TUVALU: THE FOOD

Yesterday, I took a short road trip where we didn’t get out of the car. There were so many things we were wanting to do this summer, things we wanted to see, places to go visit, but none of it got done. And now, it’s time to start school again. I got this brand new vehicle a couple months back and have barely driven it anywhere. I have another road trip loop planned of taking state highways I’ve never been on. I asked my daughter what she wants for her birthday next month, and she said “Tacos al pastor, and a drive long enough in the car for me to fall asleep.” I think I can do that.

I have eaten way too many of these. I don't think any will last to breakfast.

What I can do today is cook food from Tuvalu. It was a little difficult finding recipes for this country. I guess it seemed like the same few recipes are the only ones being shared. So, here we are. The first recipe I made was Coconut Banana Fritters. I had to kind of make up the recipe for this since all I found, oddly enough, was the ingredients list. So, in a big bowl, I mixed all my ingredients together, stirring in between a few of them: 2 rough chopped bananas, ¼ c unsweetened coconut flakes, 2 Tbsp sugar, a large pinch of salt, an egg, ½ c of coconut milk, ½ c all-purpose flour, ½ c cornstarch, and ½ tsp baking powder. I stirred everything together until it was like a batter. Then I heated up my vegetable oil in a skillet (using enough to fry with), and when it was hot, I dropped spoonfuls of batter into the skillet. It didn’t take long for it to brown up; I flipped it to brown on the other side. Once I removed them to cool on a paper town, I dusted them with confectioner’s sugar. These were just amazing. I was skeptical that it wasn’t going to be done on the inside since it didn’t take long at all to brown, but it was good. I did get an oil burn on my shoulder from the splashing when I flipped one of them. So, that was unexpected. Now it matches the sunburn I got on my driving arm yesterday.

Surprisingly good with the salmon. I bet it would also be good with any seafood, really.

The main dish is Tuna Coconut Curry. However, it’s hard to find certain ingredients in the stores right now, so my husband picked up some salmon filets instead for me. I don’t know if salmon travels to the South Pacific or not, but you know what? They do now. I heated up some coconut oil in a large skillet and cooked some onions until they were translucent. Then I added in the ginger, garlic, crushed red pepper (in lieu of Thai bird red chilies), and curry powder and cooked it for a couple minutes. After it had become fragrant, I added in some coconut milk, chopped green onions, some julienned cucumber, and soy sauce and stirred everything together. I chopped my salmon into cubes and then added this to the skillet, letting it simmer for about 15 minutes until the fish was done. This was quite fragrant; my husband said it smelled like a restaurant in my kitchen. And actually, the salmon tasted quite good with this. And I don’t know that I’ve cooked with cucumbers like this before, but it was good. I think you could probably go with any fish for this dish.

My first time toasting coconut, or at least from what I remember.

To go with this, I made Pacific-style Coconut Rice. In a pot, I heated some oil and fried some garlic for a minute. Then I added in my rice and fried it with the garlic, sauteeing it in the oil for another minute. Then I poured in some coconut milk, some water, and salt and put the pot on high heat until the liquids started to boil. Turning the heat down to low heat, I let it simmer for about 15-20 minutes until the rice was done and then took it off the heat to rest. While the rice was steaming off the heat, I took a small saucepan and toasted my coconut. To do this, I added about a half cup of coconut to the hot dry skillet. The coconut will make its own oil. I stirred it around with a wooden spoon until it became a light brown. I thought I had set it off the heat, but accidentally put it back on the same burner, which was still hot even though I just turned the heat off. So my perfect golden color quickly turned to shades of dark brown and black. But I salvaged what I could and sprinkled a bit on top of the rice. It was still tasty, and the sweetness of the rice with the toasted coconut on top made for a nice contrast to the spiciness of the curry.

Caution: this meal will make your kitchen smell like a restaurant.

As I was making these dishes, I was prepared for how coconut heavy this meal was. But it wasn’t all in the same form. Then I realized that even though it came from the same fruit, I had it in four different forms: coconut oil, coconut milk, shredded coconut, and toasted coconut. Each with its own properties, each with its own flavor. And this is what makes this such an important part of island culture and cuisine. And we haven’t even talked about other parts of the plant yet: the leaves, the fibers, etc. There are probably few other plants that have that versatility, maybe like corn or soybeans perhaps. They’re amazing! And with that, I finish covering the T countries.

Up next: Uganda