Look good, feel good

Wellness and beauty

Christmas

is around the corner and with it the temptation to eat a lot more than usual. Thankfully the vast array of delectable fruit in the tropics makes it far easier here, than in many other parts of the world, to create healthy, guilt-free festive food without sacrificing taste and flavour.

This is especially the case in Papua New Guinea, where many desserts, snacks and breakfast dishes are filled with the numerous exotic fruits supported by the country’s fertile soils.

One of the most commonly found styles of Papua New Guinean dessert is banana sago coconut porridge, which can also be made with the addition of other tropical fruits such as pineapple, mango or passionfruit. The blend of warm sago with fruit and coconut milk or cream offers a well-balanced blend of fat, vitamins, minerals and carbohydrates, and works just as well for breakfast as it does as a snack or dessert due to its luscious creamy texture.

The typical banana sago porridge found in PNG originated in the Gulf Province and is now enjoyed all over the country. A typical recipe involves heating the sago in a saucepan before adding water and stirring until thick and sticky. Bananas are then mashed into the thickened mixture before the sweet sticky treat is rounded off with coconut milk or cream.

Bananas are full of healthy properties, including an ability to help moderate blood sugar levels, improve digestion and, with regular consumption, can even slash the chance of developing kidney disease.

Coconut milk/cream, while high in fat, is also extremely nutritious when consumed in moderation. Its medium chain saturated fatty acids (MCFAs) have been found to have antimicrobial properties. What’s more, MCFAs are rapidly metabolised, which means they are less likely to be stored as fat.

Coconuts are packed with vitamins C, E, B1, B3, B5 and B6 and minerals iron, selenium, sodium, calcium, magnesium and phosphorus.

Many of these are contained in cow’s milk as well, although coconut milk is lactose free, meaning it's less likely to irritate sensitive systems.

Sago, the starch taken from sago palm stems, is primarily carbohydrate, so blending it with the kind of fats, mineral and vitamins found in the other ingredients balances out the dish nutritionally.