Back to our Roots

Literally, with Cassava roots. Lunch was a very traditional affair and there's nothing the boys love better. Cassava (Mayok), grown in the garden next door, cooked in fresh coconut milk, to make Ladob Mayok, served with fried Trevally (Karang / "Carangue") and a little chutney - satini - of green (unripe) Golden Apple (frisiter / fruit de cythere) on a bed of steamed rice. 

A little on the heavy side, but very old Seychelles and perfect for the siesta that follows.

Shark for Lunch........fingers only please

Acclaimed Irish Chef Richard Corrigan, three times winner of the Great British Menu competition, writes in his latest cookbook ‘The Clatter of Forks and Spoons’: “Growing up on a farm teaches you respect for the cycles and seasonality of food…... and with each movement of the calendar, nature has something else to give us. I think there’s an appreciation about food and flavour that’s formed in your childhood…..and knowing the time and work that goes into producing good food, makes you hate to waste any of it." 

Well I can say the same about growing up in Seychelles.   


I've always known I loved food but the day it came back into my life seriously was the day my son Julio was released for a few days from hospital in Singapore after a bout of serious chemotherapy for his Cancer. It was shortly before his fourth Christmas, and the Turkey was defrosting in the fridge. The doctor warned us that he would be very greedy and very moody. Forewarned is forearmed. And true enough, after breakfast the first question was "what time is Lunch?", followed by "Anything to snack on?" and so on. 


My childhood food memories suddenly rolled through my mind like a film reel in slow motion - steamed rice with fried carangue (trevally); curried salted turtle meat - in those days an acceptable dish - with fresh coconut milk and turmeric; chatini (chutney) of young shark with bilimbis, each of which brought water to my mouth.

As I continue my journey through food, I discover that the food that I enjoy cooking the most is what is local and seasonal and comes from within a short radius of where I live - 10km, if that, for the shark, and a staggering 1.5 metres for the bilimbis!! 


The recipe is easy: boil shark with a little salt and pepper, remove skin, press out all water, pound in pestle. Chop onions, twist a few curry leaves, stir-fry in hot oil in a wok, adding garlic and ginger, then the shark meat, some pounded bilimbis, with a pinch of cumin powder at the end. Add some chillies if preferred. Unquestionably, best eaten with steamed rice or boiled breadfruit, using only your fingers!! 

Healthy and colourful food for the Children - a touch of Italian

I tend to enjoy creating new dishes only when both my boys Julio & Gio are around the house, for they really show their appreciation. I would hate to create something new and eat it behind their back. That really leaves me with only the weekend, for during the week Julio has school lunches, and after he's collected from school they all hole up at their grandma's for dinner. 

But when they're both around I go for dishes inspired by traditional Seychelles cooking, or concoct some modern healthy colourful dishes. The doctor said Julio needed more Iron in his body so I rustled up some common but highly nutritious spinach from the garden, known locally as "Bred Paryater", and mixed it with fresh baby tomatoes, some extra virgin olive oil and some parmesan shavings, et voila!! 

After all the Italians are latter-day colonisers of the islands and there's quite a crop of Seychelles girls married to Italians and living in Italy!!(where they also stay in touch with island recipes).

Cooking for 2 little appreciative gourmets and gourmands!

Please bear with me while I extract some posts from my previous blog where I mixed women and food to this one, which is mostly Food,  cooking for my boys, and testing dishes which I will serve at "Anbalaba", and why not, some musings about life and passions.

I consider myself lucky that every day I have two hungry young boys for whom I enjoy cooking. And often they bring me and their mum flowers from the garden...... often from someone else's garden, in appreciation. The elder Julio, now 6, has been cooking with me for the past few years. Gio, aged 2 1/2, is beginning to want to check what's cooking in the pot and do some basic chopping. Their early gourmet instincts and interest in food and cooking keep my on my toes and ceaselessly by the cooker.

Separating Sensual Women and Sensuous Food, alas!

Although admittedly sensual women and sensuous food do go well together sometimes, it is time to separate them in my Blogs. After a few weeks of juggling between them in one blog, the natural time has come to keep them apart as the blogging activity increases and each passion is taking a life of it's own.


So it will be "seychellesangels.blogspot" for the sensual women and this one, "anbalabaseychellesfood.blogspot" for the sensuous food. The senses win in the end. That way, when my two boys peek around the computer screen while I'm blogging they won't quiz me about whom the exposed nipple belongs to!


I've called my food and food photography blog "anbalabaseychellesfood" so that I can link it with my heritage tourism project which I write about at "anbalaba.wordpress.com" where I keep a log of the project's inspirations and progress.


Many web afficionados advise against keeping too many blogs on the go, rather much like not flogging too many horses. But since the subjects are quite separate - although they will merge in one place when "Anbalaba" launches, and after all, all these horses are on one computer!