Laplap

Grated root vegetable pudding baked in banana leaves — the national dish.

Ingredients

• 1.5 kg Taro
• 3 cups Coconut cream
• 800 g Chicken
• 10 Banana leaves
• 300 g Island cabbage
• 1 Onion
• 2 tsp Salt

Method

1. Grate the taro — Grate the peeled taro finely into a smooth wet paste.
2. Line the leaves — Lay overlapping banana leaves in a shallow pit or dish.
3. Spread — Spread the taro paste evenly over the leaves.
4. Add the topping — Lay the seasoned chicken and greens over, then pour the coconut cream across everything.
5. Wrap — Fold the leaves over into a sealed parcel.
6. Bake on stones — Cook on hot stones under earth, or at 180°C for 2 hours.
7. Laplap is ready — Unwrap and cut into thick slabs.

More Vanuatu recipes

• Tuluk
• Coconut Crab