Kiribati - Chicken roasted in Pepper & Soy with coal baked Whiting in banana leaves, Sweet Potato & Bananas fried in Butter & Coconut Curry Rice

 

Kiribati, officially the Republic of Kiribati is an island nation of 33 atolls & islands spread out across the equator in the central Pacific Ocean. Snuggled just inside the International Date line, the most eastern of the Kiribati Islands has the most advanced time on the Globe,  so quite literally the World’s day starts here on these lovely islands.

 Kiribati has significant food security issues. Whilst fresh local foods such as fish & coconuts are abundant, there is limited variety. On top of this there is a shortage of vegetables & clean, fresh water. So the people of Kiribati are heavily reliant on supplementary foods coming in by boat.

There were a few Kiribati recipes we would have loved to try cooking, for instance Kiribati Slow Roasted Pork or anything in an earth-oven packed with sea-weed, but we didn’t have the time or set up. The food we did cook looked amazing on the table & with Kiribati music playing there was a lovely relaxed & happy ‘vibe’ at dinner & the food was simple & wholesome.

Our 

Kiribati

Menu included

Chicken roasted in pepper & soy sauce 

Coal baked Whole Whiting  in banana leaves 

Sweet Potatoes & Bananas fried in butter 
& 
coconut curry rice

CHICKEN PIECES ROASTED IN PEPPER & SOY SAUCE

Ingredients:

·      I large chicken cut in pieces or 2 kg mixed chicken pieces

·      3 tbs soy sauce

·      ½ tsp salt

·      ½ tsp white pepper

·      ½  tbs coconut oil

Method

1.    Heat oven to 180 c

2.    Mix the chicken with soy, salt & pepper

3.    Rub the coconut oil over a baking tray

4.    Lay chicken on baking tray skin side up & tuck any excess skin under the pieces so that it doesn’t burn during the cooking process

5.    Place tray in oven & bake for 20 minutes

6.    Now baste the top of the chicken with some of the oil in the tray & use a spatula to loosen the chicken from the tray so it doesn’t stick

7.    Turn the tray around so that the chicken cooks evenly, put back in the oven & cook a further 20 minutes or until golden brown & cooked through

COCONUT CURRY RICE

Ingredients:

·      4 cups of long grain rice

·      8 cups coconut water

·      2 tsp salt

·      1 tsp curry powder

METHOD:

1.    Put the rice in a sieve and then rinse it with cold water till it is clean & clear

2.     Drain rice thoroughly to remove all the water  

3.    Take a large pot with a tight  fitting lid

4.    Add rice, coconut water, salt & curry powder to the pot & bring to the boil stirring often

5.    When the mix comes to the boil stir well

6.    Cover the pot with a lid & reduce heat to very low then cook covered for 10 mins

7.    After ten minutes turn off heat. Do not remove lid.

8.    Let pot sit on cooling element for a further ten minutes.

9.    Then just let it sit with the lid on until ready to serve

COAL BAKED WHOLE WHITING WRAPPED IN BANANA LEAVES 

Ingredients:

·      2 whole whiting, gutted, scaled & cleaned

·      1 large onion finely sliced

·      4 cloves garlic crushed

·      1 pinch salt

·      2 large banana leaves

·      1 ball cooking twine

Note:

The fish will be grilled over hot coals so you need a hot coal BBQ or similar for this recipe

Method

1.    First wash & dry the banana leaves & cut the leaves off the stem keeping the stem to fix the banana leaf packages

2.    Begin heating the coals to hot then allow to steady the heat (there should be no flame left o the coals when you begin cooking)

3.    mix the onion & garlic together

4.    Wash the fish in fresh salty water & dry with kitchen paper

5.    Lay each fish on a large triangle of banana leaf

6.    Fill the fish belly cavity with the onion mix

7.    Now wrap the fish up in the banana leaf & secure with leaf stems (if strong enough) &/or tie up with the string

8.    Place the wrapped fish on a rack over the coals & grill on one side for about 7 minutes

9.    Turn parcels over & continue cooking for a further 7 minutes

10. Remove the fish from the grill & place on a platter

11.  The fish will continue to cook a little, hold its moisture & heat as long as the parcels are kept wrapped up

12.  The pleasure of this dish is in the opening of the parcels at the table, when all the surprisingly aromatic steam will be released

SWEET POTATOES & BANANAS FRIED IN BUTTER 
Ingredients:

·      6 large red sweet potatoes

·      4 large ripe but still firm bananas

·      4 tbs butter

Method

1.    Peel the sweet potatoes & cut in 2-3 cm chunks

2.    Place potato in a steamer basket & steam over gently boiling water with the lid on for about 15 minutes or until tender

3.    Whilst the sweet potato is steaming peel the banana & cut into 3 cm chunks

4.    When sweet potato is almost cooked heat a large fry pan with half the butter & as soon as it begins to sizzle & rapidly fry the banana until golden

5.    Now turn the banana out onto a plate

6.    Add the rest of the butter into the frying pan heat to sizzle & add the steamed potato, frying on high until it begins to brown

7.    Add the banana back into the pan & keep moving the pan around until all the potato & banana are browned & mixed

These are all Q-Zine original recipes created from the information we could gather as there were virtually no actual recipes we could find. The following links show some of our sources of information:

http://travel.mapsofworld.com/kiribati/cuisine.html

http://kapaikai.wordpress.com/tag/fish/

http://web.worldbank.org/external/projects/main?pagePK=64312881&piPK=64302848&theSitePK=40941&Projectid=P118552

http://recipes.wikia.com/wiki/I-Kiribati_Cuisine