Lemur-Free Dinner

Madagascar has become a little “famous” or at least well known in the past couple years, no doubt thanks to the movie with the same title. So what do we even know about the place aside from anything lemur related and based off an animated film? I do know it’s the fourth largest island and at one point it was a French colony (though you wouldn’t know it from the cuisine). I also know that while many locals speak Malagasy that English and French have are also official languages here, helping explain the many recipes now with English names. I also know that along with the lemur, Madagascar houses 5% of the world’s plant an animal species, which is pretty impressive for its size. I also learned that like in the movie, there is such a thing as a fossa and this animal isn’t something Dreamworks made up. However, unlike in the movie, there is human life on the island and it’s not ruled by lemurs and their king.

Madagascarian cuisine actually surprised me, probably because I knew nothing about it. I have no idea what I was expecting, but the sheer number of curry dishes was a bit of a shock, it seemed like that was all they ate! After some research, I figured out why. Almost every dish starts with a base of rice, called vary. The rice can be cooked in different ways, some of it is served dry, while certain rices are served “soupy.” From there they add something to accompany it, called laoka which could be any form of sauce, meat – pretty much whatever is being stuck on top of the rice that’s in season at the time. The most common ingredients in laoka are garlic, onions, ginger, tomatoes, mild curry, and salt. Ah, that explains all the curry dishes. Along the coast seafood and coconut milk are common as well. Which brings me to my dish.

I went with the most traditional recipe I could find and from my research my recipe must one from a coastal region because it contains prawns and coconut milk. My recipe also called for all six of the most common ingredients – did I nail Madagascar on the head or what? I think it’s safe to say that I cooked a very authentic meal for this country with my prawn and chicken curry.

This dish was definitely a “me” kind of dish. Curry – check. Shrimp – check. Coconut milk – check. Satisfied – check. I love curries and I have a recipe for a South African chicken curry that I adore, this one was equally delicious not to mention I loved the addition of shrimp. Yum! For a little extra “pow” lime juice is added to the dish and I also sprinkled a little red pepper flakes on it since I like my curries to be a little spicy. Other than that, I cooked it exactly as it was written. I even put my measuring spoons to use and measured everything out for once! This one is definitely a keeper for me, but for anyone out there who has their doubts about curry or isn’t too fond of it, this is not your kind of dish. In fact, if that’s you Madagascar is probably not a cuisine you want to explore much. However, it will definitely be a cuisine I continue to explore especially since I found a few really great Madagascarian cuisine websites in my search for a dish.