Pit Pit in Coconut Cream is a traditional Papuan (from Papua New Guinea) recipe for a classic layered dish of root vegetables, meat, greens and fruit in coconut milk. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic Papuan version of: Mumu.
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Mumu is Papua New Guineas national dish and it consists of root vegetables, green vegetables, meat and pineapple. Traditionally it is cooked with hot stones in a pit oven, but the modern dish uses a casserole dish and a barbecue or oven.
Kumu are the young leaves of the plentiful fig, (Ficus copiosa, Ficus wassa or Ficus ungens). In terms of texture savoy cabbage (outer leaves) would be a reasonable substitute.
Ingredients:
2 carrots, scraped and chopped
2 small sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
½ yam, peeled and cubed
1 taro corm, peeled and cubed
1 cassava root (see recipe for how to prepare)
kumu (or substitute with leek and savoy cabbage), sliced
½ pineapple, peeled and cubed
1 plantain, peeled and cubed
500g chicken breast or thighs, cubed
500g pork belly, cubed
1 onion, diced
3 garlic cloves, minced
350ml coconut milk
salt and freshly-ground black pepper, to taste
2 banana leaves
Method:
The traditional cassava used in Papua New Guinea is bitter cassava, which contains cyanogenic glycosides (chemicals that produce cyanide) as a result you need to leach these from the tuber. Peel the cassava then cube and place in a large pot or bowl. Cover with plenty of water and set aside to leach as you prepare the remaining ingredients.
By this time the cassava soaking water should be milky. Pour this off and discard then rinse the cassava under running water before drying on a towel for a few minutes.
Take a cast iron casserole (Dutch oven) and grease the base and sides with oil. Cover the base with a banana leaf then add the coarsely chopped savoy cabbage and leek (or kumu if you have access to it). season liberally with salt and black pepper.
Top with the pork (season this with salt and black pepper, too) then add the pineapple and plantain, followed by the chicken. Season with more salt and black pepper.
Add a layer of onion and garlic (not traditional, but used in modern recipes). Pour over the coconut milk then cover everything with a banana leaf (moisten this with water to prevent it turning black) before securing the casserole lid on top.
Transfer to the centre of an oven pre-heated to 220°C and cook for 15 minutes then reduce the heat to 150°C and cook for 90 minutes, until the vegetables and meat are fully tender.
Carefully remove from the oven then take off and discard the banana leaf from the top.
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