I'm in Fiji on the beautiful mountainous island of Kandavu and today we are going to a local village where we're gonna Harvest Fresh sea urchin right out of the sea and they're gonna prepare it the local way. Oh that's the freshest urchin you'll ever have in your life. It's so sweet and perfectly Briny and salty straight butter and cream and sweet. It's a true delicacy.

We're gonna see the process, it's gonna be an incredible meal and I'm gonna share it all with you coming up right now in this video. Thank you! So what is the what's the name of the village? Oh yes yes this is where you're from. Yes I'm from here. Did you grow up in this? No.

I'm I grew up in 90 but every year we would come to this. Okay so your family is originally friends my father. oh welcome to Kadavu Island This is another beautiful island in Fiji I Love the mountains and the palms and actually as we were on the ship we met with Vince who is Fijian and he's actually this is his hometown, his home Island and so he's invited us over to his Auntie's house for uh, breakfast. One of the Delicacies that we're gonna try today is fresh sea urchin.

that's one of the Specialties here. So we're gonna go out on a boat. we're gonna Harvest and fish for some sea urchins and then they're gonna prepare them in a special way. The floor bridge is going to put all the Sea Urchins in.

Okay this is the spot and he jumps in to search for the sea urchins. Foreign, thank you Wow himself. They almost feel like little cactus instead of the big black spiky ones. Yeah, our nights are ready.

All right. Successful! That was amazing. So we get back to the beach and they get started immediately. They're gonna smoke the sea urchins and they just build up a pile of dried Palm leaves palm branches, put the urchins on the inside and then pile branches on top and light it on fire.

Thank you. Oh that's a lot of heat that's blazing. blazing Sea urchins. Oh oh it's full of juices.

Sea water juices. So you clean out that uh, seaweed, algae or the okay so the sea urchins. As soon as that Blaze is over, they literally go from raging bonfire straight to popping them open filled with seawater juices and Auntie just cracks them open and then pulls out some of the extra some of that seaweed that they've been feeding on. And the row the urchin the the sea urchin Pops that open.

oh that's just glistening and ready to be eaten right out of the fire right out of a sea like five minutes ago. Oh oh it's oh. it's a full spoonful squeeze on Lemon from the backyard. Fresh bird's eye chilies? sure sure thank you Auntie thank you.

Oh and you eat cassava with it. Okay, you're urchin first. and then kasama first cassava first. Here we go.

First, a spoon full of urchin. Oh, wow. oh that's stunning. Oh, that's the freshest urchin you'll ever have in your life.

It's so sweet and perfectly. Briny and salty. Okay, have to, hey, take the cassava first. Yeah, is this the typical style that they would make here? Most definitely okay.

And then this is something that's like right out of the land. right out of this fresh out of the sea. your hometown home. Village Couldn't get it.

Couldn't get any better. No, cannot get any better. It's just starting to melt. Look at the pieces of this urchin.

it's so like bubbly. almost. Cheers! Oh my. God Oh wow.

Oh, this one's even nuttier. Oh that melts in your mouth flavor. So creamy, so much flavor, so much flavor, cream and butter. This is one of the greatest sea urchin.

Seafood Direct ocean to table meals. So creamy. Oh man. and that smoking it just blazing it out.

It doesn't actually cook it, it just gives it kind of a fragrance. Kind of like a smoky fragrance to it. The season just started yesterday, so it's perfect timing because otherwise they wouldn't be available. Oh so I'm gonna have some more nice sir.

Oh oh, that's the greatest sea urchin ever. I Move d Nutty. The chilies are right off the bush, the lemons are right up the tree, the urchins are right out of the sea water. Just irresistibly good.

Cannot stop Yes! Stunning Cassava Cassava first and follow with the ice cream of the sea. Um, just they're blooming. Um, well with that hint of smokiness from The Blaze Rinaka. Oh Thank You Vince Oh, and then chop it up with coconuts.

Oh, that was. that was a nice assist. Thank You Vince Oh, that's satisfying Yo Vince What is what is it that they're she's gonna make easy. we'll make.

So this is basically grated coconut and that's grated tapioca. Okay, yeah, and what's the name of it? Uh, it's In. In In In Kandavan we call it. Yeah, Okay, cool name.

Okay, we'll spill the coconut to mix with the tapioca. Okay, or cassava, add sugar. and then we'll add sugar. So grated cassava, grated coconut and sugar.

Now sugar goes in. Yes. Oh wow. She's fast, Lots of experience.

Just makes a perfect ball in the palm of her hand. Double double handing it, Boil the balls. Yep. Oh okay.

Oh so it won't take long as well. When the water, as soon as the water boils, she'll just add, add the balls into the thing and it'll take less than a minute. Okay, and it's ready is like when we came in Christmas Literally the breakfast here was like, what is this? Lemon leaves the boiling water now. Okay to be there.

Ah, you can drink it. Yes, lemon tea. It's already. Once those boiled, they just got to cook all the way through and they're like big dumplings, starchy and gooey from the cassava and the coconut.

and then and he made it. So she added lemon leaves to be able to make a almost like a broth or a tea out of it. So then it's She adds in some of that soup and you can eat it. You can add sugar, but maybe I'll try it first just with no sugar and then see how it is quickly.

would you typically? Yeah, half the half. the balls you can see cooked all the way through all the really really meaty and gooey and starchy. and then with some of the soup as well. Oh no.

Coconut, just lightly sweetened, really soothing, comforting. Yeah, you really taste the flavor of the lemon Leaf in there. That's like made a fragrance for the entire Shoop and the the balls. Oh, it's really good sugar.

so typically you would add a little bit of sugar too. Yeah, make it a little bit of sweet. Okay, I'll add a little bit of sugar, then you can kind of drink the soup and eat the dumplings at the same time. Yep, Oh yeah, yeah with that.

Sugar I Really, it's really good. Yes, yes, very good. And the coconut, the coconut. The cassava goes well with each other and it's amazing how much fragrance those lemon leaves give it as well.

Yeah, like flavors the entire the entire pot. So fresh, warm, comforting, whoa, and hearty too. Yeah, the texture of the cassava, gooey and sticky. And then you've got the crunch of them.

The shredded coconut in there. Come in no problem. Thank you so much. That was so good.

So good. Oh that was something truly spectacular Sea Urchin From the water smoked eaten directly on spot that was insanely delicious and then also a traditional breakfast. Thank you to Vince and Mera for arranging this on their home. Island Oh, that was another incredible food and cultural experience in Fiji And so that completes our time on Kandavu island.

I Want to say a huge thank you to you for watching this video? Please remember to give it a thumbs up if you enjoyed it. Leave a comment below I'd love to hear from you and remember to watch this entire Fiji Series where we are going to some remote Islands Eating incredibly delicious authentic Fijian Food You're not going to want to miss any of it, so stay tuned. See you on the next video. Thanks again for watching.