As we prepare for our village living phase of training, we’ve been practicing cooking styles which are typical in a village setting. Some of the common foods here in coastal Papua New Guinea are already listed in a previous post, but there are different ways of preparing them. The most common way to cook is over a fire with either a pot or a bake-and-fry pan (heavy duty pan that’s used mainly as a skillet or a deep fryer). If you’ve done a lot of camping, this probably isn’t too different from what you usually do. So far I’ve made a lot of soups, rice dishes, onion rings, fruit fritters, pancakes, as well as other dishes over the fire. Papua New Guinea has plenty of fresh produce, but not all of it grows in the same areas, just like in the States. So we’ve been able to dehydrate certain types of produce to take to the village with us. This cuts down on the bulkiness and allows it to last longer.
Cooking is fun, but baking is my favorite. I use a pot oven to bake over the fire. It’s basically just a very large pot with a lid. Fill the pot with about an inch deep layer of sand. Place a couple of empty tuna cans in the sand to prop up any pan you are baking with, place the pot over the fire, and your oven is ready! The fire heats up the sand and the sand heats everything in the pot evenly just like an oven. This makes baking breads and cookies and all those other sweet things I love so much possible!
There is still much to learn and I’ll soon have a full month to do it during my village living phase of training. Thank you very much for your prayers about the village living placement. I’m excited to head out in about a week. More to come on my village living assignment in later posts!
Cooking is fun, but baking is my favorite. I use a pot oven to bake over the fire. It’s basically just a very large pot with a lid. Fill the pot with about an inch deep layer of sand. Place a couple of empty tuna cans in the sand to prop up any pan you are baking with, place the pot over the fire, and your oven is ready! The fire heats up the sand and the sand heats everything in the pot evenly just like an oven. This makes baking breads and cookies and all those other sweet things I love so much possible!
There is still much to learn and I’ll soon have a full month to do it during my village living phase of training. Thank you very much for your prayers about the village living placement. I’m excited to head out in about a week. More to come on my village living assignment in later posts!