Maldivian cuisine

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Tuna Fish, one of the essential ingredients in many dishes.
Different curries of the Maldives and parotha.
Masroshi. Maldivian savory snacks

Traditional Maldivian cuisine is based on three main items and their derivatives: Coconuts, fish and starches.

Coconuts

The coconut is used in the grated form, squeezed to obtain coconut milk, or as coconut oil in dishes that are deep-fried. Hunigondi is the traditional Maldivian implement used to grate the coconut. It is a long low chair with a serrated steel blade at its end. Grated coconut is used in dishes such as mas huni.[1]

The grated coconut may be alternatively soaked in water and squeezed in order to obtain coconut milk (kaashi kiru). The coconut milk is an essential ingredient in many Maldivian curries and other dishes.[2]

Fish

The favourite fish is skipjack tuna, either dried or fresh. Other similar fish species that are part of the average Maldivian diet are little tunny (latti), yellowfin tuna (kanneli), frigate tuna (raagondi), bigeye scad (mushimas), wahoo (kurumas), Mahi-mahi (fiyala) and Mackerel scad (rimmas). These can be eaten boiled or processed.

The processed tuna (Maldive fish) pieces are used in pieces or in shavings. In order to make curries, the raw or the still-soft processed tuna is cut into 1⁄2-inch-thick (13 mm) sections. Dry processed tuna is mainly used to make short eats called gulha, masroshi, kulhi bōkiba, kavaabu, bajiya (the local version of the Indian samosa), and fatafolhi. Unlike most Pacific islanders, Maldivians don't have the tradition of eating raw fish.[1]

The tuna-based thick brown paste known as Rihaakuru is also an essential item in Maldivian cuisine.[3]

Starchy items

These are starches like rice, which is eaten boiled or ground into flour, tubers like taro (ala), sweet potato (kattala), or cassava (dandialuvi), as well as fruits like breadfruit (bambukeyo) or screwpine (kashikeyo). Tubers and breadfruit are eaten boiled. The screwpine fruit is mostly eaten raw after having been cut into thin slices.[1]

Curries

The most important curry in the cuisine of the Maldives is cooked with diced fresh tuna and is known as mas riha. Kukulhu riha, chicken curry, is cooked with a different mixture of spices.

Vegetable curries in the Maldives include those that use bashi (eggplant), tora (Luffa aegyptiaca), barabō (pumpkin), chichanda (Trichosanthes cucumerina) and muranga (Moringa oleifera), as well as green unripe bananas and certain leaves as their main ingredients. Pieces of Maldive fish are normally added to give the vegetable curry a certain flavor. Curries are usually eaten with steamed rice or with roshi.[1]

See also

Bibliography

  • Xavier Romero-Frias, Eating on the Islands, Himal Southasian, Vol. 26 no. 2, pages 69–91 ISSN 10129804

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Xavier Romero-Frias, The Maldive Islanders, A Study of the Popular Culture of an Ancient Ocean Kingdom, Barcelona 1999, ISBN 84-7254-801-5
  2. ↑ Use of Coconut in Maldivian cooking
  3. ↑ MIFCO; Rihaakuru

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