Fiji: Wild Fern Salad, Lime-cooked Mahi Mahi, Palusami Taro Parcels & Lovo Earth Oven Feast

Fiji is a stunning collection of tropical islands in the South Pacific Ocean. Officially known as the Republic of Fiji, this Melanesian archipelago paradise is made up of more than 330 islands & 500 coral islets. 110 of the Fijian Islands are permanently inhabited & the Fijians are some of the happiest people you will  ever met. 

Close neighbours to Fiji include Vanuatu to the west, Tuvalu to the north, Samoa to the north east, Tonga to the east & New Caledonia to the south west. Fiji’s largest Pacific Island neighbour is New Zealand which is about 1000 nautical miles to the south west. 

Fijian cuisine is traditionally very healthy, oceanic & energy rich. Key ingredients include sweet potato, taro, cassava, coconut, breadfruit, fern fronds, rice, fish & other seafoods. The central feature of Fijian Cooking is the Lovo. The lovo is a traditional Fijian earth oven. 

This subterranean cooking method uses wood-fire, hot stone, palm fronds & earth insulation to cook a wide range of vegetables and meats at the same time. It’s a bit like an environmentally friendly traditional slow cooker with the lovo capturing all the foods goodness. The resulting feast is both delicious & nutritious. I was so very blessed when I was in Fiji to have the opportunity to learn some traditional cooking skills from the Fijian chefs at Matanivusi Eco Resort https://www.facebook.com/matanivusi/. 

So, this is a big Vinaka vaka levu (thank you a lot), to everyone who made my cooking adventure in Fiji possible x.  

 

Our 

FIJIAN

menu included

Wild Fern Salad (Ota Miti)

 Lime-cooked Mahi Mahi (Kokoda)

 Taro Coconut Parcel (Palusami)

&

Lovo

An earth-oven baked feast of 

whole Chickens, Mahi Mahi Fillets

Cassava Root, Dalo (taro root), 

Kumala (sweet potato) & Uto (Breadfruit) 

WILD FERN SALAD  -  OTA MITI  

Ota is a Fijian fern frond super food packed with potassium. 

Ingredients:

·     1 kg fresh Ota Fern Fronds (If you can’t access Ota you can replace it with fresh pumpkin shoots).

·     1 cup coconut cream

·     2 onions, diced finely

·     2 large tomatoes, diced finely

·     Salt & pepper

Method:

1.   Wash Ota & dry

2.   Cut the bottom 10 cm off the Ota stem and discard as it is tough

3.   Snap the fern stem in half

4.   Blanch fern in boiling salted water 

5.   Drain & plunge fern into iced water to cool & refresh

6.   Mix coconut cream, diced onion, diced tomato, salt & pepper together to make the Coconut Miti Sauce

7.   When fern is cooled down, drain, cut in 2 cm lengths & mix with the Miti Sauce in a medium pot

8.   Cover and simmer the Ota over a low heat stirring occasionally until the coconut milk has thickened

LIME-COOKED MAHI MAHI - KOKODA 

Ingredients:

·     800 gm Mahi Mahi Fish Fillet (or tuna)

·     ½ cup white vinegar

·     Juice of 3 limes

·     ½ cup coconut cream

·     2 onions, diced finely

·     2 large tomatoes, diced finely

·     3 fresh chilli, sliced finely

·     Salt 

Method:

1.   For Kokoda you only use the white fish meat so cut away and discard any dark flesh 

2.   Cut fish into 1cm cubes & marinate in the vinegar & lime juice for 1 and a half hours in the refrigerator

3.   Mix the coconut cream, diced tomato, diced onion, sliced chilli & salt to make a Coconut Miti Sauce

4.   Drain the vinegar off the fish then mix the fish with the Miti Sauce then allow to further marinate until ready to serve

TARO COCONUT PARCELS - PALUSAMI 

To make 10 Palusami you will need:

Ingredients:

·     3 cup coconut cream

·     2 onions, diced finely

·     2 large tomatoes, diced finely

·     6 cloves fresh garlic, crushed

·     Salt & pepper

·     10 half coconut shells freshly scrapped of coconut

·     30 fresh Taro Leaves

Note: don’t wash the Taro leaves or this will make the leaves spikey causing you to itch when making the parcels

Method:

1.   Mix the first 5 ingredients together to make a Coconut Miti Sauce

2.   Now begin to make the parcels. It is most pleasant and easiest to be sitting on a deck under a palm tree with your tarot leaves, coconut shells & Miti Sauce around you on the deck

3.   To make a parcel you will need 3 taro leaves that will each be placed on top of one another with the back stem of the leaf facing down

4.   Place the first Taro leaf on your hand facing vertically (running along the length of your hand & arm)

5.   Place a second leaf on top horizontally (across your hand), then a third vertically (same direction as the first)

6.   Use both your hands to gently bunch up the tarot leaves together to form a cup shape then place the taro ‘cup’ into a half coconut shell

7.   Now, holding the coconut in one hand, use your other hand to give the Miti Sauce a good stir with a ladle, then take one full ladle of Miti & pour it into the taro cup in the coconut.

8.   Now you need to fold over the tops of the taro to make a ball that contains the Miti

9.   Gently roll/turn the ‘ball’ of taro over so that the top of the ball is now at the bottom of the coconut shell & the stem is running across the top in the middle of the coconut

10.        The Palusami is now ready to be cooked in the Lovo 

11.        When cooked the taro will have absorbed the Coconut Miti Sauce &  

      flavour from the coconut shell forming a delicious parcel of coconut taro

12.        To serve simply turn the coconut shell over onto a plate and enjoy the 

      beautiful ball of coconut taro

THE LOVO

How to make a traditional Fijian earth oven

The Lovo at Matanivusi is made under a roof which acts to hold the heat of the earth oven. This improves the efficiency of the lovo. It also protects the fire & food from rain (which can happen at any time in tropical Fiji). The roof also helps to stop sparks from the lovo fire flying up into nearby trees. 

Importantly, the roof also protected the lovo cooks from being hit by coconuts falling from the nearby Coconut Palms. I was warned by the lovo cooks that being hit & injured by falling coconuts around the earth oven was a real risk. So cooking with the Matanivusi lovo team took my Q-Zine mantra of cooking courageously to a new level.

The Matanivusi lovo roof is constructed over a piece of bare earth with 4 sturdy poles planted in the ground (about 3 meters apart). The poles were topped with a tin roof just tall enough to fit a man underneath. I am going to add some photographs with my descriptions of how to make a lovo to help you understand how it works.

How to dig & prepare the lovo fire pit 

1.   Dig a wide shallow hole in the ground about a metre wide & 300cm deep.

2.   Start a small fire in the hole with coconut fibre

3.   Once your fire is alight, begin by laying large pieces of dry hardwood in a criss-cross over the fire, leaving gaps so the fire can breath & grow. The first few layers of timber are very open to encourage fire.

4.   Repeat step 2 five times, laying each new level of wood at a slightly different angle to create a timber web that allows the smoke to escape and fire to grow

5.   It is important to know here that the more wood layers that are added equate to the faster the rocks will be heated

6.   The last layer of wood is stacked flat with no gaps as it is the platform to hold the rocks/stones

7.   You probably need 50 volcanic rocks ranging in size from a grapefruit down to a small apple.

8.   Stack the stones in a pyramid shape with a wide base of the biggest rocks first followed by successive layers each with smaller stones.

9.   Now leave the stones to heat for at least 2 hours; the longer the burn the hotter the stones. 

10.        While the lovo is heating up you have plenty of time to prepare the food 

            to be cooked in the lovo

Preparing the food

1.   The food cooked in the lovo will either be placed in the earth oven as it is, or in food baskets woven from fresh green coconut palm fronds 

2.   In the two hours that the stones are heating up, you should prepare what is needed for the second stage of the lovo

3.   This means preparing both food and the necessary tools to cook it with from coconut palm fronds 

4.   For a family meal you will need several food baskets woven from fresh green coconut palm fronds

5.   You will also need an organic fire-proof base to sit the baskets on in the lovo & an organic fire-proof cover for the food as well 

6.   All these needs are provided from fresh green coconut palm fronds

7.    To make 6 baskets of lovo food you will need to cut 6 green coconut palm fronds off near to the palm trunk 

8.   Cut the first, hard, woody metre of the palm fronds off with a machete & cut off any leaves

9.   Now split these ends lengthways into ‘planks’. These planks will be used to create a fresh green platform on the lovo to support the food baskets

10.        Now cut the next metre off the palm fronds with a machete, leave the 

      fronds on & put them to the side. 

11.        These sections of the palm will be used as a ‘blanket’ to preserve the 

      lovo food baskets

12.        Now take the remaining top metre of the coconut palm &  weave them 

      into food baskets with an over & under plait 

LOVO CHICKEN

This is community cooking so I am giving you a recipe here for 6 chickens so you have enough food for your extended family who are all going to want to share the lovo 

Ingredients:

·     6 whole chicken 

·     ½ cup white vinegar

·     4 tbs light Soy Sauce

·     4 tbs regular Soy Sauce

·     3 tbs Sweet Chilli Sauce

·     2 tbs crushed fresh Garlic

·     2 tbs Honey

·     Salt & Pepper

Method:

1.   Wash the fresh chickens

2.   Mix all the other ingredients together then marinate the chickens in the mix for 1 hour

3.   Wrap the chickens individually in foil then place in coconut baskets to be placed in the lovo

4.   Weave the basket closed

LOVO MAHI MAHI FISH

Ingredients:

·     Mahi Mahi (or other fish) as much as you need for your family

·     Lemon Juice

·     Thick slices of lemon

·     Fresh Bay leaves

·     Salt & Pepper

Method:

1.   Marinate the Mahi Mahi in lemon juice, salt & pepper for 1 hour 

2.   Lay out a large piece of aluminium foil

3.   Place 2 fish fillets on the foil & top with thick slices of lemon & a few Bay leaves

5.   Wrap the foil up so it is enclosed & steam will be captured when cooking then wrap again in the same method with a second sheet of foil then place in coconut baskets to be placed in the lovo

6.   Weave the basket closed

LOVO VEGETABLES

Again, this recipe is a guide. My advice is count your family, work out how many vegetables you will need then add some for the hungry people & extras who are going to arrive when they are hearing you are cooking lovo

Ingredients:

·     Cassava

·     Dalo (taro root),

·     Kumala (sweet potato)

·     Uto (Breadfruit) 

Method:

1.   Peel the whole Cassava, Dalo & Kumala & leave the Uto alone

2.   Now they are ready to go into the lovo just as they are

Stacking the food in the Lovo

1.   After 2 hours all the hardwood will be burnt down so that the original hole that was dug is filled with red hot coals

2.   Now take the coconut frond ‘planks’ that were made from left over ends of green palm fronds used for making the food baskets 

3.   Create a three-levelled lattice-shaped platform on the lovo fire coals (similar to the original hard wood pile), with the green coconut frond planks 

4.   Now the food baskets are added to the middle of the platform & the whole breadfruit are strategically placed to hold the baskets in place

5.   The large pieces of peeled taro root are now distributed close to the baskets between the breadfruit

6.   Now take the reserved middle section of the coconut palm frond & pack them around the food platform to make a loose, open-topped pyramid

7.   Place the cassava & sweet potato into the top of the ‘pyramid’ so they are sitting on top of food baskets then snuggles the coconut shells holding the Palusami in around everything

8.   Cover the entire food pyramid from top to bottom with fresh Giant Taro leaves & cover that with waterproof sacking so there are no gaps at all

9.   Once that is done, use a shovel to evenly cover the lovo with a thick layer of dirt using the earth that was dug out to make the lovo hole at the beginning of the process

10.        The food will take 60 to 90 minutes to cook, depending on the weather

11.        Once the food is cooked it is important that skilled people open the 

      ‘oven’ so that the food comes out clean

12.        Now it is time for the feast! 

Don’t forget to say Vinaka to the lovo cooks for all their work J

Note:  Photos of the cooking are all Q-Zine originals. The primary photo of Kokoda is used under Fair Use Laws from: 

https://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/food-wine/recipes/75156062/recipe-fijian-kokoda-salad