Four Great New Zealand Dishes

Part of the fun of experiencing a new holiday destination is immersing yourself in the culture, tradition and history of the location and one of the best ways to do this is to sample the local menu. This post takes a look at some of the best native dishes in New Zealand, to give you an idea of what's on offer on one of the many holidays to New Zealand.

Hangi

Top of our list is the traditional dish, Hangi. It's not necessarily the ingredients that make this dish special, most Hangi dishes are just a simple mix of fresh meat, vegetables and spices, but it's the method of cooking. Hangi is traditionally cooked in an earthen pit, wrapped in tin foil and lowered into the hot coals. Once the meal is in place it's covered with a damp cloth and buried to slowly cook underground for as long as twelve hours. The resulting meal is smoky and tender, simply melting in the mouth.

Pavlova

For those with a sweeter tooth we have the fantastic Pavlova. This brilliant pudding is named after the Russian ballet dancer Anna Pavlova and is often served as a celebratory dish in New Zealand. A traditional Pavlova is formed of a delicious meringue foundation topped with a variety of fruit and whipped cream. The combination of crispy meringue outer, soft marshmallow inner and topping off refreshing fruit and rich cream really is hard to beat.

Creamed Paua

A dish that lives up to the adage that it 'tastes better than it looks'; this tasty seafood dish is straight from the waters around New Zealand. The Paua is one of the many native shellfish of the region and is often compared to an oversized sea snail or abalone. The dish is formed of finely minced Paua mixed with cream, butter, onions, flour, and milk and carefully cooked. The traditional recipes make sure that there's a high enough ratio of Paua to other ingredients to really showcase just how tasty Paua can be. The dish is considered a staple at barbeques and is often served up to compliment steak and other meats.

Whitebait Fritters

The final dish on our list is the Whitebait Fritter, another of New Zealand's seafood greats. Whitebaits are small, delicate little fish that are well known for their sweet taste and tender meat. Whitebait Fritters tend to be served in one of two ways, either with the fish cooked only with eggs, to maintain the taste, or served up with minced onion, cheese, and garlic to create a dish with a little more zing.