Around the World in Foodventures (Papua New Guinea: MUMU)

I let a friend (via a Facebook number-guessing game) pick which country I'd do this time.  I don't know how or why she chose it, but Papua New Guinea it is!  Mumu is a rural preparation that really has no exact set of ingredients, though components usually come from certain categories such as pork meat or a whole pig, root vegetables, leafy greens, and coconut milk.  It's often made as part of a celebration, and traditionally cooked either underground or by surrounding a pot with hot rocks in a fire pit, outdoors obviously.  I had big plans of following those customary methods to make this dish, but after mise en place-ing the ingredients, a small homeowner emergency combined with it being damn hot outside this weekend and, frankly, some laziness about hauling rocks around my yard pointed me back inside to my oven....and really, what's the difference between a pit filled with hot rocks and a conventional appliance other than the ability to actually control the temperature?  So, here's my Mumu, in which a banana leaf package I layered pork shoulder, chicken thighs, plantain, yuca, sweet potato, onion, garlic, pineapple, kale, green beans, coconut milk, and Makrut lime leaves:

I definitely overcooked it and/or cut things up too small (almost everything came out sort of falling apart and/or a bit mushy), but that doesn't affect the flavor.  It's simple, yet still delicious.  Here are the recipes I sourced:

• https://creativeworldofvarya.com/cooking-series-how-to-make-papua-new-guinean-mumu/
• http://whatscookinginyourworld.blogspot.com/2011/05/day-133-papua-new-guinea-mumu-in-drum.html
• https://www.internationalcuisine.com/mumu/
• https://www.tokpisin.info/mumu-papua-new-guinea/

And while the Makrut limes leaves weren't specifically part of any recipe I researched online, I added them because they were lying around in the fridge and seemed like they'd add a nice touch; they did indeed. 

This post is part of my project: "Around the World in Foodventures" (I decided I want to expand my culinary horizons even further by making the national dish or a popular recipe, or some signature food or traditional meal from every country in the world. Maybe it'll happen alphabetically, or by region, in random order, or something else. I figure if we can't (yet?) travel everywhere, we at least have the luxury of being able to taste it. It’ll be fun and interesting, but obviously, will take a long time to get through -- as we'll only be doing it once a week or so at most. I am chronicling the journey here.)

“If I’m an advocate of anything, it’s to move…Walk in someone else’s shoes or at least eat their food.” --Tony Bourdain