Rihaakuru – A typical Maldivian food

Food habits of the people differ from person to person, city to city, state to state and even country to country. Likewise, Maldivian used to have special types of foods from decades where the origin of those foods is shrouded in mystery.

Rihaakuru (in mother tongue) is one among them. The Americans and English men are still unable to give an ‘English’ term for this special food name. For generations, it is a traditional food used in maldive and minicoy islands.

This food is made from the fish and fish extracts (except the wastes). Since it is made out of fish and fish extracts, it is a by-product of fish. The hard-working fishermen bring the quantity of fish to home. The womenfolk of the country themselves become busy with cooking fish and then serving their husbands who bears the title of ‘kings of the Ocean’ with good food.

Usually the flesh of fish is cooked in big dish for a continuous fifteen minutes. When it is cooking, the water evaporates and then scum is produced on the surface once it get concentrated. The same process is repeated until the whole stock has been cooked. Fish extracts like head, bone etc are used for making Rihaakuru. The scum (filleyo) is carefully removed to bring taste.

The thick soup we get after boiling the fish for several hours together is called rihaakuru. This final output which we call Rihakuru, is in red-brown colour with sour taste. Mostly firewood is used for cooking, however, in modern times, boilers, gas and electric modes are used for easiness and to save time.

Rihaakuru is a base for curries and other soups. We use rihaakuru with rice, roti and other foods. It is also used in Chinese dishes including Cha Kuay Teow Meu, Fried Vegetables (Kai Lan Chya Sim, Pak Choy) and Muay.

There is also a special type of rihaakuru called theluli rihaakuru. It is made out of fried onion, curry leaves, chilies, bon’di (fish balls) mixing with rihaakuru. Bon’di is a fish ball made out of fish extracts of the bones.

For every 100g of rihaakuru, it contains 250 calories of energy, 58% protein, 1.4% fat and 1.1% carbohydrates. MIFCO (Maldivian Industry of Fisheries Company) is a home-based company which produces rihaakuru in good hygienic condition and exports to other parts of the world in European Union standard. No doubt, this is a delicious traditional food of the Maldives.