BOIL UP

SERVES 4 / PREPARATION 40 MINUTES / COOKING 2 HOURS 45 MINUTES

3-4 (350g) chicken drumsticks 200ml oil

1 (200g) onion, cut in a

roughly 2cm dice

2 large (250g) carrots, peeled,

cut in a roughly 2cm dice

4 sprigs thyme

½ clove garlic

3 medium-sized (600g in total)

ham hocks or pork hocks

1 tablespoon (20g) black peppercorns 1 tablespoon (20g) red peppercorns

1 bay leaf

2 large (400g) golden kūmara, peeled, cut into 4cm slices (keep in cold water until you are ready to use)

½ (200g) savoy cabbage,

washed, cut in roughly 2cm pieces ½ bunch (125g) baby spinach

1 sheet dry nori

2 cups (400g) flour

1 teaspoon (5g) baking powder 1 teaspoon (5g) ground black pepper 2 teaspoons (12g) salt

½ cup (125ml) milk

1 tablespoon (20g) butter

1 tablespoon (20g) coriander,

roughly chopped

½ bunch (125g) watercress,

roughly chopped

Clean the chicken drumsticks, dry with paper towels and season with salt.

Heat a stock pot with ½ cup oil. Sear the chicken drumsticks on both sides until golden brown. Remove from the pan and set aside.

Use the remaining oil to sauté the onion, half of the carrots and the thyme on a high heat for two minutes. Crush the garlic and add to the pan. Reduce the heat to medium, and cook for another 3 minutes until golden in colour.

Wash the ham or pork hocks and put them and the chicken drumsticks into the pot with the vegetables. Cover with approx 3½ litres water and turn the heat to high until it starts boiling. Tie the black and red peppercorns and the bay leaf into a muslin cloth (or any clean cloth) and add to the pot. Reduce the heat to a simmer.

After simmering for 50 minutes, take out the drumsticks and set aside. After 1½ hours check the pan and add more water if the hocks are not covered (if necessary bring it back to a boil, then reduce to a medium heat). At the 2-hour mark, add the kūmara, savoy cabbage and the rest of the carrots. After 2½ hours, check the ham hocks to see if they are cooked – the meat should be falling off the bone. When the ham hocks are cooked, remove them from the pan, take the meat from the bone and chop into small pieces. Put half the meat back into the pot and reserve the rest for the doughboys. Take the meat from the chicken drumsticks and add it back to the broth, along with the spinach and nori.

To make the doughboys, mix the flour with baking powder, ground pepper and salt. Add the reserved chopped ham to the flour mix. Heat the milk and butter until the butter is melted, cool, then add to the doughboy mix. Add a little water and the chopped coriander and mix, then form small 3cm-sized balls. Drop these into the broth and simmer for at least 15 minutes.

After about 2 hours 45 minutes, take the pot off the heat and season with salt, if needed. Cover with a lid and rest for 5 minutes.

TO SERVE

Serve hot in a soup bowl with the doughboys, vegetables, shredded chicken and ham hock, topped with the broth. Garnish with chopped watercress.

OPPOSITE TOP ‘Huinga kaupeka’ – cherry tomato, almond, puffed quinoa, fallen fig-leaf oil; The Sugar Club’s head chef Abhijit Dey; ‘Sustainably caught ika’ – pāua cream, kelp butter, fennel and baby onion petals CENTRE Purple seaweed; ‘Fish and chips’ – whitebait and kina emulsion; Classic Negroni and The Lost Ruby cocktails at The Sugar Club

BOTTOM Plant-based ‘Nō te hāngī’ – Jerusalem artichoke, onion soil, koji, piko piko, pumpkin textures; kina; ‘Meyer lemon’ – mascarpone mousse, lemon curd, lemon & mint sorbet

“MOST OF THESE DISHES HAVE AN EMOTIONAL ATTACHMENT WITH PEOPLE FROM WHEN THEY WERE GROWING UP.”