How to cook a Hangi

How to make a Hangi

I am going to explain how to cook a hangi. A hangi is a traditional food maori people cook on special occasions.

The first thing you do is create a fire to warm the earth. The irons, stones and wood need to heat up to several hundred degrees. Once this temperature is reached the men break down the fire and remove the extra embers. After they finished they spread cabbage leaves on the embers to protect the food. Then the food baskets are put on top of the cabbage leaves. Wet sacks are put over the food baskets to help create steam and give the food its flavour. Tarpaulin and soil are then used to trap the heat so the food can cook. You need to wait for 3-4 hours before the hangi is ready to eat. At my marae we always cook hangi when there is a lot of people to feed.

This week we practiced writing explanations. I liked writing about the hangi as this is something my family makes really well.