Tahitian Octopus in Coconut Milk

Octopus has been gathered from the lagoons and reefs of French Polynesia for as long as Polynesians have lived there, often by women wading at low tide with a hooked stick and a practiced eye. The catch is pounded to tenderize it, then simmered in coconut milk — a method born of necessity and perfected over generations of island cooks.

What makes it great is the transformation: a notoriously tough creature becomes luxuriously tender, soaking up a sauce of coconut milk, onion, and lime that turns sweet and glossy as it reduces. It is rustic, honest food from the atolls, and a bowl of it with rice tastes like the sea and the palms at once.

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