How to choose and eat food like a native Maldivian?
You’ve finally decided to take that exotic vacation to the Maldives and find the prospects exciting. What about food? Do you wish to eat the same old dishes that you can get at a ritzy restaurant at home, or are you brave enough to try local flavours? Blessed with numerous cultural influences and plenty of good grub from the sea and land, the Maldives boast of a delectable cuisine. Let’s take a look at how to eat like a local while in the Maldives.
gourmet_3_course_dinner | img by Canon EOS 500D via PxHere
How to embrace the flavours of the Maldives?
The flavours of the Maldives carry hints of Indian, Sri Lankan and Middle Eastern cuisines. The result is a divine range of curries, soups, salads, roti, patties and seafood dishes. The distinct palette of the Maldives is a mélange of mild spiciness, sweetness and exotic touches in texture, taste, and hues. For example, the famous Maldivain breakfast of ‘mas huni’ is a concoction of fresh tuna, onions, and chili mixed with coconut. You eat this dish with ‘roshi’ (much like chapati). And, then finish it off with copious amounts of sweetened black tea - yum. Even the best restaurants in the Maldives serve this particular breakfast. Check out breakfast options at resorts such as the Holiday Inn Kandooma Maldives.
What are some of the famous dishes of the Maldives?
The island nation loves tuna. You’ll find dishes made with ‘kalhubilamas’ (skipjack tuna), and ‘kanneli’ (yellowfin tuna). Apart from tuna, they love fish like big-eye scad, Mackerel and wahoo. How do they cook this abundance of fish? The freshly caught fish get grilled over a fire, baked, slowly smoked over embers, boiled and even dried. The sun-dried and salted fish from the Maldives are in fact regional favourites. Maldivians eat chicken on special occasions, but they love to feast on fish on a daily basis. While you can find other meat types in resorts, they are rarely found elsewhere. As an Islamic nation, pork is not part of the local cuisine. But you’ll find plenty of bacon at your resort.
What do Maldivians eat for their main meals?
Apart from roshi, noodles and rice make up a big part of Maldivian meals, even though they have to import these from elsewhere. You’ll find plenty of vegetable, fish and meat curries on the table at a typical meal. These curries are richly infused in spices, herbs and fresh ingredients. When in the Maldives you can try ‘Mas Riha’ – a fish curry concocted with freshly caught tuna, chilies in abundance, coconut, and peppers. THye eat this spicy dish with roshi to wipe off the flavours.
‘Kukulhu Riha’ is their go-to chicken dish, and with plenty of spices as savour enhancements. Then there is ‘Banbukeylu Riha’, a creamy, flaky dish with breadfruit, plenty of chili, onion and the essential ingredient coconut. Other vegetable curries include aubergines, pumpkin and more fresh vegetables combined with creamy coconut milk and a scrumptious curry paste mixed well with onions, spices, and fragrant herbs.
Their signature soup dish is called ‘garudhiya.’ It is – you guessed it; a fish soup made with tuna. They pour the soup over rice, add some lime squirts and chili, then eat the rice doused in soup with their fingers.
What are some afternoon tea goodies from the Maldives?
Afternoon tea is a big deal in the Maldives. Dubbed ‘hedhikaa’, afternoon tea is a meal in itself with savoury and sometimes sweet snacks and some strong black tea. These snacks are called ‘short eats.’ Let’s take a look at some of the most delectable of the short eats. You can eat ‘gulha’ – fried balls of dough encasing spicy fish or try some fish samosa called ‘bajiya.’ Then they have ‘keemia’ – fish pastry rolls fried with a coating of batter. ‘Kulhi boakibaa’ is a spicy fish cake while ‘kavaabu’ is a deep-fried snack of rice, tuna, lentils, scraped coconut and plenty of spices.
If you wish to have something sweet for your afternoon tea, try ‘foni boakibaa’ - sweet cake or ‘dhonkeyo Kajuru’ – fried banana cake infused with rose water and vanilla essence.
