Recipes from the Torres Strait Islands

Recipes from the Torres Strait Islands

from Nadia Seriat’s father’s recipe book

MUD CLAM BLATCHAN 3 dozen mud clams (or any other edible shellfish) 2 tablespoons olive oil 1 onion, diced 1 clove garlic, crushed 2 rashers bacon, chopped 1 teaspoon Chinese prawn paste (if available) 2 teaspoons plain flour ¼ cup vinegar 2 birds eye chillies, crushed 1 teaspoon lemon juice 1 teaspoon salt Fry the chopped onion, garlic and bacon in hot oil till browned. Add the clams. Make a paste of flour, vinegar, lemon juice, prawn paste and chillies. Add water to make a cupful of liquid and add it to the frypan. Simmer for 30 minutes adding water as the sauce evaporates, until you are left with a dark sauce which may be put on rice or served on dry biscuits, garnished with finely chopped eschallots. To prepare the clams: They should be left in frequently changed fresh water for a day until they stop throwing out mud. They may then be boiled in salted water for half an hour, until the shells open. The stomach is then removed and discarded and the remaining firm flesh is finely chopped. SAUCEPAN SOP SOP (Steamed Vegetables) ½ kg yam ½ kg sweet potato ½ kg pumpkin 1 onion 1 teaspoon salt 115 grams fish or fowl 2 coconuts Taro and cassava may be substituted, or included with the yam, sweet potato and pumpkin. Dice the vegetables into 12mm cubes, placing the yam and sweet potato under water to prevent them going black. Take care to remove all the skin of the sweet potato which extends up to 3mm into the surface in some varieties. Warm a banana leaf over the hot plate to make it pliable and line a saucepan with it. Add the diced vegetables, topping them off with the diced meat, chopped onion and salt. Grate the coconuts, add about a cup and a half of water to the meat and squeeze out enough coconut milk to almost cover the mixture. Bring to the boil and simmer till the vegetables are soft.

COCONUT DAMPER

4 cups self-raising flour ¾ litre coconut milk, more or less Salt Sieve flour and salt together. Mix a dough with the coconut milk to the consistency of a scone mixture. Grease a baking dish, sprinkle it with a light dusting of flour and place the mixture in the dish. Bake for about half an hour and test before removing from the oven. ASHES DAMPER 3 cups plain flour 3 cups self-raising flour BANANA PAKALOLO 2 kgs cassava ¼ cup sugar ½ cup plain flour 3 ripe bananas Rind of one lemon Milk from three coconuts Peel and grate the cassava. Add a small amount of water to the pulp and squeeze through a linen cloth till all the juices have been collected. Stand the juice to one side and in a short time the arrowroot starch will settle and the clear liquid may be poured off and discarded. Add the starch to the dry cassava mash, plus the sugar, flour, lemon rind and mashed bananas, and blend well. Bake for about three hours and test with a broom straw. When the cassava is cooked the straw will be sticky. Remove from the oven and pour the coconut milk over the hot mixture, cutting it with a sharp knife all the time. The heat of the mixture will tend to bring the oil out of the coconut milk and you will see it soaking into the mixture. Pakalolo is very nice served with fish. It will keep in the fridge and can be reheated in hot peanut oil. Water SaltMix a dough with all the ingredients and knead for 15 minutes. Light a fire on clean sand and let it burn for at least half an hour. Clean away the fire and scoop a depression in the hot sand and place the damper in it. Cover with more hot sand and ashes. As the damper rises cover with more hot sand and ashes to keep the heat in. Remove from fire ashes in an hour.