Fihunu Mas

Maldivian whole fish scored to the bone, packed with a chilli and curry leaf paste and grilled over coconut husk until the skin blisters

Origin: Malé & the Maldive Islands

From the journey of Chilli Pepper.

Fihunu mas is a whole reef fish scored deeply on both sides, rubbed inside and out with a fierce red paste, wrapped and grilled over the embers of burning coconut husk until the skin chars and the flesh comes away in sheets. It is beach food and street food and Ramadan food, and it is the plainest possible demonstration of what the Maldivian kitchen does with heat. The paste is the dish. Dried and fresh chillies are ground with garlic, ginger, curry leaves, and lime, sometimes with a little grated coconut to help it cling, into a coarse wet rub that goes into every cut in the fish. The scoring is what makes it work: cuts down to the bone at two-centimetre intervals let the paste reach the middle of a thick fish and let the heat in, so the outside is not ruined by the time the centre is cooked. Chilli reached these islands late and by sea. The Maldives sat directly on the Indian Ocean routes and took the plant from Portuguese and Indian traffic in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and it went straight into a cuisine that had until then leaned on black pepper and ginger for its heat. It is now in essentially everything the country cooks, alongside the two other fixtures, tuna and coconut. The fuel is worth naming because it is not incidental. Coconut husk burns hot, slow, and with a distinct sweetish smoke, and it is what a fish grilled in the Maldives tastes of. Charcoal is the practical substitute and gives a cleaner, less interesting result; a handful of dried coconut shell thrown on the coals goes some way towards closing the gap.

Ingredients

Fish

1.2 kg whole firm fish such as red snapper or trevally, gutted and scaled

Paste

8 dried red chillies, soaked 20 minutes
4 fresh red chillies
6 garlic cloves
1 tbsp fresh ginger, chopped
2 sprigs curry leaves
1 small onion, chopped
3 tbsp grated fresh coconut
1 tsp ground turmeric
2 tbsp lime juice, plus wedges to serve
1.5 tsp salt
2 tbsp coconut oil

To cook

2 banana leaves, or foil, for wrapping

Method

Score the fish on both sides with deep diagonal cuts right down to the bone, about 2cm apart. Shallow scoring is the commonest mistake and leaves the middle bland and underdone.
Grind all the paste ingredients together to a coarse wet rub. A stone mortar gives a better texture than a blender, which turns it to a smooth purée.
Work the paste hard into every cut, into the belly cavity, and over both surfaces. Use all of it.
Cover and leave in a cool place for an hour. Longer than two hours and the lime begins to break the flesh down.
Build a fire of coconut husk, or charcoal with a few pieces of dried coconut shell thrown on, and let it burn down to steady embers with no flame.
Wrap the fish loosely in banana leaf or foil, leaving the ends open so smoke can get in and steam can get out.
Grill for about ten minutes on the first side, then turn carefully using two spatulas and give it eight to ten on the second.
Open the wrapping for the last four or five minutes so the skin dries and blisters and takes on colour.
It is done when the flesh at the thickest part of the scoring comes away from the bone cleanly and is opaque throughout.
Serve whole on the leaf with lime wedges, flatbread or rice, and a fresh chilli and onion salad.

Notes

Score to the bone; this is the technique the recipe stands on. Use a firm reef fish that will hold together on a grill rather than an oily or flaky one. The paste is meant to be coarse and wet rather than smooth, so pound it if you can. Coconut husk is the traditional fuel and the flavour it gives is genuinely different from charcoal; adding dried coconut shell to a charcoal fire is the nearest practical approximation. If you have no fire, a hot oven at 220°C for twenty-five minutes in the wrapping, finished under a fierce grill, will give a decent result without the smoke.

The Gastrographer

Name: Fihunu Mas
Prep time: 1 h 25 min
Cook time: 25 min
Total time: 1 h 50 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: Malé & the Maldive Islands
Ingredients: 1.2 kg whole firm fish such as red snapper or trevally, gutted and scaled; 8 dried red chillies, soaked 20 minutes; 4 fresh red chillies; 6 garlic cloves; 1 tbsp fresh ginger, chopped; 2 sprigs curry leaves; 1 small onion, chopped; 3 tbsp grated fresh coconut; 1 tsp ground turmeric; 2 tbsp lime juice, plus wedges to serve; 1.5 tsp salt; 2 tbsp coconut oil; 2 banana leaves, or foil, for wrapping

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Journey Point Map Key

Ingredient originTrade or transit route

Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control