PNG highland pork preparation — pork belly slow-cooked with kaukau, taro, pumpkin, and a sweet-savory marinade of garlic, ginger, and salt. The Highlands celebration dish prepared in mumu earth ovens or modern home ovens.
PNG Highlands (Mt Hagen, Enga, Goroka) raises domesticated pigs that are the central ceremonial animal in many tribes. Pigs are slaughtered for ceremonies and cooked in mumu earth ovens; this is a modern home-oven adaptation.
Spoon up highland pork — pork belly chunks fall-apart tender, soy-and-ginger glazed, tubers golden-soft beneath, coconut-milk-and-stock pooled. Bite pork: rich, melting fat layered with caramelized soy; the ginger's warmth, garlic's depth; the kaukau and taro absorbing the glaze. With sliced fresh chili on the side, this is the PNG Highlands ceremonial table.
Browning develops Maillard depth. Long oven braising tenderizes pork belly. Final uncovered baking crisps tops. Coconut milk and stock balance richness with brightness.
Variations
With added sago. With pineapple. With more chili. With added Chinese five-spice. With added cassava. Slow-cooker version.
On the Palate
Where Highland Pork Mumu sits in the Papua New Guinean flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 6
How it's made
10 steps · 30 min active + 2 hours 30 min waiting
- 14 min
Cut 1.2 kg pork belly into 4-cm cubes.
- 232 min
Marinate: combine 6 minced garlic, 1 thumb grated ginger, 2 tbsp brown sugar, 2 tbsp soy sauce, 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp black pepper. Toss pork; rest 30 min.
- 35 min
Preheat oven to 175°C.
- 412 min
Heat 2 tbsp oil in a large oven-safe pot. Brown pork in batches 5 min per side; remove.
Watch outSear the pork belly to a real brown crust before it goes in the oven; this is the only Maillard step and it carries the whole braise's depth.
- 56 min
Add 600 g kaukau cubes, 400 g taro chunks, 300 g pumpkin chunks to the pot.
- 64 min
Return pork; pour 500 ml chicken stock + 250 ml coconut milk over.
- 776 min
Cover; transfer to oven; bake 75 min.
Watch outBraise covered until a fork slides through the pork with no resistance — if it still tugs, give it more time before you uncover.
- 822 min
Uncover; bake 20 more min to crisp pork tops.
Watch outUncover and bake until the pork tops dry out and crisp with browned edges — that contrast against the soft roots is the point.
- 91 min
Garnish with 2 tbsp chopped scallions.
- 101 min
Serve hot directly from the pot.
