More From the Food Files

2008 Ajr

Contemporary Kai

A Toheroa Taste Treat

Courtesy of Ngai Tahu chef, Jason Dell

Another dish prepared for Ngai Tahu's Te Karaka Magazine

Creative Kai

Eel Tacos, Wairewa. 2007. Ajr

It’s some time since we visited the Wairewa Runanga at Mako Marae at Little River near Christchurch to spend the day with chef Jason Dell (Ngai Tahu, Ngati Wheke) and runanga kaumatua, cooking and talking about tuna (eel) for one of Te Karaka magazine's kai features. There’s been a long tradition of tuna harvest at Wairewa; and there’s always been an element of mystery about the tuna migration and strict tikanga has surrounded tuna harvest. They have traditionally been caught between February and April during the last quarter of the moon (hinepouri) when the nights were darker and the eels had begun moving down the streams and into Lake Wairewa, ready to migrate out to sea to spawn in the Pacific. Local whanau adhered to strict rules – food, drink and smoking were all banned from the drains and stepping across drains was equally frowned upon. When it came to producing a modern eel meal, Jason managed to surprise most of the kaumatua that day - they’ve been brought up with baked or boiled eel – perhaps some curried eel, or smoked – but never anything quite as exotic as warm eel salad with watercress, Maori potatoes and bacon; and never anything as tasty as smoked eel in parmesan tacos with shredded lettuce and vanilla mayonnaise (pictured above). Their decision was unanimous though – “it was all delicious, a real treat” – and as they reached for the last of the eel and roast pumpkin butties, they promised to go home and try something new with their own tuna. If you want to read more about traditional methods of drying eel, you can read a piece I wrote last week by clicking here.

Making a Meal of Mussels

Top: Baked Mussels. Bottom: Mussel Patties. 2007. Ajr.

Koukourarata, or Port Levy as it is commonly known to Pakeha, is well known for its delicious mussels. When we visited the marae about eighteen months ago to do another contemporary kai feature for Ngai Tahu's TE KARAKA magazine, chef Jason Dell created a feast for the kaumatua (elders) that included baked mussels and tasty mussel patties.

Catch, Cook, Eat

Toheroa, Invercargill. 2008. Ajr
How lucky are we to know award-winning Ngai Tahu chef, Jason Dell, who, until recently, worked as executive chef at Blanket Bay, one of New Zealand's most luxurious lodges. (He's now headed off to Singapore to set up a super-classy restaurant complex on Orchard Road). He's always been on our side. He makes us nice things to eat. He lets us wash his dishes - if we're really lucky we get to chop his parsley. It's been his mission over the last three years, to take the traditional kai (food) of South Island's Maori (all 18 Ngai Tahu runanga) and whip it into tasty dishes that give it a whole new modern interpretation. Then we sit the kaumatua down and give their taste buds a surprise.... and if we've been good, writer and photographer also get to eat. It's hard to call it work - but we insist it is! (And for anyone thinking I do nothing else but travel around eating.......well....what can I say? It's a travel guide writer's lot!)

Contemporary Kai

At Waihao Marae, Waimate. Dec. 2008. Ajr

Kai is the Maori word for food; Ngai Tahu is the major South Island Maori tribe (iwi). Put the two together and you come up with Jason Dell, Ngai Tahu, former executive chef at Blanket Bay, (now residing in Singapore), who a month or so back whipped up a culinary treat for us at Waihao Marae, south-east of Waimate, three hours south of Christchurch. Using the traditional foods of the marae – eel (tuna), flounder (patiki), yellow-eyed mullet (aua) and sea-run trout – Jason prepared a lavish lunch for the marae kaumatua. We started with tomato soup with Waldorf salad and eel (top left and bottom right); then raised our forks for sea-run trout set on a polenta cake and lobster ravioli; finishing with fresh bread, baked flounder and baked mullet stuffed with pickled mussels, tomato and an assortment of herbs. Not a bad way to spend a sunny day in the south. All this for another of TE KARAKA’s kai features. www.ngaitahu.iwi.nz

Contemporary Twist to Maori Food

ImageSupplied by Treetops Lodge, Rotorua.

Maori chef, Charles Royal is big on giving Maori food a contemporary twist and you can pick his brains if you indulge yourself in a Wild Food & Wine Retreat at Rotorua’s luxurious Treetops Lodge and Wilderness Estate – a divine retreat set in an 800-year-old virgin forest. Book Charles in advance and he’ll take you on a Maori indigenous food trail around the estate and you’ll sample kawakawa tea and damper bread with flaxseed and pikopiko pesto. Charles has created his own brand of wild herbs - Kinaki – and they’re put to good use in the Treetops kitchens. Check out http://www.maorifood.com/ for more information on Charles and the Kinaki range.