Aku Palu

Poke is to cut into cubes. Lomi is to mash into a paste. And here we have palu, another traditional Hawaiian way raw fish is prepared. Palu means fish chum, and that is what this dish is essentially, fish chum. In the old days, small reef fish were caught and mashed whole with sweet potato or breadfruit and used as chum for much larger fish. Not wanting to be wasteful, fishermen began eating the chum if there was excess. Today, aku (skipjack tuna) is the preferred fish of choice when making palu. You’ll find that onions, chili peppers, and sometimes garlic has replaced the sweet potato and breadfruit. And ‘inamona (roasted candlenut), seaweed, and salt is also added. But what truly makes palu differ from lomi and poke is that in palu, the whole fish (guts, brain, gills, eyes, and blood) is mashed up together. Definitely not a food for the squeamish. But I love it! 🤤😍

by Naive-Ad-5492