Gastronomy in Baliem Valley - Cooking with rocks

 In this Dani village in the Baliem Valley, the men prepare the bakar batu (heated rocks) by first preparing logs of wood on top of rocks.  The rocks are then heated with fire until they are hot. 

 

 The rocks are then lifted up using a long, wooden type tweezers.  The Dani women prepare a circle of leaves and begin to layer up the food. At the bottom is a layer of hot rocks, then a layer of grass, then a layer of sweet potatoes, taro and then this covered with another layer of grass.  Rocks are put in between and then covered with grass and then fresh green vegetables such as kaladi.  Then another layer of grass and then an optional layer of pork meat and then grass.  The whole mound will be covered with rocks and then it will be bound together with long grass until it is completely covered.  Then it will be tied up with a vine and then left for a couple of hours to cook.  Because of the nature of the stacking, all of the food will cook at the required heat and will be ready at the same time.  

 The sweet potatoes cook slowly for a couple of hours under the heat and smoke of the heated rocks. 

Finally its ready.  The women began to pull apart the grass, checking each sweet potato individually and pulling them out.  Other villagers watch and begin to take a potato to eat, fresh and hot with a beautiful, smoky aroma. 

 A traditional honai kitchen.  Firewood is stored on little shelves above the fireplace so that they dry throughout the day.  Usually the fire is kept going from morning until evening.  Nights can be cold in the valley, so the fire is a good source of warmth. Hot water is always ready, fresh to pour.  Sweet potatoes can be cooked by placing them at the edge of the fire or by boiling them in a large pot above the fire.

 Starting the fire.  A Dani man shows us the traditional way to start a fire using a cord of rotan.  The cord will be pulled quickly up and down around an incision in a branch above a pile of dry hay.  We noticed that the man sang a song as he did this.

The rotan lighter in the kitchen, above a floor of soft hay and a rotan woven mat.