As Matariki approaches and winter days start to shorten, the comfort that comes from baking a cake, bread or pudding to share with friends and family is special.
Some of our favourite New Zealand cooks celebrate Matariki with the following recipes.
Monique Fiso’s kūmara roroi
with vanilla ice cream
Roroi is the only Māori pudding known to have existed. We’ve never served this at the restaurant, but it’s one of my favourite desserts for its simplicity and comfort. Traditionally it’s made with new-season kūmara, which is when the vegetable is at its sweetest.
SERVES: 4
For the kūmara roroi:
40g butter
100g caster sugar
50g coconut sugar
600g new-season kūmara, peeled and grated
1 tsp nutmeg, freshly grated
1 tsp cinnamon, ground
Method
Heat the oven to 170°C. Grease a shallow baking dish with the butter and line with baking paper.
Combine the sugars, then sprinkle half of the sugar over the bottom of the dish and the kūmara.
Toss together the kūmara and spices, then pack firmly on top of the sugar.
Sprinkle the remaining sugar on top. Cover with foil and bake for 1 hour.
Remove the foil and bake for another 10 minutes.
For the vanilla ice cream:
180ml milk
180ml cream
4 egg yolks
45g sugar
1 vanilla bean, scraped for seeds
Pinch of sea salt
Method
Combine the milk and cream in a saucepan set over medium heat. Bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally, then remove from the heat.
Whisk the egg yolks and sugar until creamy. Keep stirring and slowly pour in the warm milk mixture (don’t rush or you may scramble the eggs).
Pour the combined mixture into a clean saucepan and set over low-medium heat. Cook, stirring constantly, until the custard is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.
Remove from the heat and add the vanilla bean seeds and salt. Transfer to a covered container and chill overnight.
The next day, churn the custard in an icecream maker until set. It can be used immediately or stored in the freezer until required.
To assemble
Divide the roroi into four portions. Arrange each on a plate and top with a quenelle of vanilla ice cream.
Serve immediately.
Christall Lowe’s kūmara cake
with orange toffee sauce
What better way to celebrate the Matariki harvest than by enjoying one of the most significant crops for Māori, the kūmara.
Here I have combined it with oranges to make a moist, luscious cake, served with toffee sauce and ice cream.
I use orange kūmara in this recipe for their softness and sweetness. As a one-bowl, easy-mix cake, you’ll be whipping this up often!
SERVES: 12
1 cup plain flour
1 cup wholemeal flour
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp mixed spice
½ cup brown sugar, firmly packed
½ cup white sugar
2 cups peeled, grated orange kūmara (about 2 medium)
4 eggs
1 cup canola or rice bran oil
2 medium oranges (seedless), peeled and blended to a puree (leave the skin on 1/2 an orange for a more zesty flavour)
For the orange toffee sauce
1 cup caster sugar
¹⁄₃ cup freshly squeezed orange juice
¹⁄₃ cup cream
Method
In a large bowl, combine dry ingredients, including kūmara, aerating with your hands.
Add wet ingredients to dry and mix with an electric beater on low for 1 minute.
Pour batter into prepared cake tin, and bake for 45 minutes or until cake springs back when lightly touched.
While the cake cooks, make the orange toffee sauce. Place sugar and orange juice in a medium saucepan and stir to combine. Cook mixture over a medium heat, without stirring, swirling the pan every now and then, until a light caramel colour, about 8 minutes.
Remove from heat and carefully add cream (take care here as the mixture will bubble vigorously), then return to low heat and stir until smooth.
When the cake is cooked, leave to rest in the tin for 10 minutes before slicing and serving warm, smothered in orange toffee sauce and topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
Naomi Toilalo’s Belgian biscuits
Pihikete rau kikini
This spiced pihikete recipe is dedicated to our Nana Lilly.
My siblings and I spent many school holidays with Nana Lilly and Grandad Bob on their farm in Ōwaka and I used to make these pihikete with her all the time.
She used an old purple cup as a cookie cutter and she was always very precise with her baking. Chia raspberry jam would be perfect for these.
I think these biscuits are best eaten the day after they’re made, when all the flavours have deepened.
MAKES: 25
Kia 150 karamu pata 150g butter
Kia 3 kokonui mīere koura 3 Tbsp golden syrup
Kia toru hauwhā kapu huka hāura ¾ cup brown sugar
Kia kotahi hēki, kua āta wepua 1 egg, lightly beaten
Kia rua kapu puehu parāoa 2 cups flour
Kia toru hauwhā kapu puehu kanga ¾ cup cornflour
Kia haurua kokoiti pēkana paura 1 tsp baking powder
Kia kotahi kokonui kōkō 1 Tbsp cocoa
Kia rua kokoiti rau kikini whakauruuru 2 tsp mixed spice
Kia kotahi kokoiti hinamona 2 tsp cinnamon
Method
Whakamahantia te umu kia 175 te pāmahana.
Heat the oven to 175°C. Line two baking trays with baking paper.
Whakarewaina te pata me te mīere koura ki roto i te ngaruiti.
Melt the butter and golden syrup in the microwave. This can also be done in a small pot set over low heat. Pour into a large mixing bowl. Stir in the huka hāura (brown sugar) and hēki (egg) until combined.
Raua atu te toenga o ngā kai katoa.
Add the remaining ingredients.
Whakamahia he naihi ki te whakaranu kia pokenga te āhua.
Using a knife, mix until a dough forms.
Hauruatia te pokenga ki te naihi.
Cut the dough in half.
Roll out the dough on to the baking paper until 5mm thick. Cut out about 50cm x 6cm circles (re-roll excess dough) and transfer them to the prepared trays.
Tunua ia paepae pihikete mō te 15 miniti.
Bake each tray for 15 minutes. Leave to cool on the trays.
Te Pani Reka | The icing
Kia 60 karamu pata kūteretere 60g softened butter
Kia kotahi kapu puehu huka 1 cup icing sugar
Kia kotahi kokoiti tiamu rahipere 1 tsp raspberry jam
Kia haurua kapu tiamu rahipere ½ cup raspberry jam
Kia haurua kapu rahipere tauraki-tio ½ cup freeze-dried raspberries
Method
Mā te mīhini whakaranu, whakapāhukahukatia te pata kia tāhungahunga.
Beat the butter with electric beaters until light and fluffy.
Raua atu te puehu huka me te kokoiti tiamu.
Add the icing sugar and teaspoon of jam. Kaurorihia stir it together (add more jam if you’d like the colour to be stronger).
Spread the remaining jam on every second pihikete. Place the remaining biscuits on top and spread each with a little icing.
Dust with rahipere tauraki-tio (freeze-dried raspberries). Store in an airtight container in the fridge or in a cool cupboard.
