Servings:
6 portions
Ingredients:
2 carrots
2 small sweet potatoes
½ yam
¼ taro root
1 cassava root
kumu (or substitute with leek, kale and cabbage)
½ pineapple
1 plantain
500g chicken breast or thighs
500g pork belly
1 onion
3 garlic cloves
350ml coconut milk
salt & pepper
2 banana leaves
Preparation:
1) 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 hole in the ground, but unless you want to dig a hole in your backyard, you can also use a casserole dish and a BBQ or oven.
2) First, you’ll need to detoxify the cassava root or also called yuca. It contains cyanide, which leads to inner suffocation. So, peel the cassava root, then cut it into cubes and soak them in water, while you tend the rest of the ingredients.
3) Peel and cut the rest of the root vegetables into middle sized cubes: taro roots, yams, sweet potatoes and carrots.
4) Another important ingredient for Mumu is kumu, which is a green, spinach-kale-like vegetable. If this isn’t available in your country you can substitute it with kale, cabbage and leek, like I did.
5) The next ingredients are fruits: a plantain and a pineapple, which adds a nice sweetness and acidity. Also peel and cut them into rough chunks.
6) And lastly the meat is also cut into cubes.
7) The water in which the cassava root has soaked will be quite milky by now. So, discard it and rinse the cassava under running water. Then let it dry on a towel for a few minutes.
8) Now it’s time to layer all the ingredients into a casserole dish or dutch oven.
9) After greasing the casserole dish with some oil, start to cover it with a banana leaf as a bottom layer. Then add the roughly cut kale and cabbage leaves, together with the leek and season it with salt and pepper.
10) On top of that layer the root vegetables and plantains and season this layer as well, before you move on to the next one.
11) It consists of pork, which you’ll also season with pepper, then the pineapple and on top the chicken. Season the chicken with some salt and pepper.
12) I’m not sure whether the next layer traditionally belongs into Mumu, but I think garlic and onion elevate every dish, so I took the liberty to add a tiny bit.
13) Now pour over a nice amount of coconut milk and then finish the layering process with some more kale and cabbage leaves.
14) Season this layer as well and then cover the whole thing with the banana leaves and a lid. Make sure to wet the banana leaf, since it otherwise will turn black pretty quickly.
15) Bake it in a preheated oven at 240°C or 464°F high temperature for 15 minutes, to bring it up to a boil. Then reduce the heat to 160°C or 320°F and let it simmer gently for about 1 ½ hours until the vegetables and meat are tender.
16) And then simply unwrap the Mumu from the banana leaves, which are not edible, and serve it hot. If you’d like, you can also cook some rice to accompany this dish. This recipe tastes very unusual and not really tasty for me. But maybe I'm just not used to this range of flavors and it may appeal to you.
Nutritional Analysis of one portion:
energy 777,6 kcal water 428,1 g alcohol 0,0 g
Macronutrients Vitamins Minerals
carbohydrates 65,2 g vitamin B1 0,7 mg NaCl 0,8 g
dietary fiber 10,8 g vitamin B2 0,3 mg sodium 341,6 mg
monosaccharides 7,1 g niacin 13,2 mg chlorine 659,6 mg
disaccharides 11,4 g pantoth. acid 2,4 mg calcium 153,2 mg
protein 34,3 g vitamin B6 1,2 mg magnesium 142,5 mg
fat 41,7 g biotine 11,2 µg potassium 1536,3 mg
SAFA 14,9 g folic acid 84,0 µg phosphorus 364,2 mg
MUFA 19,1 g vitamin B12 0,8 µg sulfur 344,7 mg
PUFA 5,0 g vitamin C 63,9 mg zinc 3,5 mg
linoleic acid 4,4 g vitamin E 4,3 mg copper 0,7 mg
linolenic acid 0,4 g vitamin D 0,0 µg manganese 1,4 mg
cholesterol 104,2 mg vitamin K 206,8 µg iron 4,2 mg
vitamin A 1428,3 µg iodine 12,2 µg
carotene 7,9 mg
* the relative amounts show the percentage cover of the recommended daily nutrient intake (calculated for me personally, the values may differ for you depending on sex, age, height, weight and activity level)