Laplap for lunch?

Monday came which meant it was lunch with Sheila day. We were invited to her family home where she was going to cook laplap the national dish of Vanuatu especially for us! We took the bus having bought chicken wings, onions and dried coconut (which is the hairy one incase you were wondering) under the instruction of Sheila 

We did that thing you often do in England when you get on a bus in an unfamiliar place and ask to go somewhere you've never actually been. So when it comes to getting off you're sort of stumped. Luckily the bus driver shouted of us to get off but it was much sooner than we expected so we were very early ! 

Sat at the road side waiting for Sheila

Sheila came shouting 'my darlings' down the hill, we breathed a sigh of relief as we knew from the voice that we were in the right place. 

She led us to her house, which was yellow, very quaint, with a small porche and a tiled kitchen , the beds were stacked up on a bunk bed put away for the day. The families that lived in this street shared a big fire area where they could cook their food but all the kitchens had stoves and cookers. 

Sheila showed us the ingredients. Grated manioc for the base, this smelt like bread and looked like dough but was a root vegetable. Lots of island cabbage to be washed and cut, some onions, some chicken wings and the coconut. 

From the coconut Sheila made coconut milk, she feared the flesh and mixed it with the coconut water. Squeezing out the residue left you with a white milky substance that when boiled down became quite thick coconut milk. 

The lady herself with the hand made grater

The ingredients

Amy excited to try the foods !

The coconut that looks 'filled in' is one that has grown a sprout and is really sweet to eat!!

Ames trying to grate the coconut (much harder than it looks!) 

NOT EASY

With all the flesh removed

We helped to build the fire

Elizabeth ( Sheila's mum ) lauded banana leaves and spread the manioc on top

Followed by island cabbage 

Chicken wings 

And then onions and coconut milk from the stove

The. We tied up the package with stems from the banana leaves from Elizabeth's garden 

We had some fun with the camera 

And then it was ready!!

We had such a big slab even though Sheila had already fed us a mini lunch of rice and tuna with cucumber slices. 

The manioc was so strange. It has turned into a really gelatinous cake like textue. It was the most filling thing we had ever eaten and because it tasted so different to anything we'd eaten before took us by surprise. The island cabbage was delicious and the whole dish so flavourful despite the fact there were no spices added just a bit of salt! 

Sheila gave us a box to take away to have later, we shared it with Pete (the med student from Bristol ) so he could try some too.

We have met the most lovely, kind and welcoming people during our stay in Vanuatu. Never have we felt so comfortable when travelling, everyone says hi in the street, goodnight and good morning. And anyone you've met before will stop and have a chat. We just bumped into our friend Philip in town, we went on a very Nottingham esq supermarket crawl (just like with sainsburys)! To find what we wanted and because it has rained all day and we fancied a walk. Philip stopped us, said hi, arranged to catch up again soon.  I really hope we can be more like these people back home but it strikes us people may just think we're a bit odd!! 

The heavens have opened. The rain is the worst either of us have ever seen 

Hopefuly it'll stop soon