Maldivian Food Recipes

Aveli Aveli is special food for Maldivians as its eaten on several festivals such as Eid, Maahefun, and family get together. Aveli is a sweet dish which is usually served with Maldivian dried fish (Valhomas) or Fried fish (Kulhi mas). It is a dish that balances the sweetness from the sugar and banana. Desiccated coconut in the dish give the crunchiness that make the dish perfect. This is recipe that I have learned from my Mother like many of the Maldivian dishes.  Ingredients: 2 ½ cups aveli 5 ripe bananas ½ cup sugar (or to taste) 2/3 cup grated coconut Instructions: Heat up a pan, and once it’s well heated, add the aveli and dry roast it on medium heat until the aveli takes on a light golden colour. There’s going to be a nice smell too. When the aveli turns golden, remove from the pan and set aside so that it can cool down a bit. Peel the bananas, put them in a bowl, add the sugar, and using your fingers mash them together until well combined and there are no overl

Kulhiboakiba Kulhi Boakibaa with a warm cup of black tea! That’s rather an unbeatable combination. Below is our version of our scrummy local fish cake. Feel free to swap the canned tuna for valhomas; or you can go for a mix of both. Also, we baked ours in an oven, but you can do that on the stovetop too. If you are using the stove, keep the heat on low and cook until the top of the mixture becomes dry. Then flip and cook until the bottom is golden brown. Ingredients: 1 cup rice 2 cups water (for soaking the rice) 2 medium onions 1 & 2/3 limes ½ githeyo mirus (or to taste) 3 cans tuna (you can substitute with valhomas) ½ cup grated coconut ½ tsp. turmeric powder 2/3 tsp. grated ginger 2/3 tsp. salt (or to taste) 15 curry leaves Oil (a little bit for preparing the baking tray) Instructions: Wash and drain the rice well. Then place it in a bowl along with the water and let it soak. You’ll have to soak it for a couple of hours at the least. But if you can

Boakuri Bambukeyo Boakuri Banbukeyo was one common dish that our grandparents used to eats during the 70s or 80s. The main reason was bread fruit trees was very common that time and rice and fllour are not readily available. This was a sweet dish that our grand parents made and taste really good. It’s a great treat on its own or with coconut slices or dried fish.   Ingredients: 1 small breadfruit (4 cups when chopped) 1 ½ cups sugar (add more if you want to) 6 inch piece of raanbaa ½ cup water Instructions: Peel the breadfruit and remove the core. Cut the breadfruit into bite size pieces. Our pieces were roughly an inch long and a half an inch wide. The really important thing here is that you cut them all to one size so that they can cook evenly. Place the breadfruit, water and raanbaa in a pot and cook the mixture until the breadfruit stops looking raw and takes on a slight yellowish tint. For us it took around ten minutes for that to happen. We were cooking

Mas Fen Making Mas Fen is so similar to making Rihaakuru Diya. But, while the Rihaakuru Dhiya tastes a bit pungent and strong because of the Rihaakuru, Mas Fen has a really nice freshness to it. This is often served with rice or roshi.  Ingredients: ½ cup valhomas (thin small slices) 2 cups coconut milk 1 onion ½ githeyo mirus (or to taste) 15 curry leaves ½ lime (or to taste) ½ tsp. salt (or to taste) Instructions: Slice the onion and the githeyo mirus thinly. When slicing the onion, you might want to divide the onion into four parts and then proceed with the slicing. This will make the mixing part much easier. Also, mince the curry leaves. Place the onions, githeyo mirus and curry leaves in a bowl. Squeeze in the lime and add the salt, and then using your fingers squeeze and mix everything together until the onions become soft and release their juices. If you want to save your fingers from the deadly githeyo mirus burn, use some gloves. Add the valhomas,

Kavaabu Kavaabu is a spicy snack which is crunchy outside and soft inside. It tastes really good with black tea. Traditionally, Kavaabu was made with smoked tuna however, it can also be done with canned tuna. The consistency to raw flour gets better with smoked tuna rather than canned tuna. Lately, it is very often served at tea parties.  Ingredients: 1 tuna can 1 onion 1 inch piece of ginger ½ lime ½ githeyo mirus (or to taste) 2 tbsp. grated coconut 2 cup coarse rice flour 2 tbsp. flour 1 tbsp. water ½ tsp. turmeric 4 curry leaves 1/3 tsp. salt (or to taste) 2 cups oil for frying Instructions: Slice the onion and githeyo mirus thinly, mince the curry leaves and grate the ginger. In a bowl mix together the sliced onions, lime and salt. You’ll have to really squeeze and squash it with your fingers until the onions become soft and releases their juices. Then add in the ginger, githeyo mirus, grated coconut, curry leaves and turmeric, tuna and mix well

Theluli Rihaakuru Rihaakuru it self is tasty, when it is spiced up with onion, chilli an dother materials it is get even better. This is perfect for breakfast with roshi.  Making theluli rihaakuru is a pretty straightforward process with just a few steps and the most important thing about it is that you let the onions cook slowly and gently; for us it took around 25 minutes just to get the onions soft and brown, so, don’t rush it.  If mangoes are available, use some green ones in our theluli rihaakuru. But, if you are making yours at a time when you can't get mangoes, you can just use lime. If you are using lime, you'll have to squeeze that in after you are done with cooking process. And you might want to add it gradually while taste testing, just to make sure you get it right. Ingredients: ½ cup rihaakuru 1 large onion 12 curry leaves 3 inch piece of raanbaa ¼ githeyo mirus (or to taste) 3 tsp. green mango sliced into small thin strips 2 tbsp. oil Instru

Maafuh Maafuh is a Maldivian Traditional dessert dish which now has become more of an occasional dish. It is often eaten on Maahefun. It is best served with sliced coconut and smoked tuna. Ingredients: 2 medium sized ripe bananas 3 tbsp. sugar (or to taste) ¾ cup grated coconut ¾ cup bimbi flour Instructions: 1. Heat up a pan, and once its well heated, add the bimbi flour and dry roast it on medium heat until the bimbi takes on a golden brownish colour and you can smell it’s nutty aroma. Once it’s roasted, remove from pan and set it aside to cool down a bit. 2. Peel the bananas, put them in a bowl, add the sugar, and using your fingers mash them together until well combined and there are no overly large banana chunks.  3. Add the grated coconut to the banana sugar mixture and use your fingers to mix well again. 4. Finally, add the roasted bimbi flour to the mixture and mix well. Have a taste and see if you want to add more sugar. Also, in the following step

Riha Folhi (Turmeric Crepes with Tuna filling) Riha folhi, a savoury crepe, filled with a curried tuna filling, is one of my favourite Maldivian snacks. This is a very special snack for me, because this is one of the best recipes I have received from my Mum.  I’ve never seen anyone else make the curry paste for Riha folhi like my Mum does. As with any traditional food, there are many variations to this. Some people like using dried tuna to fill the crepe, my Mum adds some coconut milk when making the crepe and some people roll it differently to what my Mum does. But all in all, it combines to make this delicious Maldivian delicacy that I could eat all day long. When my Mum gave me the recipe, it was more a list of ingredients. There were definitely no set quantities, the only thing I knew for sure was you added less cumin, than fennel. The first time I made the spice paste, when the smell of the ground fennel and coconut hit me, a wave of nostalgia swept over me. If there was an

Handulu (Rice) Bondibai Handulu Bondibai feels special. That’s probably because we are used to eating it on those special occasions such as Eid, naming of a new born and so on and so forth. It’s also rainy day food because there’s nothing comfier than gobbling down warm Bondibai with some Kulhimas when it’s pouring outside. Ingredients: 1 cup uncooked rice 2 cups sugar ½ cup thick coconut milk 4 cups water 6 inch piece of raanbaa (cut them into 2 pieces) 3 inch piece of cinnamon 5 cardamom pods (ends snipped off) 5 tsp. rosewater (or to taste) Instructions: Wash the rice. Do it until the water runs clear. Add the rice, water, raanbaa, cinnamon and cardamom to a pot, and cook until the rice softens a bit. Make sure not to cook it all the way because we still have to cook it with sugar and coconut milk. So perhaps the aim should be to make the rice lose it’s raw and hard look. Also, you can keep the heat on medium throughout the cooking for this one. Add the

Rihaakuru Folhi Rihaakuru folhi is fish pan cakes which is good for breakfast or evening tea. It is a traditional dish which is very often made during Ramzan time for breakfast. It is best when served with hot black tea. Ingredients: 1 large onion ¼ tsp. grated ginger ½ lime 5 curry leaves 1 githeyo mirus (scotch bonnet pepper) 1/3 cup grated coconut ½ cup muranga faiy (moringa leaves) ½ cup rice flour ½ cup ordinary flour ½ cup rihaakuru ¼ tsp. turmeric powder ½ tsp. cumin powder 1 tuna can 3 eggs ¼ cup water ½ tsp. salt (optional) Instructions: Slice the onion, githeyo mirus and curry leaves very thinly. Place the onion, githeyo mirus and curry leaves in a bowl, squeeze in the lime and use your fingers to squash, squeeze and mix everything together really well. Now add the grated coconut, turmeric powder and cumin powder and mix well. Then add the tuna can and mix again. Add the rihaakuru and the muranga faiy to the bowl, and then using a spoon or a