Recipe | Oven-cooked hāngī with native rongoā Copy

My nana would often make a hāngī in the oven, especially in winter time when it was just too cold to go outside. It was such a soul- warming meal: the aroma of steam- cooked meat, veges and stuffing filling the kitchen and awakening all the senses. She would use a piece of sacking normally reserved for the in-ground hāngī to get that distinctive earth- infused flavour.

My version incorporates native rongoā as a way of bringing the earth element into the hāngī, and I’ve added some commonly found natives here too — tarata (lemonwood), kawakawa and matipo. You can also use any cut of meat, but pork, lamb and chicken are our definite hāngī favourites.

Serves 4-6

Cooking it at 200°C for the first hour causes the rongoā and leafy greens on the base and sides of the roasting dish to char, creating a subtle smoky flavour reminiscent of hāngī cooked in the ground.

Ingredients

For the stuffing

8 slices of bread

1 onion, diced

1 medium carrot, grated

2 tbsp mixed herbs

zest and juice of 1 medium lemon

2 tsp salt

100g butter, melted

For the Hāngī

a few handfuls tarata, kawakawa and matipo leaves, still on stems (optional)

1 cabbage with large outer leaves, and/or a mixture of green leafy vegetables, e.g. silverbeet, watercress, kale, pūhā, spinach

4–6 pork chops, preferably shoulder

4–6 lamb chops, preferably shoulder

4–6 chicken drumsticks, or small chicken pieces

salt

2 kūmara, peeled and chopped into chunks

4 potatoes, peeled and chopped into chunks

¼ pumpkin, peeled and chopped into chunks

any other root veges of your choice, e.g. yams, carrots

1 bunch fresh herbs still on stems, e.g. sage, thyme

1 cup of water

Method

Heat oven to 200°C.

To prepare the stuffing, break bread into small pieces by hand, or in a food processor. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and set aside.

Salt the meat well on both sides. Line a large, deep roasting dish with the tarata, kawakawa and matipo leaves, if using, just to cover the base. Add two layers of cabbage leaves, and/or other leafy greens to line the base and sides, and then add the meat evenly throughout the roasting dish. Add the vegetable chunks on top of the meat and in any gaps, and top with handfuls of stuffing. Lay a few bunches of herbs over the dish.

Pour the water evenly over the whole dish, and cover with two more layers of leafy greens, followed by a layer of tarata, kawakawa and matipo, if using. Cover snugly with two layers of tinfoil. Cook for 1 hour at 200°C, then lower the temperature to 150°C and cook for a further 2 hours.

Remove from the oven and carefully remove the tinfoil and top layers of herbs and leafy greens. Serve immediately while still steaming hot, and enjoy the incredible aroma of the herbs and native rongoā that have infused the hāngī.

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More recipes by Christall Lowe — 

Summer fruit galette

Asparagus with berry salsa