Whenever I travel somewhere exotic, I try to check out the local markets because they provide a quick insight into true local cuisine.

At the beginning of this year, Tana and I packed the children off to their grandmother and headed to the Maldives.

As we walked along the beaches in the early morning, we would see the fishermen hauling in their catch from battered boats. Grouper, tuna, jobfish and octopus were all snatched up quickly as they came in.

The locals have a particular fondness for tuna, which they smoke or semi-dry, then slice thinly just as we would do to salmon. The smoked fish played a role in many salads, savoury snacks and curries we had over the fortnight.

Just as one would expect, Maldivians love spice, and they use a lot of it in pretty much every dish they cook.

They also like to temper their curries with local fruits such as mango, bilimbi (a gourd-like fruit with a similar tartness that you find in a starfruit) and papaya (which also acts as a meat tenderiser).

We must have had a different curry each day we were there. My favourite was a chicken curry with mango served with an onion and coconut flatbread, similar to a naan.

Local desserts were very sweet so we mostly stuck to fruit salads, which we loved, as we rarely have the chance to taste tropical fruit at its best.

Like any chef, it is second nature for me to recreate recipes in my head, with a bit of modification here and there (of course), so here’s a taste of a trip to the Maldives – minus the sand, sea and surf.

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