Hinemoa’s Koheri…
Heathcote says to Hinemoa:
“Let us make a Maori buffet.
Go and ask our good friend, Kerri,
she who is te tika kuki,
she will help you get together
all the best of Maori kai.
We will have a great koheri,
I will send out invitations
to our whanau and our hoa;
all our family and friends,
Pakeha and Maori brethren.
We will have katae koheri!”
Kerri kindly makes suggestions,
this is what we get together:
First we make some fresh rewana
hot and steamy Maori bread
freshly baked in hot camp oven.
Next, delicious ‘tongue’ of kina,
inside flesh of prickly sea-egg.
Then we offer choice of soups:
cream of paua (abalone),
rich and thick and very tasty
or the cream of sweet kumara,
creamy orange sweet potato.
As an entrée, paua patties,
battered, browned and very tasty
or, in slices, tuna eel,
fried or baked on leaves of puha.
and the tails of cooked koura,
popular freshwater crayfish
seasoned with korengo seaweed
dried to add a spicy flavour.
Decorated with fresh fern-tips
Piko piko also tasty,
heart-shaped leaves of kawakawa
often used to season cooking.
Now we open up the umu,
hangi in the hot earth-oven.
pork and puha watercress,
kumara and hua whenua.
On the hot stones of the umu
quickly place the bags of pipi
and the cloths of beaten paua
not to let them overcook.
Those who still are hiakai,
who have further appetite
may like Pakeha Pavlova
to conclude their Maori kai.
Hinemoa Giffen, 02/09/08.
With sincere thanks to my dear friend Kerri for her help.
Author notes
Glossary of Maori names:
Tika kuki = a good cook
Kai = food, meal
Koheri = buffet
Whanau = family
Hoa = friends
Katae koheri = excellent buffet
Kina = sea-urchin or Sea-Egg
Paua = shellfish (abalone)
Kumara = Sweet potato
Tuna = freshwater eels
Puha = Watercress
Koura = freshwater crayfish (prawnsize)
Korengo = seaweed, raw or dried for seasoning
Piko piko = fresh fern tips, picked prior to unfolding
Kawakawa = tree found in damp bush. Leaves are dried,
ground and used for seasoning.
Umu = earth oven
Hangi = earth oven or food from umu.
Hua whenua = vegetables
Pipi = cockles, small shellfish.
Hiakai = hungry, hunger, appetite.
In a list
A contest entry
- HUGUENAUTY CONTEST No #36 FOR HUGH WYLES FAVOURITES GROUP ONLY. by huguenauties.
750 points, ended September 24, 2008, 10 entries
Honorable mention
• next poem in this contest, remove from contest
Please tell me what you think
Comments
1 - 9 of 9
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Well honored you are, Hine,
for this well thought out piece.
Outstanding!!!!!!!!!
M-C -
MMMMMMM Hine, everything sounds yum yum I've always wanted to go to a Hangi, maybe I'll come with AJ and Sharon next year, now that would be great!
Great poem.
Love Jen
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Dear Hine, Everything sounds so yummy. You'll have to have one when Sharon and I come over in October 2009.
Good luck in the voting AJ
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The glossary came in handy for I had no idea what most of those were. And while I still haven't tried most of them, I like most food and assume I'f also like most of what you mentioned. The names are fun, Piko Piko...far more fun than hamburger or hot dog.
Wouldn't it be great if we could all get together, share our foods in one large banquet hall...it would probably kill me, all those foods, but what a way to go!
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I can't resist
the combination of good friends and good food! This is a wonderful menu and setting, Hine, and I would be there in a flash. Your Maori menu sounds savoury and not too spicy, just the way I like.
Your versing is excellent, the lines moved easily from beginning to end. Best of luck!
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You would be very welcome to come on over Margaret.
Hine
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Dear Hinemoa,
Last time I visited for afternoon tea, you brought out a dish of fried pork-bones which were delicious yet I see you didn't included them in your selection. I see that you have pork as the main course so is that the reason?
I'm trying to persuade Edna that kina and eel are both harmless and paua, either as soup, cooked, or fried in patties beats whitebait for flavour - I love it! It's up near oysters and crayfish among my favourite seafoods.
Together with Kerri you have made a fine selection out of the wide range of Maori favourites and you used my suggestion regarding the use of Longfellow's tetrameter "Hiawatha" style very well indeed in setting it out. Adding the glossary was a great idea too as I doubt if many huguenauties are conversant with Maori terminology!
Best of luck in the contest, applause, love and hugs XXX. Hugh (R.)
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Entrancing, welcoming, I want to stay,
to re-visit each dish, to learn the names
so they will become familiar to me,
to envision the methods, to chat with the cooks.
A wonderful telling, a grand description! Superb!
M-C
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Thankyou M-C
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