Three KAI recipes from cookbook author Christall Lowe
Christall Lowe invites you to a hākari (feast) at her family table — replete with mouthwatering dishes infused with the flavours of Aotearoa, brimming with manaakitanga (hospitality), and served with wonderful tales of nostalgia.
We are excited to share three wonderful recipes from Christall's award-winning book KAI. Inspired by a bountiful basket of kai and kōrero gathered all the way from the mountains to the sea.
These recipes are woven with stories of traditional gathering and feasting, tips on cooking for a crowd and notes on foraging and using native herbs.
Purchase Kai Feast here.
Oven-cooked Hāngī with native rongoā
Celebrate Matariki; For your festive table; For a crowd; or for a Family dinner - Serves 4-6
My nana would often make a hāngī in the oven, especially in wintertime when it was just too cold to go outside. It was such a soul-warming meal: the aroma of steam-cooked meat, veggies and stuffing filled the kitchen and awakened all the senses. She would use a piece of sacking normally reserved for the in-ground hāngī to get that distinctive earth-infused flavour.
My version incorporates native rongoā as a way of bringing the earth element into the hāngī, and I’ve added some commonly found natives here too — tarata (lemonwood), kawakawa and matipo. You can also use any cut of meat, but pork, lamb and chicken are our definite hāngī favourites.
Cooking it at 200°C for the first hour causes the rongoā and leafy greens on the base and sides of the roasting dish to char, creating a subtle smoky flavour reminiscent of hāngī cooked in the ground.
Ingredients:
For the stuffing
8 slices of bread
1 onion, diced
1 medium carrot, grated
2 tbsp mixed herbs
zest and juice of 1 medium lemon
2 tsp salt
100g butter, melted
For the hāngī
A few handfuls tarata, kawakawa and matipo leaves, still on stems (optional)
1 cabbage with large outer leaves, and/or a mixture of green leafy vegetables, e.g. silverbeet, watercress, kale, pūhā, spinach
4–6 pork chops, preferably shoulder
4–6 lamb chops, preferably shoulder
4–6 chicken drumsticks, or small chicken pieces
Salt
2 kūmara, peeled and chopped into chunks
4 potatoes, peeled and chopped into chunks
¼ pumpkin peeled and chopped into chunks
Any other root veggies of your choice, e.g. yams, carrots
1 bunch fresh herbs still on stems, e.g. sage, thyme
1 cup of water
Cooking Instructions:
Heat oven to 200°C.
To prepare the stuffing, break bread into small pieces by hand, or in a food processor. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and set aside.
Salt the meat well on both sides. Line a large, deep roasting dish with the tarata, kawakawa and matipo leaves, if using, just to cover the base. Add two layers of cabbage leaves, and/or other leafy greens to line the base and sides, and then add the meat evenly throughout the roasting dish. Add the vegetable chunks on top of the meat and in any gaps, and top with handfuls of stuffing. Lay a few bunches of herbs over the dish.
Pour the water evenly over the whole dish, and cover with two more layers of leafy greens, followed by a layer of tarata, kawakawa and matipo, if using. Cover snugly with two layers of tinfoil. Cook for 1 hour at 200°C, then lower the temperature to 150°C and cook for a further 2 hours.
Remove from the oven and carefully remove the tin foil and top layers of herbs and leafy greens. Serve immediately while still steaming hot, and enjoy the incredible aroma of the herbs and native rongoā that have infused the hāngī.
Kūmara Donuts with Kawakawa Sugar
Celebrate Matariki; Add to a grazing table; or for a kids party - Serves 36 mini donut balls
With kūmara as the star ingredient, and kawakawa to perfectly complement it, these irresistibly soft and puffy little donut bites will have your guests saying, Just one more, okay? And the answer is always yes.
Ingredients:
For the Kawakawa sugar
½ cup caster sugar
4 fresh kawakawa leaves, finely chopped, or 1 tbsp cinnamon
For the Kūmara donuts
Approx. 2 medium orange kūmara, to yield 1 cup cooked, mashed kūmara
1 tbsp instant or active yeast
½ cup warm milk
2 cups plain flour
1 tsp salt
2 large eggs
⅓cup sugar
1 tbsp orange zest
4 cups (approx.) neutral oil for frying, e.g. canola oil
50g chocolate, chopped (optional)
Cooking Instructions :
To make the kawakawa sugar, put the caster sugar and chopped kawakawa (or cinnamon if using), in a small bowl and mix together. The kawakawa sugar can be made in advance and left in a sealed jar for a few days to infuse the sugar.
Peel and cube the kūmara, and boil in a pot with water until tender. Drain and mash. Set aside to cool.
If using active yeast, add the yeast to the warm milk, mix and set aside for 10 minutes.
Sift the flour and salt into a large mixing bowl. Sprinkle the instant yeast on top (if using).
Add the eggs, milk (with the active yeast, if using), sugar and orange zest to the mashed kūmara. Beat until combined and smooth.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix with a rubber spatula until just combined. Cover the bowl and leave it to prove in a warm place for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until the dough has nearly doubled in size. The dough should be tacky and sticky.
Heat the oil in a deep frying pan or large saucepan over medium heat to 180°C. You need plenty of oil so that the donuts aren’t touching the bottom of the pan while cooking. If you don’t have a thermometer, dip the handle of a wooden spoon into the oil. If the oil starts steadily bubbling, then it is hot enough. Vigorous bubbling means it needs to cool down. If the oil is too hot, the donuts will brown before they are cooked inside.
Give the dough a quick mix with a spoon. Form small balls using two tablespoons — one to scoop up the dough and one to shape into a ball. Use one spoon to carefully scrape and drop the dough ball into the oil. Fry the donut balls, 8–10 at a time, turning frequently to ensure even cooking, for around 2–3 minutes, until golden (check one to make sure it’s cooked all the way through). Remove donuts with a slotted spoon, drain off excess oil, and transfer to a dish lined with paper towels.
Pop the warm donuts into a large bowl and sprinkle with the kawakawa sugar, tossing to coat.
Make a chocolate drizzle by melting the chocolate pieces in a microwave-safe bowl in 10-second bursts, stirring between each one, until smooth. Or melt in a heatproof bowl over a pot of simmering water.
Drizzle the melted chocolate over the donuts and serve.
Cook’s note: For a lemon glaze or drizzle, mix ½ cup of icing sugar and 1 tablespoon of fresh lemon juice.
Takakau - Flatbread
Family dinner; Serve with slow-cooked meats; or add to a big feast - Makes 8 flatbreads
Every culture has its own version of a flatbread, usually served to scoop up curries and soups, or to wrap slow-cooked meat topped with fresh salad and sauces. I call our whānau version of flatbread ‘takakau’ — meaning unleavened bread, scone or pancake — and this is something we make on the regular, especially to go with umu pulled pork (page 136). We cook this over an open fire in the back yard, or when camping, and of course in the trusty skillet on the stovetop in our kitchen. It’s a simple flatbread, which the kids love making (and consuming), made even better with a hearty brush of garlic herb butter, and perfect for your own version of a delicious wrap.
Ingredients:
2½ cups high-grade flour
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
¾ cup milk
¼ cup olive oil or melted butter
neutral oil to cook
butter or garlic herb butter to brush over the bread
Garlic herb butter - optional
100g butter
2 cloves garlic, crushed
small bunch fresh herbs, e.g. parsley, basil, coriander, chopped finely
Cooking Instructions:
Combine the flour, baking powder and salt in a large mixing bowl.
Add the milk and olive oil or melted butter and mix until it has come together.
Turn out onto a floured benchtop and knead for a few minutes until smooth, adding extra flour if the dough is too sticky.
Put the dough back into the bowl, cover, and rest for 30 minutes.
If you want to brush each flatbread with garlic butter, place the butter in a small saucepan, and when melted stir through the crushed garlic and chopped herbs. Cook for 30 seconds, turn off the heat and set aside.
When ready to cook the takakau, dust the benchtop with flour, and cut the dough into 8 pieces. Roll each piece into a ball and then roll out with a rolling pin to the size of a side plate (about 15cm in diameter).
Heat a frying pan or skillet over a medium-high heat and add enough oil to lightly cover the bottom of the pan.
Place one flatbread in the pan at a time, and cook for around 1 minute, until the underside has lovely golden patches and the bread has puffed up on top. Flip the bread over and cook the other side for 45 seconds to 1 minute, until golden. Remove from the pan and brush with butter, or the garlic herb butter if using (melt it again in the saucepan if it has solidified). Keep the cooked breads stacked under a tea towel to keep them nice and soft.
Best served warm, with slow-cooked meat (see umu pulled pork, page 136 and slow-cooked barbecue beef brisket, page 134), or curried chicken thighs, page 159, or the kaimoana hot pot, page 70.
