Kawa Kawa & Horopito
If you’ve ever walked through the native bush of Aotearoa, you’ve probably met kawakawa and horopito without even realising. Kawakawa’s heart-shaped leaves glow deep green under the canopy, while horopito hides in the shadows, its red-flecked leaves carrying a sharper bite. Both are alive with heat, flavour, and healing.
To Māori, these plants are more than ingredients. They are rongoā, traditional medicine. Kawakawa soothes, heals, and protects. Horopito purifies, awakens, and fights what does not belong. One calms, the other tests. Together, they bring balance, one feeding the body, the other feeding the wairua (spirit).
When harvesting kawakawa, you always choose the leaves with holes, the ones the insects have already blessed. Those leaves hold the strongest oils and the deepest mana. It is a quiet lesson in humility, letting nature decide what is ready.
Kawakawa tastes earthy, herbal, and peppery. Horopito is sharper, hotter, and more direct. Used together, they create something complete, a harmony of warmth and wildness.
Quick Recipe: Kawakawa and Horopito Lamb
Serves: 2–3
Prep time: 10 mins
Cook time: 15 mins
Ingredients
• 2 lamb rumps or backstraps
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp crushed dried kawakawa
• ½ tsp ground horopito or black pepper
• 1 tbsp honey
• 1 tsp soy sauce
• Sea salt
Method
Pat the lamb dry and season with salt.
Mix olive oil, kawakawa, horopito, honey, and soy sauce. Rub over the lamb and leave for 10 minutes.
Heat a pan or grill until hot. Sear the lamb for 2–3 minutes each side, then rest for 5 minutes.
Slice and spoon over the resting juices. Serve with grilled greens or roasted kūmara.
This is simple, earthy cooking, the kind that connects land, fire, and memory. Over the next year, I will be cooking this dish at Kai by Matblak supper clubs and masterclasses, using kawakawa and horopito to show how flavour can carry story, whakapapa, and healing.
Because some ingredients do more than feed you. They whāngai i te wairua, they feed the spirit.
