Aluvi Boakibaa

This is a really simple and spicy tuna and potato bake that’s great with a cup of black tea. Although we’ve used a whole scotch bonnet in this recipe, some might still find it mild, so do add more if you want to.

Makes: a 20 cm square boakibaa

Ingredients:

• 3 large potatoes
• 2 large onions
• 5 curry leaves
• 1 githeyo mirus (scotch bonnet pepper)
• 1 lime
• 2 tuna cans
• 1 tsp. ground black pepper
• 1 tsp. salt
• 2 eggs

Instructions:

1. Prepare a 20 cm square baking tray by either rubbing a bit of oil on the surface or lining it with baking paper or aluminum foil.
2. Preheat the oven at 160 degrees celcius.
3. Peel and quarter the potatoes. Add the potatoes to a pot and then add enough water to cover them. Boil the potatoes until you can pierce them with a fork without resistance. Then drain and set aside.
4. Quarter the onions and slice the quarters thinly.
5. Slice the curry leaves and githeyo mirus thinly too.
6. Add the onions, curry leaves and githeyo mirus to a bowl. Squeeze in the lime and using your fingers, squash and squeeze the mixture until the onions become soft and release their juices.
7. Add the canned tuna, black pepper and the boiled potatoes, and mix well again using your fingers.
8. Taste the mixture and add salt to your taste. We added around 1 teaspoon. You can add more chilli or lime juice if you want too. Also, do keep in mind that when we add the eggs to the mixture later on it’s going to dilute the flavors slightly. So do make adjustments accordingly.
9. Transfer the mixture to the prepared tray and smoothen it out.
10. Beat the eggs in another bowl and pour the eggs over the mixture in the tray.
11. Place the tray on the middle rack of the heated oven and bake until the top and the bottom are golden brown. For us this took 45 minutes but oven temperatures do differ. You might need to move the tray to the upper rack to get the top done and then move it to the lower rack to get the bottom baked.
12. Once baked, let the boakibaa cool down a bit before you remove it from the tray and slice it.