Kandu Kukulhu

Ingredients

Fish

• 800 gfresh tuna, in 4 cm chunks
• 1 tspground turmeric
• 1 tspsalt

Pot

• 2onions, sliced
• 6 clovesgarlic, sliced
• 2cm ginger, julienned
• 3 sprigscurry leaves
• 1pandan leaf, knotted
• 3green chillies, slit
• 2dried chillies
• 1 tbspMaldivian curry powder
• 1 tspground cumin
• 1 tspground coriander
• 2 tbspcoconut oil

Liquid

• 400 mlthin coconut milk
• 200 mlthick coconut milk
• 1 piecedried tuna, optional
• juice of 1 lime

To serve

• rice
• roshi

Directions

1. Rub the tuna chunks with turmeric and salt and leave them 10 minutes. Fry the onion, garlic, ginger, curry leaves, pandan and chillies in the coconut oil until the onion is soft and golden.
2. Add the curry powder, cumin and coriander and fry for a minute until fragrant.
3. Pour in the thin coconut milk and bring it to a bare simmer. Lower the tuna chunks in and cook them very gently for 12 to 15 minutes.
4. Shake the pan by the handles instead if you need to move things.
5. Add the thick coconut milk in the last 5 minutes and heat it through without letting it boil. Thick coconut milk at the end only.
6. Finish with lime juice off the heat and check the salt. The sauce should be pale gold, loose and fragrant rather than thick like an Indian curry.
7. Serve with rice or roshi flatbread, and take the pandan leaf out before it goes to the table.

Technique

• Fresh tuna is the point; tinned tuna makes something else entirely.
• A piece of dried tuna, valhoamas, added to the pot deepens it considerably.
• Maldivian curry powder is milder and more fragrant than Indian, leaning on cumin, coriander and fennel.

Substitutions

• Bonito, skipjack or any firm oily fish.
• Mild curry powder with extra fennel seed in place of Maldivian.

Variations

• Made with reef fish rather than tuna.
• Drier, cooked down until the sauce clings.
• With diced potato or breadfruit added.

History

The name means sea chicken, the islands’ way of describing tuna in a country with little livestock.

Frequently asked questions

What is Kandu Kukulhu?

Kandu Kukulhu is a main from Maldives: tuna simmered in coconut milk with curry leaves, chilli and pandan. The name means sea chicken, the islands’ way of describing tuna in a country with little livestock.

How long does Kandu Kukulhu take to make?

Kandu Kukulhu takes 20 min of preparation and 40 min of cooking. The recipe makes 4 servings. It is rated easy to make.

What can I substitute in Kandu Kukulhu?

Yes, within limits. Bonito, skipjack or any firm oily fish. Mild curry powder with extra fennel seed in place of Maldivian.

What is the most important thing to get right in Kandu Kukulhu?

Finish with lime juice off the heat and check the salt. The sauce should be pale gold, loose and fragrant rather than thick like an Indian curry.