Hangi recipe

A Maori pit oven in which baskets of meat and root vegetables steam for hours on volcanic stones heated by a manuka fire.

8 hourshard10 ingredients

Ingredients

• 35 volcanic stones
• 20 manuka wood
• 2000 g lamb shoulder
• 2000 g pork shoulder
• 1 whole chicken
• 1000 g kumara
• 1000 g potatoes
• 1000 g pumpkin
• 1 cabbage
• 2 tbsp salt

How to make Hangi

1. Dig a pit 70 cm deep, wide enough to take two stacked baskets.
2. Stack manuka or kanuka logs in the pit with 35 volcanic stones, andesite or basalt, on top. Ordinary river stones hold water and explode.
3. Light the fire and let it burn 3 to 4 hours, until the stones glow at 600 to 700 C.
4. Rake out the embers and most of the ash, leaving the glowing stones in the bottom of the pit.
5. Season 2 kg lamb shoulder, 2 kg pork shoulder and 1 whole chicken with 2 tbsp salt and load them into a wire basket lined with puka, banana or cabbage leaves.
6. Fill a second basket with 1 kg kumara, 1 kg potatoes, 1 kg pumpkin and 1 shredded cabbage.
7. Set the meat basket directly on the stones and the vegetable basket on top of it. The food sits above the stones, never under them, and nothing is buried in contact with the fire.
8. Douse everything with 2 litres of water to raise steam, cover with soaked sacks or wet cloths, then shovel earth over the pit until no steam escapes; patch any leak while it cooks.
9. Cook 3 to 4 hours, then lift the baskets. A hangi cannot be reproduced in a kitchen oven: without the pit, the stones and the earth seal you get roast meat, not hangi.

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