They say ‘food is life’ and over thousands of years this fuel of life has continued to evolve. Migration has played a key role in spicing up recipes and creating lasting distinct culinary flavours from around the globe.
In this edition of SALT Magazine, University of Adelaide student Vanda Lucas from Mozambique shares with us Caril de Amendoim – a popular local dish from her homeland.
Mozambican cuisine is a blend of local, Portuguese and Indian cuisine. Boasting of a coastline which stretches for more than 2,500km their local food recipes usually include coconut milk, peanuts, cassava roots and leaves, chicken and seafood. Most of their curries are accompanied by a popular African side dish made out of maize flour into a porridge and hardened. Mozambicans call this xima (pronounced “shima”) or uthwa (pronounced “ooshwa”).
Caril de Amendoim is a typical Mozambican recipe mostly found in the southern part of the country, mostly in Maputo and Gaza Province. It literally translates to Peanut Curry. It is typically made with coconut milk and ground peanuts (ground to a powder). Chicken or fish (horse mackerel) is usually added to the curry to make it extra delicious.
Caril de amendoim (Peanut curry)
INGREDIENTS (SERVES 3-4)
- 200g of chicken
- 1 onion
- 2-3 ripe tomatoes
- 2-3 cloves of garlic
- 1-1.5 tablespoons of smooth peanut butter
- 200ml of coconut milk
- Oil or olive oil
- Salt to taste
METHOD
- Chop the chicken into small pieces. Chop the garlic finely or crush them and use it to marinate the chicken together with taste to taste. Skin and chop the tomatoes and onions into. I usually skin the tomatoes putting them in a bowl of hot water and let it sit for 3-5 minutes. After this, the skin starts peeling off by itself.
- Heat the oil or olive oil in a pot over medium heat and add onions, stir and sautÈ until it starts to brown. Add the tomatoes, stir and let it cook for 3-5 minutes. Add the garlic marinated chicken to the pot, lower the heat and let it cook for 10-15minutes until the chicken is cooked.
- While the chicken is cooking, take the peanut butter into a small container and add bits of boiling hot water and stir until the peanut butter has a flowy texture.
- Once the chicken is cooked, add the flowy peanut butter and coconut milk to the pot, stir and let it all cook for an extra 5-7minutes. Stir every minute to ensure the peanut doesnít stick to the base of the pot and burns.
- Serve hot with xima or plain rice!
- Then voila! You have your Mozambican dish with a twist in the recipe but it is almost the same!
