Alessandra Zecchini: bananas

Showing posts with label bananas. Show all posts

Tuesday, March 16, 2021

Kahikatea berries to eat!!

Is kahikatea berry season again! I already have a few posts about foraging these New Zealand tree berries here, if you want to find out more. Since I cannot climb the tall trees I have to pick the berries that fall on the ground, it takes time and they are tiny, but everyday I get just enough to put on the cereal in the morning (for Max and Peter, I just have them with yogurt). They need to be washed and then the black seed removed and discarded. I leave the remaining red berries to marinate with just a drop of manuka honey overnight, and in the morning they are ready for breakfast!

Max's cereal! (TBW, we also have our own bananas!!)

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Sunday, August 5, 2018

Niue, eating vegetarian from a plantation

Last month we returned to Niue for a holiday, and one of the first things we did was a Plantation Tour with Tony, like seven year ago, to stock up with local produce for a plant based diet. Naturally we started with some fresh coconut to drink.

And some marshmallow coconut to eat.

We took back quite a lot of young coconuts, from a small one I could get two big glasses of coconut water, if it was a bit bigger two and an half glasses.

After drinking we used the tender flesh, you can just eat it as it is, or use it in cooking (the best was to pan-fry it with olive oil and smoked salt and eat it as 'vegan bacon'. Then we gave the shells to the cat and it cleaned it up! Never seen a cat eating coconut!

Click here for more coconut recipes and creations in Niue.

Next was taro, so much taro, white and pink!

And cassava, a white and a yellow type (I prefer the yellow).

And a type of wild spring onion, very tasty. We also got some basil.

Ginger abounds too, if you are keen.

And this is our bounty!

Taro is very starchy and filling, I made some salads, one with boiled taro, olive oil, salt, basil and spring onions.

And one with boiled taro, mayo and spring onions.

I also boiled the cassava and then roasted half with olive oil and salt, while the other half I mushed and mixed with falafel mix to make veggie burgers (ok, they don't look 'pretty' but they were pretty good). More recipes here.

No much tropical fruit around a part from bananas, papaya and coconut, but I loved the papayas with a drizzle of Niue Honey and lime or lemon juice.

And for dessert: papaya, banana and young coconut flesh fruit salad, with rum and a little sugar.

And here something we DIDN"T eat: Uga crab.

And some pretty fish!

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Friday, June 22, 2018

Pitako - coconut and banana bread from Niue

I have been attending Niue language classes at the Pasifika Education Centre in Auckland, and a few weeks back we also learned to cook Pitako, a type of 'bread' made with grated coconut and bananas (green and ripe) - only! Obviously vegan, sugar and gluten free, very Paleo :-).

Ingredients: fresh coconut to grate, green bananas, ripe bananas.

Volu e niu ke he apa

Grate the coconut

Fakapelapela e tau fua futi momoho, fole e tau fua futi ti holo kehe apa.
Mash the ripe banana, peel and grate the green banana into a large bowl.

Lafi fakalataha e futi holo mo e futi momoho mo e niu volo.
Mix the grated green banana, mashed ripe banana and grated coconut.
(for a sweeter pitako add more mashed banana, add more green banana for a less sweet Pitako, I also put a few drops of lemon juice, and next time I will add a pinch of salt - these are not in the recipe but my own additions).

Loegi e laufuti mo e fakatoka e foila mo e taga tao kai.

Hafi e Pitako.

Prepare oven bag and foil or banana leaf.

Wrap.

In class we used tin foil and baking paper, but at home I had banana leaves (need to be washed and scorched over a flame to soften and remove the central vein to soften. I used the banana leaves to wrap, and then also tin foil on the outside.