Staying at SigaSiga for the past month or so has been wonderful. The family that lives and works on the grounds have been doing so for two generations. As Indo-Fijians they grow, cook and eat a lot of traditional Indian food: rice, roti, bara, dahl and curries flavored with the sweetness of mangos or the spice of little chilis. All of the food they’ve prepared for us has been delicious!
During our stay we’ve had eggplants, mangos, lemons, long beans, lettuce, papaya, bananas, tomatoes, green peppers, passion fruit, pumpkin and soursop; all from local gardens. Richard, who is friends with Gene the owner of SigaSiga, is starting a nursery on the property and shared tomatoes and bananas with us. We found Bill with the Big Hair’s house during a cycling adventure where two dogs from a farm down the road tried to eat me but I was faster on my bike than their barking snouts. We were treated to fresh coconut (Boo), tomatoes, green peppers, chilis (which we traded to Subash for cassava because we suck at eating spicy things) and spring onions.
Lovo is the Fijian name for a feast cooked in the earth. At SigaSiga you can order Lovo and Sunita the Resident Chef will prepare a delicious meal of chicken, cassava, salad and palusami.
Bowl of foil wrapped Lovo stuffs ready for the FIRE.
We’ve learned and watched Subash is also a good cook and helps Sunita with preparing meals for guests and family. The largest meal they’ve prepared for guests at SigaSiga was for 70 people. For family events, they’ve cooked for and fed about 300. With Ryan and I and their family and friends who stopped by, we ate Lovo with about 12 of us.
Palusami is a thing of beauty and coconut deliciousness. A bunch of large taro leaves slightly steamed, folded in thick coconut cream, sliced tomatoes, onions and some garlic. Wrap the whole thing in foil and cook it in the earth for 90 minutes or so. That green stuff melts in your mouth and tastes like coconut perfection. SO GOOD.
Prepping the delicious Palusami. Steamed taro leaves with coconut cream, tomatoes, onions and garlic.
We paired our Lovo feast with Fiji Bitter and Fiji Gold and wrapped the night up by finishing off a bottle of Bounty Rum.
Another evening Sunita invited us over to learn how to make bara, roti and chicken curry. Ryan and I worked beside Sunita to learn how to make the dough and roll and bake the roti. Also how to prepare and fry the bara. We observed the order and preparation that goes into her chicken curry dishes. One for us wimpy, non-spicy eaters and a second with dark meat and more heat in the sauce.
Sunita kept saying now she’s going to call us and order the roti, bara and curry. I laughed and said yeah, I’m still going request you prepare us the delicious foods. And thank you for sharing your recipes and kitchen with us!
I hope we find similar opportunities to meet people and learn about their food during our adventures in New Zealand. We’ll be leaving Fiji in a couple days and transitioning from our beach bum lives to backpacking hobos.
Yum, freeze-dried meals...