This is the fourth ‘M’ country in five weeks. Quite a MMMMystery, too (at least to me).
Although the land area is very small, the thousands of islands that make up this archipelagic nation are spread over so many thousands of square kilometres that it’s actually the 14th-largest exclusive economic zone in the world.
Comprising four states (Pohnpei, Chuuk, Yap and Kosrae), each with their own culture and language/dialect, Micronesia used to be part of a trust under US control until 1979, later becoming a sovereign state in 1986 (the same time as Palau and Marshall Islands).
I read a few brief articles about the history, and the one that I want to pause on is to showcase the beautiful UNESCO-world-heritage-listed Nan Madol, a series of interconnected artificial islands, built up to 1500 years ago. It’s absolutely spectacular, and it certainly goes to show how developed some of the early civilisations were.
Food was a challenging one to try and learn about – partly owing because of the relative obscurity (on the international scene, anyway) and partly owing to the diversity of cultures and tribal traditions across the four states. I found a blog post from a language school that had descriptions and photos of foods the local staff had brought in, which was a great start for some of the more basic staples. In terms of actual recipes though, there wasn’t a lot out there to discover. I went for a ceviche-style prawn dish, as well as a curry that I only found descriptions of (no recipe), and some sweet potato cooked in coconut milk to give that real Pacific grounding.
Kelaguen
- 250g raw prawns
- Juice of 1-2 lemons
- ¼ onion, very finely diced
- 1-3 birdseye chillies, seeded and finely diced
- Coconut cream, to taste (we used about 100mL)
- Salt and pepper, to taste
- Spring onions, sliced, for garnish
- Toasted tortilla triangles, to serve
- Peel, devein and finely dice the prawns
- Toss through the lemon juice then season with salt and pepper
- Add the diced onion and chilli, then coat with coconut cream. Toss to mix
- Place in the fridge (covered) for 2-4 hours; how long it takes depends on how large your prawns were diced
- Serve on a banana leaf (or in a bowl if you forgot to grab one from your child’s daycare garden while you were there, like me…) with a side of toasted tortilla triangles
Curry
- 500-700g chicken pieces (we used skinless breast fillets but you could use whatever you like)
- 2-3 medium potatoes, cut into 1cm cubes
- 3 medium carrots, sliced into 1cm rounds
- 1 larg red capsicum, cut into 1cm cubes
- 2 onions, diced
- 2 Tbsp grated ginger
- 2 Tbsp grated garlic
- 2 Tbsp curry powder (we used homemade Dominican curry powder still hanging around)
- chilli powder, to taste
- salt and pepper, to taste
- 1 Tbsp vegetable oil, or coconut oil
- 1 can coconut milk
- Steamed rice, to serve
- Heat the oil in a heavy pot, and fry the chicken pieces over high heat until brown but still very raw (do this in batches to avoid overcrowding)
- Remove the chicken, and reduce the heat to medium-low. Fry the onions until soft and starting to turn a little brown
- Add the rest of the vegetables, the ginger, garlic, curry, chilli and a splash of water; frying until fragrant (approx 5 minutes)
- Add the chicken back in, along with the coconut milk and salt/pepper
- Bring to the boil, then reduce and simmer on medium for 30-60 minutes, depending on how large your chicken pieces were
- Serve with rice
Koahpnoair Koakihr
- Approx 300-500g taro, yam or sweet potato, cut into approx 0.5cm x 1.5cm chunks
- up to 1 can coconut cream
- optional dash honey
- Boil the root vegetable of choice until soft
- Mash about a handful of the cooked vegetable, and combine this mash with coconut cream and honey to produce a sauce
- Pour this over the remaining boiled vegetable, tossing gently to combine
