Umu style cooking is cooking over hot rocks
Today many families still cook their Sunday dinner Umu style. Coconuts resort gave a great demonstration of Umu style cooking.
Preparation of food.
First the coconut is shredded by scraping the coconut meat from the coconut.
Next the fire is prepared. Rocks are put on a sheet of metal and coconut husks and wood is lit to heat the rock us.
Taro leaves are gathered and cut into pieces for the Palasami.
The coconut meat that has been shredded is squeezed out by a fiber material and coconut milk or cream is saved. The left over coconut is fed to chickens or pigs.
The Palisami balls are made by taking several of the taro leaves and filling them up with coconut milk and closing the top. They are wrapped in banana leaves to protect them from the fire. (Sometimes now they use tin foil, but traditionally it is banana leaves.)
Coconut shells are filled with tuna, onions, and coconut milk.
Taro is peeled and put on the hot rocks. The coconut shells and Palusami are put on the rocks. In addition fish and pork are wrapped in banana leaves and put on the rocks.
The food is covered with many banana leaves to insulate it and provide for the food to cook. Since most of the ground is hard lava rock, the cooking is done above ground.
The guys showed us how to make a basket out of coconut branches. We also made a plate out of coconut branches to eat the Umu meal.
The banana leaves are taken off and the meal is served on a plate woven from coconut branches. The food is really quite good. The roasted taro serves as a bread to scoop up the Palusami. The cooked tuna in the coconut shells is also great!
Kava Ceremony
Another tradition for a formal gathering is to offer Kava to invited dignitaries or guests. Kava is a root that is made into a tea like drink. During the ceremony a small drop is spilled before drinking to represent the rain and then a wish of thanksgiving is given when you drink it. Members of the church are encouraged to only drink the Kava for a ceremony and not recreational. If too much Kava is consumed it has an intoxicating effect. It has been used as an anti-depressant. Kava is served in a tradtional Kava bowl and coconut shell.
