It’s been an year of improvisation when it comes to cooking. Without my annual visit to the homeland, and the prolific cooking done during the year long lockdown, I’ve run out of the ingredients I usually bring back from Sri Lanka. One of which, dried fillets of tuna, much akin to dried wood, but of course bursting with flavour. Originating from the Maldives, this preparation is called Maldive fish or umbalakade locally. Skip Jack tuna (Katsuwonus pelamis), locally called Balaya (S) are filleted, boiled, smoked, and dried out in the hot sun till they become hard wood like chunks. Fish such as the yellow fin tuna and the little tuny can also be processed in the same manner. A similar processing is done in Japan using the same fish to make what is called bonito flakes or Katuobushi and is widely used in Japanese cuisine.
While attempting to find a substitute by way of a products on the market, thick cut bonito flakes, I had a few suggestions to make it at home. Thus started my ambitious journey to make Maldive fish at home. There are several videos out there to inspire one onwards but most involve weeks of sun drying or about 14 hours on stove top. Finally I came across a video that promised an excellent looking product in just one hour.
First you start by briefly boiling your pieces of tuna with salt, turmeric and dried garcinia (goraka). This must be done so that the inside of the fish does not get over cooked and if done correctly, you should end up with dried fish with a lovely red-pink center. Then into the air fryer (I was later told an oven can be used too) at 180degC for 1hour in 10min intervals.
Well one hour wasn’t quite enough in my attempt. I did continue for another hour. The result didn’t look exactly like the real deal but ended up being an excellent substitute. Yay! I now get to fully enjoy my favorite Sri Lankan meals again!
Update!
As I was fast running out of Garcinia (goraka), I decided to try modifying the above procedure. I used 500g of a slab of tuna (my supplier @seafoodholicfresh assured me it was Yellow fin tuna or kelawalla), cut it up into smaller chunks, and marinated it overnight in a paste of garcinia (3-4 pieces), salt (1tsp), and turmeric(1/2 tsp)(I forgot to add the turmeric this time, but instead added it to the boiling water. The next day I added the marinated tuna into a pot of salted boiling water (just enough water to cover the fish and the water should have enough salt to resemble sea water) and cooked briefly; then drained; then it went into the air fryer 180oC for 2hours on 20 min intervals. on hindsight i would make that timing 1.5 hours as I felt the final product was a bit too hardened. I was able to get 150g of Maldive fish from 500g of fresh tuna and I was very happy with the final outcome.
to recap, the ingredients you will need:
- 500g tuna
- 3-4 pieces garcinia
- 2-3 tsp salt (1tsp for marinade, rest into the boiling water)
- 1/2 tsp turmeric
Airfryer on 180oC for 1.5-2 hours at 10-20 min bursts.
