Recipe: Tongan Food and Recipes (5) for Mary.

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TONGAN FOOD
Traditional Tongan food includes meat, vegetables and fruits. Common meats in Tonga are pork, chicken and fish. For a special celebration a pig is roasted over a fire on a spit. People have their own small farms and raise their own animals for food and grow their own vegetables.

Vegetables include tomato, carrot, spinach, cabbage, pumpkin, onion and talo (like potato). Usually vegetables are cooked by boiling, steaming or baking.

Often leaves like taro or banana are used in cooking to wrap the vegetables and for serving. Tongan people grow their own fruit like banana, watermelon, mango, oranges, avocado, coconuts and sugar cane.

In Tonga they sometimes use an umu for cooking. An umu is an underground oven. To make an umu :

Dig a big hole in the ground. Make a fire with wood in the hole, place in rocks. Remove ashes when rocks are really hot.

Place food (meat and vegetables) in the hole. Cover with banana leaves then seal over with matting and leave for several hours.

RECIPES:

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LU-PULU

aluminum foil
10 or more spinach or talo leaves
1 small can of corned beef
1 small bottle of thickened cream
chopped onions

Cut the foil and spread out in a square shape.

Arrange the spinach leaves onto the foil. Make sure that there are no gaps.

Slice the corned beef and lay it on the leaves. Put the onions on the meat. Spread the thickened cream all over the corned beef.

Fold it up by the leaves then fold over the foil, cook in an oven.

Serve with steamed taro, mixed sliced vegetables, salt and a glass of watermelon drink.

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VAI SIAINE

Whole bunch of ripe bananas
Water
Coconut

Peel and slice all the bananas.

Half fill a big pot with water and cream and bring to the boil.

Tip the sliced bananas in and continue to boil. Boil for approximately five minutes. When the steam comes up from the pot then you know it's cooked.

Serving : Serve in a bowl or on a plate.

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'OTAI (fruit drink)

half a watermelon
apples
pineapple
coconut milk or coconut cream
cold water
sugar

Grate watermelon from skin into a bowl, remove seeds.

Grate apples and pineapple into the bowl.

Pour in coconut milk or cream, mixing. Add cold water.

Sweeten with sugar and refrigerate.

When cold pour into glasses for drinking.

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LU SIPI

aluminum foil
taro leaves
lamb meat, cubed
onions, sliced
coconut cream

Place aluminum foil on bench. Arrange taro leaves overlapping on foil.

Cut lamb meat into cubes and place on talo leaves. Place onion slices on meat.

Pour on coconut cream.

Fold over leaves. Fold it up with aluminum foil and put in oven and bake.

Serving : Serve on a plate.

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TO'OKUTU

flour
coconut
cold water
aluminum foil or banana leaves

Place flour into a bowl.

Scrape the coconut out from the coconut shell adding to the flour then mix it together; reserve shells.

Pour in cold water slowly. Make small balls of dough.

Place balls of dough into coconut shells* and cook in oven (cover with aluminum foil or banana leaves). Cook for one hour or until ready.

*You can use an aluminum foil or a bananas leaves to wrap the dough.

Source: Tongan Project, N.S.W. Dept. of Education