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“ All shellfish are precious to Mäori, of course, but toheroa have top priority – along with päua – as long as you know how to cook them properly.” Mateka Pirini
“She’s got a secret recipe, and it’s the best toheroa soup I’ve ever tasted.” “I should be doing something right,” laughs Mateka. “I’ve been making it for 40 years or more. I learned by watching others and adding my own ideas, but I won’t ever give my recipe away.” According to Mateka and Robyna, the secret to cooking toheroa successfully lies in their preparation. There’s a trick to it. “It’s a fiddling job, but you’ve got to get rid of the sandbag,” says Robyna.. “Leaving the shells in a bucket of water gets rid of some of the sand, but you’ve got to cut them open and pull the fine grit out, otherwise it’s a waste of time eating them. There’s nothing worse than ending up with sand in your mouth.” Rodney Trainor, knife in hand, works his way through the shucking of a bucket full of fresh toheroa for Blanket Bay executive chef Jason Dell, who has arrived at Murihiku to prepare lunch for the marae kaumätua. Rodney makes short work of the task, levering the knife into the shells and then, with a flick of his wrist, he disconnects shell and fish. “It doesn’t take long when you’ve been at it as long as I have,” he says. Rodney, now 48, was born at Tuatäpere and was gathering toheroa with his parents and grandparents from the time he was about four. “Back then we had a toheroa season, usually during the winter months. I always remember being wet and cold,” he adds with a laugh. “Right from the start we were shown how to look for the two holes in the sand. Toheroa are filter feeders, and if there’s any movement on the sand, they retract their filters, leaving those two telltale hollows. That’s how you know where to dig.” Like Robyna and Mateka, Rodney is convinced toheroa at Tuatäpere are bigger and sweeter than those at Oreti Beach. He also prefers them fresh and raw, straight from the sea. “They’re always good in patties too, or fritters, and toheroa soup is an all-time favourite. But if I’m cooking them I like to stir-fry them with a bit of lemongrass and ginger. They’re pretty good like that.” Jason Dell has had a similar idea. He prepares a toheroa stirfry with chilli and garlic – accompanied by bacon and tomato toheroa soup (“It’s differ24
te Karaka KAHURU 2008
Toheroa, sweetcorn and parmesan gnocchi.
ent,” declares Mateka); and handrolled gnocchi with toheroa, vegetables and parmesan cheese – all served with salad and bread. “This is the first time I’ve ever cooked toheroa given that they’re not a commercially available product,” says Jason, “so I decided to try a combination of Kiwi, Italian and Asian dishes for a variety of flavours.” As the kaumätua chat over lunch, it’s easy to pick up on the fact toheroa hold a special place in the heart of most Mäori. Ask any one of them about the future and their voices become wistful. Mateka Pirini sums it up: “Sometimes we get an abundance of toheroa, other times you have to walk for miles before you get a single one. The numbers are nothing like they used to be, and even with conservation measures in place I don’t think they’ll ever come back to the strong populations we once enjoyed. That of course, makes toheroa taste all the sweeter when we have them.”