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A culinary voyage of discovery with Sous Chef Walter Hill (Maldivian Salad, Fish Curry & Mango with Coconut)
We love cooking classes! It’s always really interesting to be part of cooking events with experienced cooks all over the world. After all, who wouldn’t want to recreate the delicious food from their holiday at home?! Of course, it always tastes a bit better locally with the local ingredients, but you can try it and get a piece of your holiday back home.
From the garden bed to the fork
Since The Residence Maldives does not want to import all the ingredients for the delicious dishes, they are growing them in the hotel’s own garden to have them as fresh as possible. With the initiative “Earth Basket”, the resort wants to use all the natural resources. By strengthening the local cultivation they make an important contribution to environmentally friendly tourism.
With the guided Earth Basket tours and Earth Table cooking classes, The Residence Maldives wants to sensitise guests to a healthy and sustainable way of eating.
The garden is home to numerous tropical fruits such as bananas and papayas; many vegetables; healing herbs; spices such as turmeric, chilli and the intensely vanilla-tasting leaves of the Pandan palm.
Sous chef Walter Hill guided us through the garden and freshly harvested the ingredients for our three-course menu.
Besides a small chicken farm and a greenhouse, there is also a compost station. The humus obtained is used for fertilisation, so that pesticides can be dispensed by that.
Maldivian salad
with tuna
Ingredients
- 300 g lettuce (washed and cut into fine strips)
- 150 g (1 can) tuna in oil
- 1 cup freshly grated coconut
- 1/2 cup cherry tomatoes
- 1 onion (finely chopped)
- 1 lime
- approx. 100 g feta
- 1 – 2 tbsp cooking oil (olive, sunflower or similar)
- Chilli, salt, black pepper to taste
Preparation
- Cut the lettuce into bite-sized pieces
- Add onion, chilli and cherry tomatoes
- Add the coconut and tuna and mix together
- Squeeze lime over salad to taste
- Add the oil and mix the salad gently by hand or fork
- Garnish with feta and serve with bread or rice
Fish Curry
Maldivian style
Ingredients
- 50 g onion, sliced
- 20 g garlic, sliced
- 10 g ginger, sliced
- 10 g cumin powder
- 10 g curry powder
- 10 g turmeric powder
- 5 g pandan leaves
- 5 g curry leaves
- 200 ml coconut milk
- Salt, black pepper, 1 pinch of sugar
Preparation
- Fry the sliced vegetables
- Add the spices, pandan leaves and curry leaves and stir-fry
- Add the coconut milk
- Add the fish and simmer for 10 minutes
- Season with a pinch of sugar, salt and pepper to taste
- Serve with Roshi bread and rice
After cooking, the menu can be enjoyed at leisure under this wonderful gazebo – the “Earth Table”.
It smelled wonderful the whole time and tasted delicious!
Addu Ambo
Mango & passion fruit served in chilled coconut cream
Ingredients
- 2 cups coconut cream
- 1 cup condensed milk
- 1 fresh mango
- 2 mint leaves
Preparation
- Dice the mangoes and refrigerate
- Mix the coconut cream with the condensed milk and chill.
- Place ice cubes with mango cubes in a glass and top up with sweetened coconut milk
- Garnish with mint and serve chilled
Cenizaro Cares
The Earth Basket initiative is part of the Cenizaro Cares programme and supports each resort in transforming an area of the hotel’s green space into a year-round kitchen garden. Food waste is composted and then used for fertilisation, eliminating the need to apply chemicals. The Earth Basket initiative promotes local biodiversity and raises awareness of sustainability among staff, guests and the local community.
Earth-Table cooking class incl. 3-course menu (Earth Table Menu): 100 $ per person
Earth Table Walk: $15 per person
The Residence Maldives at Dhigurah
Dhigurah, Gaafu Alifu Atoll, Republic of Maldives
T+960 682 0089
info-dhigurah.maldives@theresidence.com
www.cenizaro.com/theresidence
We have also visited the beautiful The Residence Mauritius, The Residence Bintan and the charming The Residence Zanzibar!
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Please Note: Our activity was sponsored by The Residence Maldives. Thank you verymuch! Nevertheless, the opinions expressed in the article are 100% our own!