Kiribati Buatoro

                                                                               Receta en Español

Buatoro is a typical dessert from Kiribati, it can also be a side dish or a starter.

The way of cooking this dish is the typical way in Oceania.
You will need banana, taro or breadfruit tree leaves, to wrap this dessert in it.

Banana leaves are the easiest to find in Sapin, in case you don't find them you can use aluminium foil asuming in this case that you will lose the original taste that this kind of leaves provide.

In kiribati Kamaimai is used to sweeten this dish, kamaimai is palm sap cooked until it becomes sweet, there is a similar product in Canary Islands called palm honey wich you can use as a substitute.

Ingredients:

•   930 grams of taro.
•   1 banana leaf.
•   300 grams of brown sugar or palm honey.
•   300 ml aprox of coconut milk.

Method:

1-   Peel and cut taro into pieces, pour a little quantity of water in a pan and cook during 40 minutes. Until taro gets a Little soft.

After cooking the taro, put it in a bowl.

2-   Add sugar to the bowl , mix well wih a mixer.

3-   Add coconut milk litle by little, add just the quantity you need to make the mix soft and to give some coconut taste to the dessert.

4-   To clean the banana leaf ,put it under the tap and after that place it in a pan full of water at low heat. Deep the leaf on both sides, very carefully given it breaks easily.

5-   Place the banana leaf on an oven proof plate, pour over it the mix made in step 3.

6-   wrap the mix into the banana leaf as if it was a parcel, use a string to fix it.

7-   Preheat oven at 180 º Celsius, then cook buatoro for 50 or 60 minutes. 

My comments to the recipe

Taro has a special taste, mixed with coconut and sugar makes a marvellous taste that takes you direct to an Oceanic island.
Besides taro is a healthy food that helps lowing your cholesterol levels.

Where to buy the ingredients

Banana leafs can be found frozen in some stores in Madrid, it is common to find them in asiatic stores. I bought them at 'Super Ventas' , José María Fernández Lanseros 1 ,metro El Carmen .
Taro can be found at fruit stores with latin products.

Here you have a link to my favourite cooking tools where you can find my spices grinder:  

Favourite cooking tools

Kiribati

Red snapper with Coconut Curry Sauce

                                                                               Receta en español

Fish is a staple food in Kiribati. I wanted to make a recipe of a  kind of oceanic fish  easy to find in Madrid.
After my research I found that red snapper could be found in Kiribati as well as in Spain, so I decided to cook this fish.
It is a delicious fish that goes well with Coconut Curry Sauce, one of the most common sauce in the islands.
They serve it accompanied by Coconut Rice. Coconut rice Pacific way.

Ingredients:

•   1 red snapper.
•   3 lemon slices.
•   380 - 400 ml coconut milk.
•   1 dessert spoon of curry powder.
•   Salt.

Method:

1-   Make three cuts at the back of the fish. Sprinkle a litle salt over the two sides of the fish.
Pour a litle oil in an oven proof dish and place the snapper on it.
Place a lemon slide into each cut at the back of the fish.

2-   Preheat oven at 175 ºC , cook the fish during 45 minutes.

3-   Now is time to prepare Coconut curry Sauce.
Put the coconut milk in a saucepan with a little salt and curry powder, put at medium heat and stirr well. Once the mix is hot you have the sauce ready. It is easy!.

4-   Serve the snapper with a Little Coconut curry sauce on top, accompanied by Coconut rice.

My comments to the recipe

It is easy and fast to cook, it surprises me the good taste of the fish deeped in coconut curry sauce, besides, coconut rice gives an extra delicious and soft taste to the dish.

Here you have a link to my favourite cooking tools where you can find my spices grinder:  

Favourite cooking tools

Kiribati

Coconut rice Pacific way

                                                                               Receta en Español

It has been a real challenge trying to find recipes , or at least the name of typical dishes, of Kiribati.

Luckily I came across this website :(http://www.kiribatitourism.gov.ki/) where they explain what is life like in Kiribati and offers travel guides where you can find a short description of main dishes consumed in these islands.

Rice doesn't grow in these islands, but it has become a common ingredient in normal meals in Kiribati.

The dish I present today is rice cooked in coconut milk, where they take advantage of the great amount of coconuts of the islands.

This is an easy and delicious recipe.

I already cooked coconut rice for Belize : http://viaja-en-mi-cocina-english.blogspot.com/2015/09/coconut-rice-belizean-style.html

Todays' recipe is very similar, adding toasted coconut which turns the rice even more delicious.

Ingredients:

•   1 clove of garlic.
•   1 cup rice .
•   1 cup coconut milk.
•   1 ½ cups of water.
•   50 grams of grated coconut.
•   Salt.

Method:

1-   We pour oil in a pot and fry the garlic for a minute over medium heat.

2-  Add the rice and fry it with the garlic a minute over medium heat.

3-  Pour into the pot a cup of coconut milk, 1 ½ cups of water and salt , put the pot over high heat until it boils, at this momento, low the heat to minimum and cook for 20 minutes.

The minutes of cooking are an approximation, it depends on the hardness of the rice, you should take care and look if it is done before those 20 minutes.
Once it is done, turn off the heat and let it rest for a few minutes covering the pot with a cloth.

4- Let rice stand, meanwhile toast grated coconut.
Put grated coconut in a saucepan whithout oil, (coconut has its own oil).
 Put the saucepan at low heat , stirr with a wooden spoon. The moment we see that coconut starts to change its color to a light golden brown , we put away from heat and continue stirring.
It will keep on toasting with the remaining heat in the saucepan.
When it reaches the desired color, put the coconut in a dish.

This is the way it should look like:

Sprinkle a little toasted coconut over the rice:

Coconut rice is used to accompany other dishes, but it also is eaten alone. I ate it as a side dish of the fish I will present you next week.

My coments to the recipe

Coconut adds a special softness and taste to the rice, besides grated coconut on top of the rice turns it even tastier, it is easy to cook and a delicious dish.

Here you have a link to my favourite cooking tools where you can find my spices grinder:  

Favourite cooking tools

Kiribati