Fijian Food Specialities (this had to make a post!)

The traditional foods that I will be eating in Fiji are: tavioka (cassava), boiled or baked fish and seafood in lolo (coconut cream). Meat is usually fried and accompanied with dalo (a dry starchy rootcrop which has a taste reminiscent to artichokes).


Tavioka (or cassava) ~ A rootcrop with a bland taste but a lot starchier than dalo. When well cooked the taste could be likened to a boiled potato.


Fijian's like to put cassava in most things, including...

Cassava cake recipe

• Prep Time: 15 min(s)
• Cook Time: 1 hr(s)
• Serves 16

Ingredients

7 cups grated cassava
3 eggs
2 cups (440g) caster sugar
1/2 can evaporated milk
1 can (400ml) coconut milk
60g melted butter

Topping
1 can condensed milk
125ml coconut milk
2 tbsp flour
2 egg yolks

Preparation

Preheat oven to 180°C. Grease a 7cm-deep, 28cm-diameter ovenproof dish.

Using an electric mixer, beat the cassava, eggs, sugar, evaporated milk, coconut milk and butter until well combined. Pour into dish and bake for 1 hour or until firm in the centre. Cool slightly.

Meanwhile, place condensed milk, coconut milk and flour in a saucepan over low-medium heat. Stir until thickened. Lightly beat egg yolks, then add to condensed milk mixture. Stir until well combined.

Pour topping over cake and spread evenly. Using a kitchen blowtorch, gently caramelise the topping until lightly blackened. Alternatively, caramelise under a griller; be careful as it will blacken quickly.

Serve at room temperature.

Note: Cassava is sold in 250g packets from Asian grocers. You will need 2 packets for this recipe. Make sure to thaw before use.

Cassava cake is delicious (we shall see!) and is normally served with afternoon tea or breakfast.

Cassava Cake

(http://www.sbs.com.au/food/recipe/12021/Cassava_cake)

Kokoda


Kokoda* is a popular dish consisting of cubed fish marinated in lemon/lime juice then squeezed and garnished with onions, chillies, shallots, grated carrots, tomatoes and combined with thick coconut cream. Usually served chilled.

Here's the recipe, looks delicious - I shall be looking forward to sampling some!

Kokoda (Fijian Spicy Fish)

This fish dish is a Fijian favorite and utilizes common ingredients of the islands. It is the Fiji version of ceviche. Serve it with a fresh fruit salad.

• 4 large fillets of white fish such as mahi-mahi
• Juice of 3 large limes
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1cup fresh coconut cream
• 1 large onion, minced
• 1 small green chile, such as serrano, seeds and stem removed, minced.
• 2 medium tomatoes, diced
• 1 bell pepper, seeds and stem removed, diced

Cut the fish into bite-size pieces. In a non-reactive bowl, combine the fish, lime juice, and salt. Marinate overnight in the refrigerator.

Remove from the refrigerator, add the coconut cream, chopped onion, and chile just before serving. Sprinkle the tomatoes and bell pepper over the top. Serve on a bed of lettuce in coconut bilos (half coconut shells).

Yield: 6 to 8 servings

Heat Scale: Mild

(http://www.fijibure.com/namatakula/food.htm)

Kokoda :)

*Kokoda - Not to be confused with a WWII walking trail in Papua New Guinea! 

Kava

According to my trusty Fijian Lonely Planet: 

Kava, also called grog(!), is mildly narcotic, looks like muddy water and makes your tongue go furry. You won't escape trying it! How reassuring... The kava is made from Piper methysticum - a type of pepper plant.

'Having a grog' is used for welcoming and bonding with visitors, for storytelling sessions or merely passing time. At a kava ceremony, participants must sit cross-legged, face the chief of the village, and the tanoa (large wooden bowl). 

The dried and powdered root is mixed with water in the tanoa and squeezed out. The resulting concoction is drunk from a bilo (half a coconut shell). Very tropical! You then clap once, accept the bilo, say 'bula' (cheers) and down it. Clap three times in thanks. This continues until the tanoa is empty (could take a while...) but you don't have to drink every one offered, at least the first to be polite. 

So after drinking this delightful sounding drink, I will get a furry tongue and then possibly 'feel a slight numbness of the lips'. Heavy drinkers develop kanikani (scaly skin)!!

Traditional kava ceremony

Lovo

Lovo are traditional indigenous Fijian banquets in which food is prepared in an underground oven. A hole is dug in the ground and stones are put inside and heated by an open fire. Palusami (meat or corned beef, onions and coconut cream), whole chicken or pork is wrapped in banana leaves and slowly half baked and half steamed on top of the hot stones.

This sounds amazing.. but I am a vegetarian. However, I do eat fish and there's tons of other delicious food to eat. :) Usually, lovo is served for more formal occasions.

Lovo - looks like a banquet!

Being a vegetarian in Fiji is pretty easy (yay), especially if you're partial to Indian food (I am). There are also loads of fruit and veggie markets. 

Alcohol!

Fiji Bitter and Fiji Gold are locally brewed beers and most wine is from Australia or New Zealand. Decent wine is around $22 (£7.50). Beer is about $6 (£2) in bars. A 750ml bottle of Fijian Rum is $32 (£11). Sounds pretty good to me! I shall also be hunting down tropical cocktails of course..

Cheap restaurants cost between $4 (£1.30) and $8 (£2.80) for a main meal!!! In more upmarket restaurants and resorts, meals cost approximately $20 (£7). 

Looks like I will not only be eating extremely healthily - no chocolate (unless I want to go and make it!) but also my purse won't be getting worryingly light!