Special occasional food

“Menaga” is the Teop word for a local dish that they make for special meals, like Sunday lunch or other special occasions. It can be made with taro, cassava or cooking bananas. Rebekah and I bought some taro and made some menaga. It is basically mashed taro, rolled into balls and coated in coconut cream. Here is a photo-story of the process…

First, we have to grate the coconut to get its flesh:

Then we put the coconut flesh into a press and squeeze out the cream:

We also boil the taro:

When the taro is cooked, we mash it in a big mortar and pestle:

We take the mashed taro out on the end of the pestle…

…and give it to the man who rolls it into balls – that’s traditionally a man’s job.

While he’s doing that, we go back to the coconut cream and boil it until it thickens:

Then we put the mashed taro balls into the coconut cream and mix well:

Now we can eat and enjoy it!