About a week ago, the Rugby World Cup began. I had a couple of friends that had played when I first got to university. I didn't really start getting into it until my final years. What an awful friend eh? During those final years however, I got more into it and came to enjoy the sport.
So when Canada's first game came against Tonga at 11pm at night, I was all set. Quality snacks were prepared and I had my comfy spot on the couch. As the game went on however, I realized I knew absolutely nothing about Tonga. This curiosity eventually evolved into what the Tonga diet would consist of. The Kingdom of Tonga consists of several islands in the Southern Pacific Ocean, and their diet reflects that environment. Lots of dishes have to do with seafood, fruits and pork. However, once Western influences made their way to the islands, the diet changed a fair bit.
One of the traditional recipes I guess, was this drink. I found it on a foodblog called "The Polynesian Kitchen", which has some other great recipes as well. The traditional 'Otai was focused more on the ingredients native to Tonga, such as the fekika apple. Western colonists introduced watermelon, mango and pineapple, which eventually came to be used as well.
I lacked fekika mountain apples... so mango became my ingredient of choice. The recipes that I found were made for large groups of people. I had to do some guess work on how to make a drink that was just for myself. You should check out The Polynesian Kitchen's recipes for yourself, there are some tasty ones on there! I'm tempted to make the watermelon recipe sometime!
Tonga's Mango 'Otai
Mango - 1, roughly chopped
Crushed Pineapple - 1/2 a tin (400ml tin)
Coconut Milk - 1/4 cup
Ice - 4-5 cubes
Combine in a blender and mix. Make sure that all the fruit and ice are broken down completely. You can also add sugar if you feel the need, but the fruit usually makes it sweet enough on it's own.
Oh... And Canada won by the way. 25-20! But an excellent game between the two sides. If only New Zealand would be as equal as a match... Oh well. Another game to look forward to I suppose!
I could really go for that drink, all my favorite ingredients especially mangos. Have a great weekend!!
ReplyDeleteWow, very interesting! Looks delicious. I love what you said about gathering snacks and finding your comfy place on the couch. Sounds very familiar!
ReplyDeleteI like you use of the mango, I don't think I've ever seen those apples here where I live and we do have a good variety of imports. I like your varied ethnic recipes.
ReplyDelete-Gina-
This drink sounds really interesting - thanks for exposing us to Tonga (which I've never heard of before today!)
ReplyDeleteJust mouthwatering...looks so easy to prepare and delicious.
ReplyDeleteI love mango.. especially in creamy recipes like this! Great recipe :)
ReplyDeleteWonderful combo of flavors!! And thanks for sharing your research! Always fun to learn about new areas and their food :)
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad to see you sharing our drink from home. What makes it different from other countries' fruit smoothies is that we don't use a blender. That is a big NO-NO :) Try it next time by using a cheese grater to grate your mango to shreds, then add some crushed pineapple, and some shredded coconut, milk and a bit of sugar, that is real otai from Nuku'alofa Tonga (The Big Island).
ReplyDeleteVery cool stuff! I'll definitely have to give that a try next time! I've been wanting a otai again for awhile!
DeleteIs this orginaly from Tonga? It looks interesting and everything but my daughter is doing a project on Tonga and she wants to do this dish.
ReplyDeleteThe recipe is my own creation, but the idea is definitely a traditional Tonga drink. Here's an article from Wikipedia on it. I had to research what dishes were traditionally Tongan and this one stood out! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/'otai
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