Hedhikaa

By the middle of my month-long stay with Mrs B living back in Maldives very crowded capital Male’, I quickly became addicted once more to the culinary delights that is ‘Hedhikaa’. These savoury ‘short-eats’ are eaten as snacks, traditionally along with very sweet black tea (Kalhu Sai). This nostalgia culminated in me then starting to seek out traditional style tea shops (Hotaa) to eat them in. These were the type of places I had eaten at so very regularly whilst a single twenty-something VSO volunteer here for 2 years in the late 1980’s.

This then was one of my discovered favourite gems on this trip, called Magukolhu Hotaa . Here then, along with the hot Kalhua Sai are Gulha (fried tuna, coconut, onion & chilli balls); Bis Keemiyaa (smoked tuna, hard boiled egg, cabbage & chilli fried in pastry); Masroshi (tuna in stuffed, flattened bread); and Bajiyaa (smoke tuna, chilli & spices in fried pastry). Tuna and scotch bonnet (githeyo mirus) chilli features a lot naturally.

I write this log retrospectively now safely back home - where I am still trying to get back to a fighting weight - or at least close to my weight before the holiday.