Siba Mtongana d iscovers Seychelles island food
EVERYTHING about Seychelles is captivating and enthralling.
The island nation offers unforgettable experiences to tourists who flock there from all across the globe.
The unmistakable features, such as lush tropical vegetation, beautiful beaches, and a wide variety of marine life in this republic, result in a range of things to do and places to visit.
Celebrity chef Siba Mtongana was recently in Seychelles on holiday with her husband, Brian.
The couple stayed at the new ecochic Exclusive Collection Resort, Club Med Seychelles, in a protected reserve: a 220-hectare slice of paradise just a five-hour direct flight from South Africa with Air Seychelles.
Mtongana shared her island food discoveries and took us on a culinary journey that exposed us to indigenous items such as soursop, rambutans, and jackfruit.
Here’s a menu sample of dishes to try when in the beautiful country.
Snacks Breadfruit
A staple in tropical countries, it’s mostly made into mash or chips or roasted over an open fire. Grab yourself a pack of breadfruit chips to snack on and a glass of Buka rum.
Starters Salad palmis
Using the heart of palms, which is a soft milky white core surrounded by delicate flesh, as the main ingredient of this dish, it’s a local delicacy consisting of coconut, red peppers, green tomatoes, avocados, green mangoes, coriander, and mint. A tangy ginger and lime dressing finishes off the dish.
Mains Grilled fish
Popular fish types include the exotic sailfish, snapper, jackfish, red snapper, and barracuda. The fish is either first marinated in, or stuffed with, a simple yet delicious mixture of ginger, lemon juice, chilli and lime before being roasted over hot coals on an open fire. It’s best enjoyed with an ice-cold Seybrew beer!
Shark chutney
They always say try everything once, and this is one of those dishes for the bucket list. Chutney is a condiment loved the world over. However, Seychelles has vamped it to create their own version of shark chutney. Made with ground shark meat, bilimbi, lime, and turmeric, shark chutney is served with many of the creole main dishes.
For your sweet tooth Cassava cake
Two types of cassava are found on the island of Seychelles, a sour one and a sweet one called mayok dou, which is the one used as an ingredient in making cassava pudding cake – a vanilla-infused baked treat topped with coconut for some crunch. Ladob
This can be served hot or cold. When prepared in its savoury form, it’s mixed with salted fish and cooked with coconut. However, as a sweet dish, the salted fish is replaced with nutmeg, vanilla pods and sugar.