HAVE YOU EVER EATEN MAORI HANGI FOOD?

WallyR · Newbie Joined: Aug 15, 2009 Posts: 4

OK.......OK....I'm the Aussie in the pack (or should I speak newzillun and pronounce it, 'pek?') but at least I'm a Maori. I wanted to tell all the would-be-new-Kiwis about hangis....that's the hole in the ground oven where us brown fallas cook kai (food).
Have you ever eaten hangi food? ... simply scrumptious They're only held for special occasions and, IF....IF you're lucky enuff to get an invitation to one here's how you guarantee your place at the table....say you'll bring a few beers for the cooks and the fallas (Kiwi speak for 'fellas') looking after the fire....automatic IN. You'll probably be made honourary chief of the tribe (and dont let them tell you their tribe is the whakaawe tribe....they're the pygmy tribe running thru the long grass going, "we're the whakaawe....we're the whakaawe!!!") and then, they'll make you eat the pigs bum first!!!! publicly.
I make a gourmet hangis here in Oz....one of my most popular dishes is this....take a med sized cabbage, hole out the stalk to at least middle finger deep and 3 fingers wide. Put in a layer of garlic butter, then a layer of bacon, another layer of garlic butter, some basil leaves/diced mushrooms soaked in oyster sauce, and then another layer of garlic butter.... overflow this last layer liberally . Ask the main cook to place this above the meat....and watch their faces when they taste it! Promise.....you'll get yourself another 20 hangi invites...."chuss pring da cabbage, eh Bro!" Good hangi to you.