BELLY 2.11.09

TOPICS : Samoa, dj Terra Nullius's cooking adventures, in season around Oz, killer tomatoes, news

RECIPES:

Recipe for PALUSAMI - from Sister Rasela

(Taro leaf parcels filled with coconut cream and chopped onion)

My Dad has given me a bit of an inkling as to how it is made but he says really, the best way is to be shown, and this of course is so much a part of the Samoan way.

Ingredients
5 coconuts - coconut scraper
onions - baking tin
lots of taro leaves
aluminum foil

Preparing the Cream:
Scrape 5 fresh coconuts into the baking tin.
Bake in oven until brown. Add ~ cup of warm water.
Squeeze with a thin cloth or tauaga to get cream.
Add salt and Onion to personal taste.

Preparing the Palusami
Get taro leaves. (You will need ~ 4 leaves for one luau.)
Use 1 big leaf and 3 or 4 smaller leaves. You can break a bigger leaf to make a smaller leaf.) Lay the 4 pieces flat with the big one on the bottom and the 3 smaller ones on top.
Place leaves in hand and close hand slightly to make leaves in a bowl-like shape, into which you pour the cream.
Pour ~ a small cup of coconut cream inside the leaf structure and close outside edges of the leaves to enclose the cream, making the leaves like a ball-like structure.
Wrap total package in aluminum foil, twisting the top to conceal and hold the package tight.
Put in oven and cook for about an hour at ~ 250`C (quite high).

Easy Way

Basically you use the new leaves of the Taro, lay them flat on top of one another and roll them into a long cigar shape.
Join the ends together forming a donut-like shape with a hole in the middle.
Place in pot and pour over coconut cream and chopped onion.
Simmer very gently for 15 to 20 minutes and remove to cool and semi-set.
Whole thing is completely edible, extremely rich and totally decadent.

[ask your local purveyor of taro to bring some leaves - the one at the Byron Farmers Market heard the show and had them available straight away]

Sister Rasela recommends :
"Sam Choy's Polynesian Kitchen" More Than 150 Authentic Dishes from One of the World's Most Delicious and Overlooked Cuisines

TOTALLY INNOCENT SEMI-DRIED TOMATOES (from Sister Tess)

Commercial ones are being investigated, but why buy them when it is sos easy to do your own - the only way is the easy way

Cut tomatoes in half - preferably use roma variety or any tasty ones
Get rid of most liquid and seeds, place skin down on an oiled baking tray
Sprinkle on a little salt and sugar, maybe pepper, olive oil
Add any flavours of your choice (or not) - fresh or dried herbs, garlic slivers, balsamic vinegar, chillies - not too much
Cook in a low oven (you can use a medium oven if you are in a hurry) until they look good to you
They will keep in the fridge covered with a layer of olive oil for a few days

EDIBLE QUOTE:

 From Carlo Petrini,founder of Slow Food, in Sydney in October - vision for a new system of food production and consumption.
 " We are strong and we can bring change.We can support farmers’ markets. We can defend food and build school gardens. We can create and support communities and work with them. Ask for more information so that we can learn where food comes from and how it is made. This way we’ll be able to give value back to food... We must have faith. Let us sow like farmers. Learn to plant utopia. Those planting utopia will harvest reality."

CONTACTS :

green garage (Byron)
www.oxfam.org.au
www.globalgiving.com - for Samoan disaster relief

http://recipes.wikia.com/wiki/Samoan_Cuisine - traditional recipes

http://slowfoodaustralia.com.au/2009/10/fraternity-carlo-petrini-sydney-opera-house/ - full transcript of Carlo Petrini's speech in Sydney

http://slowfoodaustralia.com.au/2009/10/fraternity-carlo-petrini-sydney-opera-house/ - meetings etc for a new local food distribution network