Lonumirus Rihaakuru

Some folks calls this ‘havaadhulee rihaakuru’ while others consider this another version of ‘theluli rihaakuru’. Anyway, it’s a simple preparation in which the Maldivian fish paste ‘rihaakuru’ is fried with curry leaves, pandan leaves and a spice paste. Our recipe doesn’t call for a souring agent. However, you can add in around 1 ½ tsp. lime or 3 tsp. thinly sliced green mango or a bilimbi when you prepare the spice paste.

Ingredients:

• 1 small onion
• 17 curry leaves
• 1 tsp. crushed ginger
• 2 tbsp. grated coconut
• 1 ½ tsp. red chilli powder (or to taste)
• 1 tsp. cumin
• 5 tbsp. water
• 2 tbsp. oil
• 6 inches pandan leaf
• ¼ scotch bonnet pepper (or to taste)
• 1 cup rihaakuru

Instructions:

1. Roughly chop up the onion and add it to your electric grinder with 7 curry leaves, ginger, grated coconut, red chilli powder, cumin and water. Grind until you get a smooth paste and set it aside.
2. Heat oil in a pot. Add the pandan leaf (raanbaa), scotch bonnet pepper (githeyo mirus) and remaining curry leaves. The curry leaves get cooked pretty quickly and they might sputter a little too. So just give it a quick stir and let it cook for around half a minute.
3. Add the spice paste you prepared earlier and let it cook for around 1 minute.
4. Add the rihaakuru and mix to combine. Let the mixture come to a boil. Then let it gently simmer for 5 minutes while giving it a stir now and then.
5. Switch off the stove and let the rihaakuru cool down before transferring it to jar. Also, do keep in mind that it’s going to thicken as it cools.