Panipopo--A Tribute to My Hubby (Revised)

My husband, Malu, is from American Samoa, an unincorporated U.S. territory and a cluster of islands located in the South Pacific Ocean just southeast of the sovereign state of Samoa (formerly Western Samoa), where my father is from (so I guess this is a tribute to my daddy too). The picture of Malu (above) was taken during my first visit to American Samoa over two years ago. Anyway, all of us have wonderful memories eating panipopo--both Malu and my dad eating it while they grew up on the islands and me getting a taste of it while moving from Army post to post where we were part of numerous Samoan communities. Panipopo (I've also seen it spelled pagipopo) translates into coconut buns. They are hot, steamy buns baked in a pool of sweet coconut cream sauce and they are delicious beyond words.

I had honestly been craving this recipe, since it has literally been years since I had it--more like over a decade. I thought I would find a recipe and master it so I can make it more regularly when Malu returns. He's deployed right now and when he called, I explained to him that I was going to learn how to make it with a recipe I found online. He said that if I was able to make it, then I'd finally be the perfect wife. He's crazy-funny like that.



So I made the buns and they came out great. I personally like to drown the buns in the coconut cream sauce so that they are sticky and somewhat soggy. Apparently, my dad likes them that way too because this pan you see above had less coconut cream than another batch I made and he rated them 4 out of 10. The other batch (shown below) received raved reviews from him and my cousins at the party I took them to. I tried to find the recipe that I used and for whatever reason, can't find it. So I am posting another recipe that I found that should turn out the same wonderful coconut buns that I made. So here's to you honey....your own pan of panipopo will be waiting for you when you return!




Panipopo
(Samoan Coconut Buns)


5 3/4 to 6 1/4 cups All-Purpose flour
1 Package Yeast
2 1/4 cups milk
2 tablespoons milk
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon shortening, margarine, or butter
1 teaspoon salt
2 cans coconut milk (can be found in the international section of the grocery store, typically near Thai food ingredients)
1 cup sugar

1. Mix 2 1/2 cups of flour and yeast. In a saucepan heat and stir milk; sugar; shortening, margarine, or butter; and salt till warm and shortening almost melts. Add to flour mixture. Beat with an electric mixer on low speed for 30 seconds, scraping bowl constantly. Using a spoon, stir in as much remaining flour as you can to make a moderately stiff dough that is smooth and easy to pull - 6-8 minutes.


2. Put some Crisco shortening on your hands. This will add moisture to your rolls and make it easier to handle. Shape in a ball and put in a greased bowl. Turn it on both sides to grease the whole ball of dough. Cover and let rise in the oven on the top rack and below it in a pan put some hot water. (The steam from the hot water will help it to rise) about 45 minutes. Punch dough down. Roll 18 balls and cover for 10 minutes while you make the following milk mixture.


3. Mix 2 cans of coconut milk with 1 cup of sugar. (Add more sugar if you like it sweeter.) In 2 13x9x2 pans, pour in half of the milk mixture in each pan, put in 9 bread rolls on top (or you can make the rolls smaller to make more rolls). Bake at 375 degrees in the oven for 20 minutes or until bread tests done.

OR

You can do this the easy way (which Malu clued me into) and buy a package of the premade dinner rolls from the freezer section of your local grocery store. Let them rise from 3-5 hours. Pour a little over half of the coconut milk mixture over the rolls and bake until golden brown. Baste with remaining coconut milk at least two times during baking. Top with as much sauce as you desire, wait about five minutes and eat warm. Yummy!