What do New Caledonians cook? Review of recipes based on local products. A Weisi recipe that Kolya revised to add his own touch by adding poingo bananas.
Vaïsi is a Wallisian dessert made with cassava (or tapioca) flour and coconut milk. Kolya will make this recipe, inherited from her late dad, whose specialty it was, a recipe in which she will add a ripe poingo banana.
Banana Poingo is a cross between bananas from Africa and Asia. Smaller and denser than William’s banana, better known as the “dessert banana”. The poingo banana is called by different names depending on the region where it was found, so it can be called flour banana, yellow banana, plantain, or pork banana.
Slightly sweet, it can be prepared in several ways: fried, boiled or baked, and goes very well with meat, fish or poultry dishes. In New Caledonia, it can be found in bunya, the country’s traditional dish. Most often it is eaten ripe.
- 2 ripe poingo bananas
- 1 packet tapioca flour
- 3 cans of coconut milk
- 3 packs of vanilla sugar
- 80 g white sugar
- Peel the poingo banana, then mash it with a fork.
- Add tapioca flour
- Add hot water and stir
- Add a packet of vanilla sugar and stir.
- Put white sugar in a saucepan, let it brown, then carefully pour in the coconut milk.
- Add hand-blended tapioca balls with poingo banana to the caramel-coconut milk mixture.
- Add a glass of water, stir and put on medium heat for about 15 minutes, then turn off.
Weiss is ready for tasting.