In this blog we're going to make a Kopai recipe (Kopai Koko or Samoan dumplings) cooked in Koko Samoa. Kopai is like the dumplings of Samoa, and you can eat this dish with eggs and toast for breakfast. Of course, you can have it for dinner as well. Grab a small pot to begin with, and gather your ingredients. Let's begin!
This kopai recipe comes courtesy of Veni Vlogs (Instagram: @venivlogs)
Ingredients
- 3 1/2 cups of flour
- 1 cup of sugar
- 4 tbsp of sugar (separate)
- 2 cups of water
- 250g Cacao Paste (Koko Samoa)
Method for Koko
- Firstly, you're going to fill up your small pot with water
- Then put this pot on the stove and turn it on high heat and allow it to come to boil.
- While this is happening we are going to cut our Koko in half (if you've purchase a Trinitario mini cup from Koko Samoa, each mini cup is 120g). You can use two of these.
- Allow the Koko to slowly dissolve while the water is coming to boil.
- Next, we're going to work on our dumplings. So we are going to pour our flour into a bowl.
- Add four tablespoons of raw sugar.
- Get a wooden spoon and mix the dry ingredients together to make sure all the clumps are broken up and mixed well. Be sure to keep an eye on your Koko that's on the oven and you see it slowly dissolving.
- Next, we're going to add water to our dry ingredients. So, add half of the water to the ingredients, use a wooden spoon, mix that through.
- Once it's mixed through, you can then add the rest of the water and then use your hands to knead the dough through.
- This will then form a consistency close to play dough and that's what you want for your Kopai, or your dumplings.
- When the Koko has come to a boil, turn the heat down to low.
- Add one cup of sugar to the Koko. Mix through and allow the Koko to slowly break down further. You should see the clumps beginning to break down.
- Now we're going to roll out our dumplings. So there are two ways of doing it. You can either roll them with your hands into separate balls, or you can shape them using a spoon. They should be roughly the size of cherry tomatoes, 2 - 3 cm in diameter.
- Place them into the pot. They will go straight to the bottom while the Koko is boiling.
- Allow the mixture to boil on medium heat while you're doing so, and then continue to stir it right through so the balls don't stick to the bottom.
- Once ready, the Kopais' (the dumplings) will then start to float to the top.
- Next we're going to work on our flour-based thickener. So we're going to use two dumplings and mix them with one and a half cups of water. Using a spoon to mix it well.
- Pour into your Kopai. This will act as a thickener and that's what gives the Kopai its consistency.
- Mix through and place the lid on, allowing it to simmer for about five minutes.
- Lastly add the coconut cream. Make sure you shake the can well and then pour your coconut cream in. And this will then give the Kopai it's creaminess
Don't be alarmed about how light in color the Kopai is, eventually once the Kopai is set and the flavors have come through, it will go back to a dark Koko color. We hope you've enjoyed this kopai.