Earth oven: The story of the fascinating pacific island way of cooking inside a hole in the ground
Earth oven or ground oven is literally a cooking pit and it’s one of the most simplest ancient cooking structures. It’s a basic cooking technology that traps heat inside the ground providing the right condition outdoors for baking, cooking or steaming food.
Earth ovens have been used in many places and cultures in the past, especially in the pacific regions of the world, the presence of such cooking pits is seen as a key sign of human settlement hence why it’s often sought out by archeologists.
It’s also been the only way of preparing the umu-cooked fish.
The umu or pit also known as the lovo is believed to give fish this unique and distinct smokey delicious signature taste derived from cooking in the ground. But the good news is there is a new recipe in town that allows each and everyone of us to enjoy this signature taste inside our homes without having to dig any hole in the ground.
Ingredients
- 1 x 4 kgfish — your choice of fish (I have used grouper, but you can substitute with your favourite large whole fish, such as snapper or coral trout, available at a good fishmonger)
- 6large banana leaves — enough to wrap the fish with two layers
- 200 mlsmoky barbecue sauce
- salt and pepper, to season
- ¼ bunchdill
- ¼ bunchparsley
- 2 sprigsthyme
- 1large hessian sack (you can obtain these inexpensively from a coffee-roaster)
Coconut sauce
- 1 litrecoconut cream (avoid canned coconut cream if possible)
- 1medium brown onion
- 1medium vine-ripened tomato
- 3–4green chillies, to taste
- 1lime
- 1fresh coconut, grated
Earth ovens remain a common tool for cooking large quantities of food where no equipment is available. They have been used in various civilizations around the world and are still commonly found in the Pacific region to date.
