World cooking: Vanuatu: Cassava, plantain, & sweet potato laplap; & coconut cake

Описание: World cooking 12/200: Vanuatu
Cassava, plantain, & sweet potato laplap; & coconut cake

The highlight of this Vanuatun meal is laplap, a traditional staple dish. Laplap is a hearty dish made from root vegetables like cassava, plantains, or sweet potatoes - I opted to try all of these!. These ingredients are grated, topped with coconut cream, and various toppings and wrapped in banana leaves, before being cooked over hot stones or in an underground oven called an "umu". Topping wise, for protein I used pork, but traditionally pork, chicken, fish, or bat are used. As an island nation, options are limited, but swamp cabbage is often used - I can't get hold of this, so I substituted with a foraged leafy green (common hogweed) for the same 'local vegetable' vibe.
Laplap preparation varies between the different islands and even communities, some preferring fish, and some eating it less often on special occasions - it's a labour intensive process grating it all by hand (I cheated)! The process of making this was spectacularly fun and super different to cooking I usually do. As to the taste? The laplap was very soft and tender, my favourite was the sweet potato (sweet savoury dishes are my jam though!), and the earthy but neutral cassava was also great. The green plantain was grassy as expected, but the most dense and dry which meant I enjoyed it a bit less - if I made it again I'd go more wild with the coconut milk and toppings to counteract that.

For dessert: coconut cake. Vanuatu is blessed with an abundance of coconuts, and they are a key ingredient in many of their dishes. The locals will use freshly grated coconut meat, but I cheated again with rehydrated dessicated coconut. Other than that it's a pretty standard sponge cake, beautiful tasting and simple to make, it made a great end to the more intense laplap process!