The Maldives – Fresh Tuna & Coconut Curry with Lemon Cashew Rice

This dinner tasted amazing & was super simple to make! The best thing about this Maldivian meal was that there was very little time spent on kitchen preparation because there were limited fresh ingredients needing to be prepared or chopped up. Like many Island Nations, the staple foods of The Maldives are Coconut, fish & rice.

Our internet research indicated that Maldivian tables are set for  special occasions with a blue & white tropical  theme, so we clothed our table with a dark blue sarong.

The Maldives are probably most famous for their amazingly beautiful surfing waves. As the Q-Zine girls are all keen surfers, now we have  discovered just how fabulous Maldivian  food is, we are dreaming up a surf trip to this beautiful group of islands.

Recommendation: this is the perfect dinner for when you want to impress but don’t have a lot of time to spend in the kitchen. This meal is so easy to prepare it should only take you half an hour to make. You will be at the table eating within 40 minutes.

TIP: start the rice first. Once  you have put the lid on the rice start preparing the curry & both should be ready at about the same time.

we cooked
Fresh Tuna & Coconut Curry
with
Lemon Cashew Rice

Fresh Tuna & Coconut Curry

Ingredients

·      800 gm fresh, dark fleshed  Tuna  (skinned , boned and chopped into 2cm / 1 inch chunks)

·      1 inch ginger  - crushed

·      ¼ tsp turmeric powder

·      1 cup fresh coconut - grated

·      2 cups coconut cream

·      1 cup  coconut milk

·      ½ tsp cinnamon powder

·      ½ tsp cardamom powder

·      ¼ tsp fenugreek powder

·      ¼ tsp fennel seed powder

·      1 raw mango - skinned & chopped in 2 cm chunks

·      1 onion- finely diced

·      ½ hot chilli - chopped finely

·      8 fresh curry leaves - sliced

·      2 tsp salt or according to taste

Method:

1.     Mix turmeric, fennel seed and 1 tsp salt with the grated coconut and grind to a smooth paste in a blender, slowly adding 1 cup of coconut cream to make a paste

2.     Coat the tuna with the coconut paste mixture.

3.     Top with the curry leaves & chilli

4.     Mix the onion, ginger, cinnamon & cardamom together.

5.     Mix the other cup of coconut cream with the  cup coconut milk in a large pot.

6.     Add the Onion/spice mixture to the pot & bring slowly to the boil on a low heat.

7.     When the coconut milk begins to boil, add the fenugreek powder, tuna mixture & remaining salt. Cook on low heat, stirring occasionally.

8.     When the curry begins to boil add the mango & cook for another 3 minutes.

9.     Serve hot with rice.

Adapted from a recipe sourced from:

http://dhumashi.wordpress.com/2009/09/10/dhon-riha/

Lemon & Cashew Rice

Ingredients

·      2 cups rice

·      4 cups water

·      ½ cup cashew nuts - chopped

·      ½ lemon -  juiced

·      ½ tsp turmeric powder

·      1 onion - chopped

·      2 tsp salt

·      1 tsp butter

·      2 tsp coriander - chopped

Method:

1.     Combine all the ingredients (except for the coriander) in a large solid pot

2.     Bring to the boil stirring constantly to stop the rice from sticking to the pot

3.     Once the rice has come to the boil, turn the heat back to the lowest point, stir well then put the lid on & cook for 10 minutes.

4.     Do not remove the lid again until you are ready to serve the rice.

5.     Once the 10 minutes is up, turn the heat off & let the pot sit on the cooling element of the stove for 10 minutes.

6.     Serve with coriander leaves sprinkled on top for garnishing.

Admission: we forgot to put the coriander on the rice, but once we realised this we all thought the rice would have tasted better if it had been added

Adapted from two recipes sourced from:

http://dhumashi.wordpress.com/category/rice/