~636 cal · 36g protein · 57g carbs · 32g fat (estimated, per serving)
🍽️
Banana-leaf parcel opened over sweet potato, corn, and greens
🇵🇬 Highlands
In the PNG Highlands, the mumu is the event: hot stones in a pit, layers of banana leaves, and a village’s worth of kaukau (sweet potato), greens, and pork steaming for hours. This home version borrows the layering and the leaves, trading the pit for an oven.
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Make it yours
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
Ingredients
Serves 5 —
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2 lbs kaukau (sweet potatoes), thick slices
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1 lb pork belly, sliced
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4 cups hearty greens (pumpkin tips, spinach, or chard)
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2 corn on the cob, cut in thirds
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14 oz can coconut milk
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1 onion, sliced
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2-inch piece fresh ginger, sliced
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enough to line and cover banana leaves (or parchment + foil)
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1.5 tsp salt
Instructions
1
Line a deep roasting pan with softened banana leaves, letting them overhang.
2
Layer in order: sweet potato, pork (or tofu), onion, ginger, corn, then the greens on top.
3
Season each layer with salt and pour the coconut milk over everything.
4
Fold the leaves over, cover tightly with foil, and bake at 350°F for 75 minutes — the trapped steam does the cooking, like the stones in the pit.
5
Open the parcel at the table for the full effect and serve straight from the leaves.
PNG Highlands feast cooking, oven-adapted.
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🌏 While it simmers — know your destination
📍
Highlands. Mountain valleys where the mumu earth oven feeds whole villages.
🗺️
Papua New Guinea. Highland gardens and the mumu earth oven.
🌍
Oceania. Island kitchens where coconut and the sea rule.
The story behind this dish is up top — worth a read while the pot works.
👩🍳
Richard Moore & Kelsey Tucker
Recipes cooked, tested, and researched by the creators of Spin the Globe. How we build our recipes →
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