Cook Island Recipes

DIRECTIONS

Cut and dice up all the fish into a bowl and add lemon juice.  Stand aside for 4 hours to marinate

Dice the tomato into very small pieces, and thinly cut up the spring onion

Do not drain the lemon from the fish, just add the chopped up tomato and spring onion to the fish.

Stir in the coconut cream gradually, but not to overly saturate the fish

Add salt to flavour to your personal liking

Serve with cooked root vegetables such as taro, kumara, boiled green bananas

DIRECTIONS

Peel the ripe bananas, put in a pot with one cup of water and cook slowly until golden brown. Remove from the heat and leave until cold.

Mix 2 cups banana to one cup pia (arrowroot powder)

Keep repeating until you runs out of banana. Mix all together until pia lumps are dissolved. Put into a greased 9x13 dish and cook in a preheated oven  350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for about 45 minutes.

Turn oven off and leave the poke meika in the oven until cold. Cut into small square pieces and put in a clean bowl

Coconut sauce:

Open tin coconut cream and pour into a small pot and cook slowly. Bring to the boil and add sugar. Pour coconut sauce over the poke meika

DIRECTIONS

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C)

Clean rukau with a damp cloth or paper towel then chop them up 

Make a layer of rukau leaves in the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish Sprinkle with some of the onions; keep repeating layers of rukau and onions until you run out of rukau. Don't worry about how full the dish is because the rukau will shrink as it cooks

Pour both cans of coconut cream over the dish and add salt to taste, pressing the leaves down with a spoon. Cover tightly with a lid or aluminum foil

Bake in the preheated oven for 45 to 55 minutes, or until rukau has completely wilted and the coconut cream is bubbly. Cool for 10 minutes before serving

Without the corned beef the dish is a vegetarian one but you can add the corned beef as part of the layers.

DIRECTIONS

Put vermicelli in a bowl and cover with hot water leaving to soak for 5 about minutes.

Drain water and cut vermicelli into two inch long pieces

Heat oil in a pot and add onions and garlic. Cook gently

Add chicken and cook until brown, then add mixed vegetables and soy sauce

Add chopped vermicelli and stir until all mixed

Cover the pot and cook on a low heat for 10 minutes