Masburi Riha

For this week’s new recipe we’ve attempted to make the all so spicy and legendary Masburi Riha.

Masburi Riha was made famous by the local teashop Faseyha Point, or ‘Aiybalhey Kada’ as it’s usually called, and the curry gets its name from ‘masburi,’ the large chunks of tuna in it.

The curry is prepared fiery hot; you are supposed to turn into a fire breathing dragon by the time you finish gobbling it down with some Maldivian flatbread ‘roshi.’ So if you don’t eat spicy food, this curry is not for you.

However, if you are following this recipe, do feel free to cut down on the chilli. You can also use cumin powder instead of whole cumin seeds. But one thing you can’t replace are the whole black peppercorns; black pepper powder just won’t do it.  

Serves: 2-3

Ingredients for spice paste:

• 1 small onion
• 2 tbsp. red chilli powder
• 1 tbsp. cumin seeds
• 1 tbsp. whole black peppercorns
• 2 ½ tbsp. grated coconut
• 10 curry leaves
• 1 garlic clove
• ½ inch ginger
• 5 tbsp. water

Ingredients for the curry:

• 250 grams tuna
• ¼ tsp. turmeric
• 1 medium onion
• ½ inch ginger
• 1 garlic clove
• 1 ½ tbsp. oil
• 10 curry leaves
• 6 inches pandan
• ½ scotch bonnet pepper (or to taste)
• 1 1/3 cup coconut milk
• 1 tsp. salt (or to taste)
• 1 tsp. lime juice

Instructions:

1. Add all the spice paste ingredients to your grinder. Roughly chop up the onion, ginger and garlic before adding. Grind until you get a somewhat smooth paste. Speckles of peppercorns here and there is okay. When you are done with the grinding, set it aside; the spice paste is done.
2. Moving on to the curry, first cut the tuna into large chunks. Ours were about 3 inches long.
3. Place the tuna in a bowl and add enough water to cover the pieces. Add the turmeric and stir to dissolve. Set this aside while you prepare the other ingredients.
4. Slice the onion thinly and squash the ginger and garlic using the back of a spoon.
5. Heat the oil in a medium sized pot. When the oil heats up, add the sliced onion, curry leaves, pandan (raanbaa) and scotch bonnet pepper (githeyo mirus). Cook until the onions soften and you see a hint of brown on them.
6. Add the ginger and garlic and cook for half a minute while stirring.
7. Add the spice paste you prepared earlier and give it a good mix. Let the mixture cook on medium heat for around half a minute. Keep stirring while it cooks.
8. Take the tuna chunks out of the water and turmeric mixture and add them to the pot. Mix to combine.
9. Add the coconut milk and mix to combine again.   
10. Bring the mixture to a boil and then lower the heat to let it simmer until the tuna is cooked through. For us it took around 15 minutes.
11. Have a taste and add salt to your liking. If you’d like it hotter, you can add in some more chilli too.
12. Add the lime juice, mix it up one last time and switch off the stove. That’s it.