Maori were the first inhabitants of Aotearoa (New Zealand).  After arriving from their ancestral Polynesian homeland of Hawaiki, probably about 1000 years ago, they set up a thriving society based on the iwi (tribe), which flourished for hundreds of years.

Maori had an ingenious way of cooking food that is still popular today, a traditional cooking method called the Hangi, where meat and vegetables are steamed for hours in an earth oven then served to the assembled masses.

The Hangi is an earth oven built in a large pit. First the men light a fire and place river stones in the embers. While these are heating, they dig a suitably large pit, place the hot stones in the bottom and cover them with wet sacking or green flax.

Meanwhile the women prepare lamb, pork, beef, chicken, fish, shellfish and vegetables, wrapping the morsels in leaves then arranging them in baskets (originally of flax, but now most often of steel mesh). 

The baskets are lowered into the cooking pit and covered with earth so that the steam and the flavours are sealed in. Water is then placed on the hot stones, which steams the food.

A couple of hours later, the baskets are disinterred, revealing fabulously tender steam-smoked meat ad vegetables with a faintly earth flavour. Slow cooking makes the food extremely tender, beautifully delicate and with a smokey flavour.

Hangi's To U - Unique, delicious, fresh  -  professionally catered Hangi

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