Thursday, December 13, 2012

Around the world - Stopover 25 - Seychelles



The Seychelles are a group of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean situated off the eastern coast of the African continent. Like many other island countries, seafood features predominantly as does locally grown produce such as breadfruit, coconut, yam, cassava, papaya and several varieties of bananas including plantains. The food has a mixture of influences from Indian, Chinese, African, French and British cuisines. Fiery hot Creole styled curries are commonly eaten based on a spice blend called massalé which is unique to these islands.

After encountering several dodgy websites that promised recipes from the Seychelles and ended up offering malicious software instead, I came across a suitable recipe on BBC food, a far more credible site. The recipe was for a Seychelles fish curry which I planned to make with tofu and vegetables. Part of the appeal of this recipe was that it used its own blend of freshly ground spices as this always enhances the flavour of a curry. Spice blends are easy to prepare when you have whole spices in the pantry and a grinder to whiz up them up into a powder.


My favourite type of tofu for adding to curries and stir-frys these days is the Savoury Baked Tofu from Vegan Eats World. I cannot speak highly enough of this recipe, the salty, sweet, sour and slightly spicy marinade is a cinch to put together and then its just a matter of baking the tofu in the oven. I make a batch almost every week, usually a day or two before I'm planning to use it as I find it easier to slice after it has cooled down. If you own Vegan Eats World, you should definitely check this recipe out if you haven't done so already. My only advice is to ensure that the tofu fits snugly in your baking dish otherwise the marinade will burn.  


With a freshly made spice blend, delicious baked tofu and a couple of favourite vegetables, I was confident that this curry would be a wonderful meal. Unfortunately this wasn't the case! In addition to the massalĂ©, the recipe included ground anise/aniseed, tamarind water and fresh thyme. I used dried thyme instead of the fresh herb and substituted tamarind puree for the tamarind water. What I thought would be a moderate amount of tamarind turned out too be slightly too much giving it too much sourness for my liking. The dried thyme also dominated and the blend of spices didn't resonate with any of us. It was definitely not a disaster, just a slight disappointment as I had such high hopes for it.

I would have liked to attempt another dish from the Seychelles but time is short with Christmas around the corner so I'll bid farewell to the islands and move on to the next country.
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Did you know?

The Seychelles is home to a UNESCO World Heritage site called Aldabra. Aldabra is the world's largest raised coral atoll which boasts the largest population of giant tortoises in the world and is home to the only flightless bird in the Indian Ocean, the White-Throated Rail.

14 comments:

  1. What a shame it didn't work out all that well! Andy has a friend from Seychelles... it sounds like a really very interesting place, but very small! I would love to go visit, it sounds a bit wonderful really.

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    1. It looks like a gorgeous place to visit! I'm not sure how vegan friendly it would be but at least there would be plenty of tropical fruit around to munch on.

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  2. I've always wanted to travel to the Seychelles (if only plane tickets weren't $3000--eek)! Too bad the curry didn't taste 100% awesome; it sure looks pretty. And hilarious/awful about all the malware with the recipes you tried to find.

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    1. It looks like such a pretty place but that is an expensive price to pay! I've come across other dodgy sites with malware when searching for recipes from other small countries too.

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  3. What a pity it didn't work out - as you say, the core ingredients sound lovely. I don't own Vegan Eats World but may want to purchase it purely for the tofu now :)

    I have always been a bit intrigued by the Seychelles so enjoyed reading the facts you included in this post. Coconut and papaya sound like good local ingredients to have!

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    1. It wasn't a disaster but it wasn't outstanding either. The tofu is such a great recipe and one of the simplest things to make from Vegan Eats World.

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  4. I've had my share of disappointments with cooking this week so I get it :) Thanks for the recipe rec, I've been meaning to make that very one so I'll get on it now that the weather is decent enough for using the oven.

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    1. Disappointments are likely to crop up every now and then if you like to tinker and experiment but that's half of the fun. The baked tofu also keeps well in the fridge which is handy if you want to make a double batch. I love the fluctuations in the weather at the moment, it's great being able to rotate between oven and stove cooking before it gets too hot.

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  5. I'm sorry it didn't work out! That's a bummer! I'm glad to hear that the baked tofu in VEW is such a winner. I'll definitely check that one out!

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    1. Never mind, it wasn't terrible! I just led myself to believe it was going to be more special. Yes, definitely check out the baked tofu!

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  6. The tofu looks delicious on its own though. Two slices of bread, a bit of that tofu, and I think I'd be happy as anything!

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    1. I love this tofu so much! I slightly burnt a batch last week but still didn't mind snacking on it cold and we enjoyed some more of it tonight in a Thai red curry. It is great in sandwiches too.

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  7. glad it wasn't a disaster - especially as it looks rather good - I've only ever heard of the seychelles as a holiday destination but not anything about the country

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    1. No, definitely not a disaster but not as great as I thought it should be! I usually have high expectations for curries as I generally am a big fan of them.

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