Vegetarian recipes from Guam

Meatless Chamorro cooking on Guam uses few ingredients: rice, now the daily base; taro, of which both root and young leaves are eaten; breadfruit; plantain; and above all grated and pressed coconut, which yields the milk and cream nearly everything simmers in. Fresh turmeric colours and scents, onion and garlic form the base, and the short, fierce donut pepper goes into vinegar rather than into the pan. Gollai hagon suni shows that logic in its plainest form.

A meal is built around a large dish of white rice and several preparations in small amounts, at least one sour and one hot, added by each person. Vinegar, lime and raw onion supply that counterpoint; they offset the fat of the coconut and allow food to be served warm rather than hot, which the climate encourages. Starchy roots are boiled, then reheated over fire or pounded. The cooking also carries Spanish and Filipino traces, visible in the use of vinegar as a marinade and in the taste for sweet-sour preparations.