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MALDIVIAN TUNA CURRY
DHON RIHA, MALDIVES

The Island Kitchen: Recipes from Mauritius and the Indian Ocean

This warm, tangy fish curry is cooled with mellow coconut milk. It celebrates two cherished ingredients in Maldivian cuisine: tuna and coconut. The latter is served at almost every meal, whether the milk is extracted and added to curries like this or it is freshly grated or sliced and used as a condiment.

The tuna is enhanced with southern Indian spices including cardamom, curry leaves and turmeric. It doesn’t take long to cook, so this dish can be ready to eat in under thirty minutes, perfect for a midweek meal with steamed rice. 驶Dhon riha始 is also enjoyed at breakfast by locals, served with rice, chillies and 驶roshi始 (thin Maldivian flatbreads) or my Island-style rotis (p.138) on the side, which are perfect for scooping up the sauce.

SERVES: 2–4
PREP: 15 MINS
COOK: 15 MINS

500g tuna steak, cut into 2.5cm pieces
1 tbsp coconut oil
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 cardamom pods, seeds only, crushed
2.5cm piece of fresh root ginger, peeled and finely chopped
10 curry leaves, finely chopped
1 green chilli, finely sliced
1 onion, finely sliced
½ tsp ground fennel seeds
½ tsp ground cumin
½ tsp ground turmeric
½ tsp black pepper
400ml tin coconut milk
1 cinnamon stick
Sea salt
Coriander, to garnish

Lightly salt the fish and set aside.
In a large saucepan, warm the coconut oil over a medium heat until simmering. Add in the garlic, cardamom, ginger, curry leaves and chilli. Let this sauté until fragrant – usually around 30 seconds. Add the onion slices and cook until softened, around 5–7 minutes. Add the rest of the spices: the fennel, cumin, turmeric and black pepper. After around a minute they will mingle together and become aromatic.

At this point, transfer everything into a food processor and blend to a coarse paste. Return the paste back to the pan over a medium heat, pour in the coconut milk, holding back one tablespoon for drizzling at the end, and pop in the cinnamon stick and ½ teaspoon salt.

Bring to a simmer and gently add the fish pieces to the sauce. They will cook fairly quickly. After 5 minutes, the fish should be tender, opaque and cooked throughout and the curry will be ready to serve. Drizzle over the extra coconut milk, scatter with the coriander and serve with a heap of rice.