Mussamaa Curry

Curries are the most important dish in Maldivian meals, no meal is complete without a curry whether super-hot, mild or sweet. I often get asked how to cook mussamaa curry from some of my readers, so I thought I would write it down and add it to my blog. This is a great recipe to eat with roshi or rice.

 Ingredients:

2 big tuna loins

To make mussamaa curry paste:

30 grams Fish curry powder

30 grams roasted curry powder

Medium onion chopped

½ tsp whole pepper

3 cloves garlic (chopped)

½ of a Maldivian chilly (githeyomirus)

1 spring curry leaves

4 cardamom

1 cinnamon stick about 2 inch

3tbs grated coconut

1/3tsp salt

1cup water

For the curry:-

2big onions sliced

12 curry leaves

2 pandan leaf (raanbaa fai)

Maldivian chilly

3cloves garlic

½ tsp ginger

1/3 cup sea almonds or kanamadu

½ pkt dried resins

4 cardamom pods

2 stick cinnamon

Vegetable oil

1 cup thin coconut milk

1/2cup thick coconut milk

1tbs sugar

Method:-

Assembling tuna rolls…

Process all curry paste ingredients in a food processor and take half of the paste, keep rest for later. Cut each tuna loin in to 5 portions and cut each portion in to 2inch wide to 3inch long thin strips or slices.

Take one piece of tuna and apply generous amount of curry paste on the inside of cut piece and roll the tuna piece like a swiss roll locking as much curry paste inside and tie the rolled tuna piece using a pandan strip or secure with a tooth pick.

Finish all the tuna pieces like this and leave in fridge to marinate for 3 hours or overnight.

To cook curry ..

Heat oil in a pan fry the sea almonds first just until slightly brown take out on to a plate, then fry resins until resins are puffed take on to the same plate, set aside. In the same pan add the onions, curry leaves, chilly, ginger, garlic cinnamon, cardamom and pandan leaves, fry until onions caramelizes. Into this add the thin coconut milk, rest of the curry paste and stir to dissolve.

Start to cook, add the marinated tuna, cook until tuna is cooked and the curry is thick add the thick coconut milk sprinkle 1tbs sugar cook for 2 minutes, sprinkle the sea almonds and resins, season with salt…. Enjoy!