I don’t care what anyone says. My mum makes the best banana cake! My childhood bias developed a love for her fluffy moist banana cake recipe and I have been using this recipe for near three decades. Once baked, add a butter cream or cream cheese frosting and I guarantee you can’t go past just...
Author: Lance_Seeto
My Top 10 Favorite Chinese Stir Fry Sauces
Any Chinese chef will tell you that the secret to a good stir fry or chop suey is the sauce. Sweet, sour, salty, bitter and umami make up the five basic gustatory sensations that humans taste when eating. The Chinese have cleverly developed many sauces over the centuries made by fermenting beans and sometimes seafood....
BBQ Chicken Kokoda with Passionfruit Slaw
Although Kokoda is primarily an acid-cured seafood salad in coconut milk, it’s preservation technique can be adapted for use with other proteins including poultry. When fish is bathed in citrus juices, this process of denaturation turns the flesh firm and opaque, as if it had been cooked with heat. The preservation technique was used by...
Plantains in Coconut Rum (Vudi Vakasoso)
South Pacific desserts are heavily influenced by the abundance of exotic tropical fruits and fresh coconut, plants spread thousands of years ago throughout the region by the first settlers, the Lapita people. One traditional Fijian dessert is called Vudi Vakasoso (“plantains cooked in coconut”). At its most simplest, plantains are often stuffed with freshly grated...
Fijian Butter Chicken
When I first arrived to Fiji I was surprised that Indo-Fijian cooks did not know what butter chicken was? Just as most Chinese cooks know how to cook a good fried rice, I naively thought that all Indian cooks knew butter chicken. However as I was soon to discover, Fiji’s Indian population had been somewhat...
Jamaican Goat Curry
One local Fijian curry to try is goat curry. Goats are prevalent in local Indian cuisine but especially for special functions like weddings as one goat can cost over FJ$350 each. It’s ingredients are similar to the Fijian Chicken Curry on this site but in developing a new goat curry pie for my Malamala Beach...
Cyclone Chicken & Ginger Broth
If there is one dietary lesson that I have learned in this region, is that foods should also be enjoyed for healing and repair, not just for sustenance and taste. The Pacific Islanders have had the Tree of Life coconut for eons, with all its anti-oxidant, anti-microbial, anti-aging and anti-bacterial richness to repair, heal and...
Christmas in Samoa
No matter what your race, religion or creed – Christmas is a time to light the world of others, especially those less fortunate. The true essence of this festive spirit is not just a monetary one of gifts, but how each of us can make a family member, friend or even a stranger smile. For...
Fijian Lolo Buns
Lolo (Fijian for “coconut milk”) buns are synonymous across the Pacific Islands after the European introduction of baking ingredients in the late 19th century. These addictively sticky buns are baked in sweetened coconut milk and can be either steamed or baked.
Fijian Chicken Curry
This classic Fijian curry is unlike a typical Indian curry with its subtle flavours and much less chilli heat. Its origins date back to 1879 when the first indentured labourers arrived from Kolkata, India – only to find that Fiji had very few herbs and spices. They were forced to adapt their motherland recipes with...
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