into a bowl or onto the plate beside the main food.
• As a side dish with root crops such as taro, yam or cassava, and with fish.
• In small portions, since the coconut cream makes it rich.

How to write it on the menu

• Name the leaf as taro leaves or dasheen leaves, and name the cream as coconut cream, not "creamed spinach" or "coconut milk sauce."
• Say that the dish is vegan in its classic form. If the kitchen adds fish or meat, name it and drop the vegan label.
• Coconut is not among the usual listed allergens, but tell guests it is present, since some guests with tree-nut allergies ask about it.
• Sell it as a side, and state the portion size, because the coconut cream makes it filling.