Tuna, coconut and chilli: Maldivian food, the back story

About Tuna, coconut and chilli: Maldivian food, the back story

By the ULTIMATE the Maldives Editorial Team

Site Editor: Tara de la Motte

Resort buffets can make it easy to miss, but the Maldives has a cuisine all its own. Visit Maldives describes it as built on fish and coconut, with several dishes that have no parallel anywhere in the region. Here is what to look for.

Fish and coconut

Maldivian cooking grew out of the sea and the coconut palm. Tuna, above all skipjack caught by pole and line, is the backbone, alongside coconut in every form and the heat of chilli. Visit Maldives traces influences from South India, Sri Lanka and Arabia, which is why curries and flatbreads sit so naturally beside grilled reef fish.

Pole-and-line fishing is still a proud tradition, and Visit Maldives lists trying it among its 50 ultimate experiences, along with traditional sunset fishing.

Tuna, coconut and chilli: three ingredients that have long defined the Maldivian kitchen.

Breakfast

The classic island breakfast is mas huni: tuna mixed with grated coconut, onion, chilli and lime, scooped up with roshi, a thin flatbread, and washed down with sweet tea. Visit Maldives suggests staying on a local island to enjoy a local breakfast.

Later in the day, look for garudhiya, a fish broth eaten with rice and lime, and rihaakuru, the thick fish paste that Visit Maldives singles out as a must-try.

Hedhikaa

Hedhikaa are the Maldives’ short eats, a spread of savoury and sweet snacks best enjoyed with hot black tea. Visit Maldives names gulha, boakibaa and bajiya among the ones to try, and pictures islanders on the beach in the evening with a cup of tea and a plate of hedhikaa.

Flavours of the south

Travel south and the food changes. Addu has its own curry mix, Addu havaadhu, famous across the Maldives for tuna or chicken curry, and Addu bondi, a sweet made with young coconut flesh. Visit Maldives recommends Addu reha curry with theleli folhi, and a king coconut from a gaadiya, the mobile food and drink stalls of the south.

On Fuvahmulah, fertile land means farms of mangoes, bananas and taro, and the island speciality is kattelhi, a deep-water snake mackerel served with taro and coconut. Even familiar snacks taste different here.

Where to try it

The easiest way to eat Maldivian food is to stay a night or two on a local island, where guesthouses serve home cooking and local breakfasts. Among resorts, Kaagé at VARU by Atmosphere in North Malé Atoll is built entirely around Maldivian recipes, in a dining room styled as a traditional Maldivian house, and it runs private cooking classes. In Malé, the fish market shows you where it all starts, as the day’s catch comes ashore.

Good to know

The Maldives is a Muslim country. Alcohol is served only at resorts, safari boats and licensed hotels, so you will not find a bar on a local island, and Visit Maldives notes that alcohol and pork are frowned upon there. Visitors may not bring alcohol into the country.

Our advice: order mas huni at least once, try hedhikaa with black tea on a local island, and if you head south, bring home a packet of Addu havaadhu.

Opening hours, prices and seasonal openings change, so please check with Tuna, coconut and chilli: Maldivian food, the back story before you go.