What is "hangi"

n. (context New Zealand English) A traditional Māori method of cooking food using heated rocks buried in a pit oven.

Hāngi is a traditional New Zealand Māori method of cooking food using heated rocks buried in a pit oven. It is still used for special occasions.

To "lay a hāngi" or "put down a hāngi" involves digging a pit in the ground, heating stones in the pit with a large fire, placing baskets of food on top of the stones, and covering everything with earth for several hours before uncovering (or lifting) the hāngi.

There are many variations and details that can be altered. Hāngi "experts" have developed and improved methods that often, like the stones themselves, have been handed down for generations. Another name sometimes used is umu, for instance the umu tī, used in the South Island to cook Cabbage trees (Cordyline australis).