- 1 year ago
The Food Truck NZ - S03E08 - Polynesian Cuisine
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00:00Chef Michael van der Elzen is taking to the streets of New Zealand for a tiki tour of
00:06taste buds.
00:07His goal, to transform some of the world's most popular fat-filled dishes into healthy
00:13gourmet truck food.
00:14I am under the gun.
00:18This time on the food truck...
00:19Who made this?
00:20Me.
00:21You?
00:22How do you know how to do this?
00:24I don't.
00:25Michael gives Polynesians everywhere a fright by messing with island food.
00:30Sorry Mike, I don't like your balo sami.
00:33No?
00:34Can Michael take Polynesian food, give it a makeover and come up with something new
00:38to please Kiwis of every kind?
00:41Find out on the food truck.
00:48New Zealand is home to some 300,000 Polynesians and yet Polynesian cuisine is thin on the
00:53ground.
00:54Crowded out by Asian cheap eats, the food of the islands remains an enigma, even in
00:59the world's biggest Polynesian city.
01:02It amazes me that the Polynesian culture has made such an impact in New Zealand, yet the
01:08food flies completely under the radar.
01:12It's like a secret society only known to Pacific Islanders.
01:19If Michael wants to join this secret society, he'd better get on with it.
01:23In less than a week, he'll be the pālangi pretender at Auckland's Polyfest, an annual
01:28celebration of Pacific dance and culture in Manukau.
01:34To get down with the brown, Michael has come to the most popular Polynesian markets in
01:38Auckland, the mecca of Polynesian food, crafts and culture that is the Ōtara markets.
01:46For a Polynesian market, there's not actually that much Polynesian food going on.
01:50There's heaps of hot chicks, lots of Asian food.
01:54Well, maybe you need to look a bit harder, Michael.
01:56Look, there's some.
01:58Oh, Chinese.
02:00And kebabs.
02:02Hot chips.
02:04Not really Polynesian.
02:06What have you got that's Polynesian?
02:08It's not Polynesian.
02:10We've got the bola, which is a Māori food.
02:12All right.
02:14How about a souvlaki with a Polynesian twist?
02:16Souvlakis?
02:18Is that Polynesian or is that Middle Eastern?
02:20Well, I think it's Polynesian.
02:23A Polynesian souvlaki.
02:25Well, perception is reality.
02:27It's like a burger gone wrong.
02:31That's hoisin beef, so it's like really, really sweet beef with a poached egg in the middle and some onion.
02:37It's not necessarily very good for you.
02:39In fact, it's actually really bad.
02:41In desperation, Michael samples a pineapple with some ice cream in it.
02:45Well, it's island style.
02:47These are not really Polynesian, but I'd love to try your Hawaiian delight.
02:53There's probably one good thing about this is you've got all this fresh pineapple in the bottom.
02:57The problem is you've got to go through all the ice cream to get to it.
03:00Just when he's about to throw in the lava lava, Michael spots something promising.
03:05He just doesn't know what.
03:07That looks good.
03:08What is this?
03:09It's cooked banana and coconut cream.
03:11What island is this from?
03:13Cook Island.
03:14From the Cook Island.
03:15Resolved.
03:16And what are these called?
03:17Banana poke.
03:18Poke.
03:19Yes.
03:21It's like banana flavoured jello that's been cooked in coconut cream.
03:25With truckloads of sugar in it.
03:27It's quite delicious, but I have no idea what's in there.
03:31And on that banana flavoured note, Mike admits defeat.
03:35What is Polynesian food?
03:36I still need to find out the essence of Polynesian street food.
03:41Michael needs to go to the source.
03:43Sadly, he can't drive his truck to the islands, so he's come to the next best thing.
03:49Evelina's Polynesian food in Manurewa.
03:52Hi, you must be Evelina.
03:53Yes, I'm Evelina.
03:54Michael, pleasure to meet you.
03:55You're welcome.
03:56I've come to discover your wonderful Polynesian cuisine.
03:59This is what you call a family business.
04:01This is my brother.
04:02Hello, brother.
04:03I'm Ameto, Michael.
04:04Ameto.
04:05Yes.
04:06That's my sister.
04:07Hello, sister.
04:08Hi, I'm Amelia.
04:09Evelina and her clan have been serving traditional Samoan meals from their shop for more than
04:13five years.
04:17That's another one there.
04:18That's a pork head, man.
04:19He's a pork head, man.
04:20Yeah.
04:21You've got a lot of people in here.
04:22Because we've got a lot of food to do.
04:23So, Michael cracks straight into one of the most popular Samoan staples with Evelina's
04:27son, John.
04:30So this is palusami.
04:31Yeah, palusami.
04:32Palusami.
04:33Yeah.
04:34Palusami is a Samoan delicacy involving taro leaves, coconut cream and a bit of flour arranging.
04:39So you create a little bowl to hold your coconut cream in.
04:42Yes.
04:43You use a lot of coconut, eh, when you're cooking.
04:44You know, islanders.
04:45It's there.
04:46Tin foil prepares the dish for steaming.
04:48Because now we're using the foil, while in the island we used banana leaves.
04:51So this is your new age banana leaves.
04:54Palangi way.
04:55Palangi way.
04:56Can I make one?
04:57Yep.
04:58Great.
04:59I've never cooked with taro leaves in my life.
05:02Hand in the middle?
05:03Yep.
05:04Yeah?
05:05Yep.
05:06You're doing good.
05:07Kind of looks like a bowl.
05:08A bit of mine.
05:09Fold it in.
05:10Kind of like that?
05:11Yep.
05:12We've got a bit of linkage.
05:13That's right.
05:14Don't worry about that.
05:16An hour and a half.
05:17200 degrees.
05:18With some water.
05:19And I have my very own palusami.
05:20That's the palusami.
05:21While the palusami is cooking, Evelina's sister Amelia introduces Michael to the joys of sapasui
05:27made with lamb.
05:28Why do you use lamb flat?
05:29Because it's easier for us to cut.
05:31You've got onions, ginger and chopped up lamb.
05:34Yep.
05:35Absolutely.
05:36Great.
05:37A few key ingredients is all it takes.
05:38And no need for measuring.
05:39And the next one is the peanut oil.
05:41Peanut oil.
05:42OK.
05:43But don't put too much.
05:44Why peanut oil?
05:45Because peanut oil we found in Samoa those days.
05:47Coconut oil?
05:48No coconut oil.
05:49We use coconut oil on our skin.
05:50We never use it on food.
05:51OK.
05:52Fair enough.
05:53OK.
05:54We've got soya sauce.
05:55OK.
05:56Don't put too much.
05:57Just put a little bit.
05:58Just to colour it, you know?
05:59The soya sauce is a legacy of Chinese immigration to the islands, along with a Chinese version
06:04of this dish, sometimes called chop suey.
06:07So this is sapasui?
06:08We call it sapasui.
06:09Nice.
06:10Yes.
06:11OK.
06:12Yeah.
06:13Are there any vegetables or anything that goes into there?
06:15No.
06:16If I was to make one with lots of vegetables, it wouldn't be a sapasui.
06:19No.
06:20Nice try, Michael.
06:21But veggies aren't needed.
06:22Just the vermicelli.
06:23And the dish is complete.
06:24I'd love to try some.
06:25Can I try some?
06:26Oh.
06:27By all means.
06:28OK.
06:29I've never tried this.
06:30Cool.
06:31That'll be enough.
06:33Is that a normal portion?
06:34That is a normal portion for you.
06:35What about a Polynesian portion?
06:36Oh, a Polynesian portion?
06:37No, no, no.
06:38That'll cover the whole plate.
06:39That's all right.
06:40It's lovely.
06:42You put it in there, you can taste.
06:43Yes.
06:44That is why we don't want to spoil it with all the veggies.
06:47You know, you're going to ruin the sapasui.
06:49Don't put any veggies in it.
06:51No veggies?
06:52No.
06:53OK.
06:54Looks like the veggies are a no.
06:55But what about seafood?
06:56There's not a lot of seafood.
06:57But you must have so much seafood at home.
06:59Oh, yeah, we do.
07:00But over here, you don't see much.
07:01OK.
07:02Because over here, it's so expensive.
07:03In the island, if you want seafood, you go and get it yourself.
07:06You'll get it yourself.
07:07Yes.
07:08Over here, you have to go and buy it, what, for $30 a kilo?
07:11No, thank you.
07:13Yeah, to be honest, health is not very high up in their agenda.
07:17I don't want to knock them.
07:18I don't, because I love what they do.
07:20But there is a serious amount of fat going on in their food.
07:24You know, it's all about portions and price.
07:27How do I offer something that is substantial for a small price that's not crap?
07:33Chef Michael van der Elzen is trying to get to grips with one of New Zealand's most distinctive
07:38and yet little understood cuisines.
07:40If I cook this, can I put some vegetables into it?
07:42Don't put any veggies in it.
07:44No veggies?
07:45No.
07:46In just a few days, he'll be trying to sell a healthier take on Polynesian food at Polyfest,
07:51even though he has zero experience with the food of the islands.
07:54So to make sure he's heading in the right direction, he's consulting with people
07:58So I've come to a bus terminal.
08:00These guys run on pretty tight schedules, even though most Aucklanders may not think so.
08:04When they've come in and they've finished their shift or starting their shift,
08:08I will have my food ready for them.
08:10Michael's first challenge is to take a basically unhealthy dish
08:13and give it a makeover without leaving it unrecognisable.
08:16When you look at sapa sui, it's rice noodles, lamb flaps, which are really fatty,
08:21soy sauce, and a little bit of salt.
08:24It's rice noodles, lamb flaps, which are really fatty, soy sauce, and peanut oil.
08:28I've been told you can't put any vegetables in there,
08:31but what if I can get them in there without them noticing?
08:35You mean smuggling the vegetables in by stealth?
08:38That's going to require a special tool.
08:41So I'm going to use these veggies with the idea of imitating the rice noodles.
08:46The curly whirly machine makes short and curly work of even the most stubborn root vegetables,
08:51and the result is a kind of colorful afro, a veg.
08:54That was pretty quick.
08:56For his meat, Michael is saying goodbye to flaps and hello to shanks.
09:01So I want to use lamb, but I can't use the flaps.
09:03There's just too much fat in them.
09:05So I'm going to braise some shanks.
09:07Michael combines peanut oil, onions, carrot, ginger, garlic, and the lamb in a pan.
09:13I just need to add a little bit of vegetable stock to this.
09:15That's going to be my braising liquor.
09:17The sauce, or liquor as Michael calls it, includes dark soy sauce for extra flavor and color.
09:23After 45 minutes in the oven, a certain something comes to the top.
09:28On top you've got this sheen of fat.
09:31I need to remove that sheen.
09:33So I'm going to let these cool down a little while,
09:35and then I'm going to remove all the fat off this sauce,
09:37and then this is going to be the dressing for my supper suey.
09:41The lamb is shredded and then combined with the curly whirly veggies,
09:44the rice noodles, and Michael's now fat-free dressing.
09:48It sure looks the part, though not everyone's convinced.
09:55What sort of meat?
09:56It's lamb.
10:01Beautiful.
10:02Do you like that?
10:03Yeah.
10:04It's great, but I need a little bit of salt to add on.
10:06It needs a bit of salt?
10:07Yeah.
10:08That's a pretty bad word.
10:10This is lovely.
10:11It's very spicy.
10:12And there's probably 50% vegetables in there.
10:14Really?
10:15I wouldn't have thought that.
10:17Can you taste the parsnips?
10:19Oh, yeah.
10:20I snuck them in there and you didn't even know.
10:22Yep.
10:23Michael's clandestine vegetable ambush is a pleasant supper suey surprise for some,
10:28but only some.
10:29I think there's too much carrots in it.
10:32Okay.
10:33Do you think I could sell that as supper suey?
10:35No, I don't think you can sell this.
10:37As with his supper suey,
10:39Michael is introducing a new ingredient to his palusami.
10:42I've gone for hoki, which is a really cheap white flesh fish.
10:46I'm going to marinate it ever so quickly in some lemon juice and the juice of one lime.
10:51I'm just going to let that stand just for a couple of minutes, three or four minutes.
10:56I want there to be a little bit of citrus flavour, but I don't want it to dominate.
10:59I want the coconut to be the leader.
11:01Michael's coconut will be leading from the very front because he's making it from scratch.
11:07Rather than buying it, I want to attempt to make my own fresh coconut cream.
11:11Despite being a fruit, coconuts contain a high amount of saturated fat.
11:15So to reduce fat, Michael uses a younger, lower fat coconut and combines it with an older, richer one.
11:22So I'm hoping by combining both of these together,
11:25I'm going to end up with a coconut cream that is not only tasty, but a little bit more healthy.
11:30First, Michael needs to empty the coconuts of their water.
11:33With a big knife.
11:36I need a mallet.
11:47Don't try this at home.
11:49Actually, don't try this anywhere.
11:52After draining the coconuts, Michael removes the flesh.
11:55But not without a fight.
11:58This is actually quite hard work.
12:01The coconut flesh is eventually combined in the blender with some of the coconut water.
12:08It's a little bit chunky.
12:10And all things going to plan.
12:12It tastes like coconut cream.
12:16Once strained, the coconut cream is added to Michael's marinated fish,
12:20along with cucumber, tomato, some red onion and ginger, before being dished into taro leaves.
12:26And then wrap it in tinfoil.
12:28Half an hour later, the pimped out palusami is fit for bus driver consumption.
12:33It's delightful.
12:34It's really light.
12:36After picking up and dropping off passengers all over the city,
12:39the bus drivers return to the depot, only to take on board something very different.
12:44One palusami.
12:45Is that coconut cream?
12:46Made by these hands.
12:48Well, it's really nice.
12:49Have you eaten palusami?
12:51Yes.
12:52Do you enjoy it?
12:53It's my favourite.
12:54It's your favourite?
12:55Perfect.
12:56Try it.
12:57Wow, fresh.
12:58Do you like it?
12:59Yeah, I like it very much.
13:02It's nice.
13:03Very nice.
13:04Who made this?
13:05Me.
13:06You?
13:07Yes, I make it.
13:08How do you know how to do this?
13:10Sorry, sir.
13:11The genie's out of the bottle.
13:13Palangi palusami has arrived.
13:16It looks like a palusami, but it doesn't taste like it.
13:18Or has it?
13:19Sorry, Mike.
13:20I don't like yours.
13:22The taste is absolutely not palusami.
13:25And it's too watery.
13:26Too watery?
13:27Yeah.
13:28No, I'm sorry.
13:29I don't like your palusami.
13:31Okay.
13:32I had heaps of good feedback today.
13:34Yes, there were a few people that didn't like what I was doing,
13:36particularly the palusami with the fish.
13:39It's what I do, though, so I've got to go with my gut.
13:42But there was one thing today that every single bus driver wanted more of.
13:46Taro?
13:47Okay.
13:48With taro.
13:49Taro.
13:50More taro?
13:51Yeah.
13:52So, Michael takes the night off to dream up some ideas for tantalising taro.
13:55And early the next day, it's taro time.
13:58So I want to take this taro and turn it into something exciting,
14:01something vibrant, something I can serve as street food.
14:04It's quite a big ass, really.
14:06There's nothing less exciting than a raw taro.
14:09But Michael has a simple idea to sex up this humble root vegetable.
14:13I'm thinking I might turn this into hot chips.
14:16So I'm going to do them in, like, two different ways,
14:18see which one works out best.
14:19Michael tries out two different glazes for his baked, not fried, chips.
14:24Coconut oil.
14:26A little bit dry, a little bit characterless.
14:28Taro with the egg white on the outside.
14:32It's good.
14:33However, I still don't feel that seasoning.
14:36I need more character into this taro.
14:38So I'm thinking maybe I could use the coconut pulp
14:41that I had left over yesterday from making the coconut cream.
14:44Michael sprinkles his dried coconut pulp onto his chips
14:47for extra sweetness and crunch.
14:50Crunchy.
14:51I'm happy with these.
14:52But now I need a little sauce to go with these.
14:55Michael is planning an emulsion,
14:57which is a fancy chef's word for a rich, tasty sauce.
15:00This could get emotional.
15:03What I do is I take two soft-boiled eggs,
15:05some fresh mango, fresh chillies,
15:07a little bit of salt, a little bit of pepper,
15:08and some mango juice, and I blitz them with some grapeseed oil.
15:12Mangoes keep with the island theme, and they have other benefits.
15:16Beautiful, smooth, a little bit creamy.
15:18By adding the mango juice,
15:20you don't need half the oil that you normally would need in, say, a mayonnaise.
15:23So this is, you know, far healthier than any mayonnaise could ever be.
15:27They're really tasty.
15:29They're pretty damn cool.
15:31Hope this helps.
15:36Chef Michael van der Elzen has been given a firm lesson in Polynesian food.
15:40Don't put any veggies in it.
15:42No veggies?
15:43No!
15:44And like a mischievous schoolboy, he's breaking all the rules.
15:47I snuck them in there, and you didn't even know.
15:50Now he's holding his breath as he prepares to launch his highly revisionist dishes
15:54on greater Polynesia.
15:56At Polyfest, a celebration of Polynesian dance and song
15:59featuring more than 9,000 hungry students.
16:04The weather's hot, the competition on stage is hot,
16:06and the competition from Polynesian food sellers is also hot.
16:10But the palangi pretender is backing himself.
16:12Today I've gone, right, these are the three dishes I've got.
16:15This is what I'm serving.
16:16I'm going to stand behind them and be as proud as I can when I'm serving them.
16:19I just hope I've chosen the right dishes, really.
16:22Michael's worried his Polynesian clientele won't have much of an appetite
16:26for his unorthodox meals,
16:28and his palusami with hokey fish might be a hokey dish.
16:32This is what I'm most excited about.
16:34I just hope they see them for what they are.
16:36They're not uber traditional, but they're pretty damn close to it.
16:40The supper sui with its undercover vegetables is also a calculated risk.
16:44I hope I don't get in trouble, because I was told,
16:46no vegetables in supper sui.
16:48But that's all right, because Evelina's family,
16:50they ain't going to be here.
16:52But there's a problem with Michael's other vegetable.
16:55His taro have turned out a lot like the weather.
16:58They are really dry.
17:00I'm starting to form a love-hate relationship with taro.
17:04Last night I pre-cooked these chips in the garage
17:07with the aim of speeding everything up today.
17:10I'm just hoping when I reheat these they're going to crispen up on the outside
17:13and they're still going to retain a little bit of moisture on the inside.
17:16Plus I'm putting the mango over the top.
17:18It should be okay.
17:19But they're going to be really fast, I know that.
17:21With his polished Polynesian,
17:23Michael's giving his customers what he wants rather than what they want.
17:26So he's being very careful to price his dishes competitively.
17:30The prices are all over the place.
17:32There's $5 meals, $10 meals.
17:34So I'm thinking I might just go right in the middle,
17:36not the cheapest, not the most expensive,
17:38bang down the middle.
17:40Taro shank, supper suey, $8.
17:43At $8, Michael's supper suey is his big ticket item.
17:47For his hokey palisame, he's asking just $6
17:50and his taro chips are only $4.
17:53I think I've got a pretty good menu here.
17:55Now I've just got to sell it all.
17:57If the crowds around the truck are anything to go by,
18:00Michael shouldn't have any trouble finding buyers for his healthy Polynesian.
18:04But can he meet the high expectations?
18:07Right, food truck is open, people!
18:09CHEERING
18:11OK, hit me.
18:13Can I have one of each? No problem.
18:15The truck opens and immediately Michael feels like Justin Bieber,
18:19one man surrounded by adolescent acolytes.
18:22And his latest hit, taro chips with mango emulsion,
18:25goes straight to number one.
18:27Here you go.
18:29Two taro chips. No problem.
18:31The kids are just smashing me on the taro chips.
18:34I don't know whether it's the chip part or the taro part.
18:36I'm pretty sure it's the chip part, actually.
18:38This is flying outdoor.
18:40Crunchy. I quite like it.
18:42I love the combination of the mango and the taro.
18:47The adults are not so easily impressed.
18:50It kind of tastes a bit off.
18:53It tastes like it's been in the oven for a bit too long.
18:56I don't think we'll buy taro fries again.
19:01Everything's selling really well, except maybe the palisames.
19:04They're just a little bit slow.
19:06I don't know. Maybe it's the fish that's putting people off.
19:09The fish has certainly raised a few eyebrows.
19:12For me, I think I'd like it.
19:14For others, I don't think they'll like it because they're used to the traditional taste.
19:17If I was in the islands, I would have just chucked this in the rubbish.
19:20By mid-afternoon, the real verdict on Michael's palisame is not out here.
19:25It's in the truck.
19:26Damn palisames. Look at them.
19:28Look how many I've got left over.
19:30And they're all made and they're all cooked and they're all ready to serve.
19:33And they're delicious.
19:35One saposui, no problems.
19:37Michael may believe his food is delicious, but for many of his customers,
19:40Mike's saposui is missing something crucial.
19:43And it's not something he's overlooked.
19:45This saposui is nice, but there's no salt and no fat in it.
19:50It's not really how we do it.
19:53It seems like the customers buying the saposui aren't buying the saposui.
19:57What I miss is that fatty, you know, with all the salt
20:01and all the fats trying to jump into your face.
20:04I just want to jump into that saposui and have a swim.
20:07The reduced salt and fat may be sorely missed,
20:10but at least the presence of vegetables hasn't caused a riot.
20:13You can actually taste that it's vegetables,
20:15as opposed to the normal stuff that I have in my saposui.
20:18And then the carrots actually added quite a bit of texture.
20:20He's stuck carrots and all sorts of things in there.
20:22Nice, healthy, nutritious, and it tastes fantastic as well.
20:26This is really yum.
20:27But just as Michael thinks he's got away with his sneaky vegetables,
20:31the inspector general of saposui arrives at the truck.
20:35I didn't think she was going to come today.
20:38Oh, game time, game time.
20:40Hello.
20:41Hi.
20:42You make me very nervous, Evelina, standing there.
20:45I'm nervous because I looked at your food.
20:49Despite her nerves, Evelina gives her professional assessment
20:52of Michael's upstart saposui.
20:55It's a good idea.
20:57It's healthy and not much oil on it.
21:01Definitely I might steal Michael's idea of cooking my shop.
21:06You know, we are Catholic.
21:08We shouldn't eat this because Friday is our fasting day.
21:11No meat.
21:12No meat.
21:16God will give us a fine.
21:19If God does give Evelina a fine,
21:22hopefully Michael's saposui was worth it.
21:24Plenty of punters thought Michael's food was worth the price.
21:27So many flavors.
21:29It's just fantastic.
21:31And I used to be a chef, so I'm actually taking my hat off to the guy.
21:34Well done.
21:36This is a step forward though because it's nice and healthy
21:38and there's a lot of overweight Pacific Islanders out there
21:40and I think if they ate more of this then they probably would downsize a bit.
21:48That was a game day and a half.
21:50It was great though.
21:52I think it's really exciting that they came up and tried my healthy take on their food.
21:57But at the end of the day I think their food is part of their culture
22:00and I don't think they really want to mess with it.
22:02But hey, I'm pretty happy.
22:04I sold our taro chips.
22:05I sold out of the saposui.
22:07I came pretty close to the palasami.
22:09So I'm alright with that.
22:14Next time is for the Germans.
22:17Michael rubs up against German food.
22:19Sauerkraut is so German.
22:21There we go, skinless bratwurst sausage.
22:23And hunts out the perfect pork.
22:25If I was to take that fat out and just go with the lean.
22:28You might as well chew cardboard.
22:30It's a whole new approach to German food.
22:32Quite possibly the best bratwurst I've ever eaten.
22:35Could be a little more crunchy.
22:37That's next time on The Food Truck.
22:39This could go horribly wrong.
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