International Cooking: Food from Seychelles

My first glance at food from Seychelles was that it looked like an interesting combination of influences—I could see African, French, and Asian flavors. I was eager to see how the dishes would turn out!

Seychelles (also referred to as ‘the Seychelles’) is the smallest country in Africa. It consists of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean, east of mainland Africa.

Seychelles was uninhabited when Europeans discovered the islands during the 16th century. However, evidence suggests that traders and explorers passed through before then. The French and British fought over the islands until the British took full control in the 19th century.

In 1976, Seychelles declared independence from the United Kingdom, though remained part of the Commonwealth. It has grown to have the highest nominal per capita GDP and the highest Human Development Index ranking of any African country.

What Do People Eat in Seychelles?

Seychellois cuisine is very varied—it shows influences from Africa, the UK, France, Spain, India, and China.

Staple proteins include fish and seafood, easily obtained due to the country’s location. Fish can be prepared in many different ways: steamed, grilled, wrapped in banana leaves, baked, salted, and smoked. Some dishes contain chicken instead, and lentils are a common plant-based protein. Rice is the typical accompaniment.

Common flavors include ginger, garlic, and lemongrass, and curries, particularly those containing coconut milk, are widely enjoyed.

Tropical fruits are readily available and often used to make desserts or juice.

What I Made

• Kari Koko Zourit (Octopus Curry)
• Pwason Griye (Grilled Fish)
• Bouillon Brede (Soup with Ginger and Greens)
• Gato Piman Seselwa (Red Lentil Chili Cakes)
• Gato Zironmon (Pumpkin Cake)

Scroll down to read about other popular Seychellois dishes I didn’t make!

Kari Koko Zourit (Octopus Curry)

The national dish of Seychelles is octopus curry, so I thought it was finally time I tried cooking something with octopus. I did cheat though—the octopus tentacles I bought had already been boiled, so I only needed to cook them briefly. If I had begun with raw octopus, I would have had to boil it for a while to tenderize it.

The recipe I chose called for boiled octopus, but then said to boil it again in the first step. I thought that probably wasn’t necessary, so I skipped it, and my octopus turned out fine.

I began by sautéing onion in oil, then added garlic, ginger, and curry leaves. A few minutes later, I added salt, pepper, curry powder, turmeric, cinnamon, and paprika, followed by chopped green chilies.

I added the octopus, which I had chopped into bite-sized pieces, and stirred to coat it with the seasonings.

Next, I poured in coconut milk and water, and let everything simmer for a while. At the end, I added some lime juice and adjusted the salt and pepper.

I served this with rice and a garnish of chopped cilantro. The flavor was very good and the octopus was tender, so I think this was a win!

This recipe is from Tastes from the Road.

Pwason Griye (Grilled Fish)

This grilled fish dish would traditionally be made with a whole fish, but here I used rockfish filets because I had them on hand. I’m sure there are many variations when it comes to the seasonings, too. I chose a recipe developed by someone who has eaten this dish a lot in the Seychelles.

I seasoned my fish with salt and set it aside. Then, I pulsed the marinade ingredients together in my food processor: parsley, thyme, tomato paste, garlic, ginger, sugar, shallots, dark soy sauce, and oil. I also added a little MSG and salt in place of a vegetable bouillon cube.

I combined the marinade and fish in a bowl, and made sure the fish was coated in the marinade before leaving it for around 15 minutes.

I pan-fried the fish, and after a few minutes, I poured in the marinade left in the bowl, as well as some water. I let everything cook, covered, for a little while longer, and then my fish was done. I added some lime juice and served the fish with the pan sauce and some white rice.

I really enjoyed this! It was a combination of flavors I had not thought of for seasoning fish but I thought it worked very well. This is something I’ll definitely make again.

The recipe I used is from Chlo-Eat.

Bouillon Brede (Soup with Ginger and Greens)

This is a very simple soup, made with local greens in a broth flavored with ginger. It is usually served over rice.

First, I sautéed ginger, garlic, and shallots in a little oil. Then I added chicken stock (though the recipe called for water and a bouillon cube). I simmered the soup for about 15 minutes, then added baby spinach. I took the soup off the heat and seasoned with salt and pepper.

I served this over some rice alongside the pwason griye and it was very good, especially considering it was so simple. I think this would be great as a chicken noodle soup base so that is something I’ll probably try one day.

This recipe is also from Chlo-Eat.

Gato Piman Seselwa (Red Lentil Chili Cakes)

These little cakes or fritters are made from red lentils and lots of seasonings, then deep-fried.

First, I washed the red lentils and soaked them for about 4 hours. Then, I washed them again and let them drain in a sieve for about half an hour.

I added the lentils to my food processor and pulsed a few times. The recipe said to transfer the lentils to a mixing bowl and add the other ingredients at this point, but since everything was meant to be finely chopped anyway, I just decided to do it all in the food processor.

I added roughly chopped serrano chilies, onion, ginger, and garlic, and continued to pulse in the food processor until everything was more finely chopped. Then I added curry leaves, salt, pepper, cilantro leaves, cumin seeds, cinnamon, and a little plain flour. I continued to blend until I had a rough paste.

Next, all I had to do was deep-fry spoonfuls of the batter to make the fritters. I sprinkled each batch with a little salt right after frying.

These were amazing! Super delicious, though obviously not particularly healthy! I thought the leftovers were pretty good at room temperature too.

The recipe I used for this is from The Creole Melting Pot.

Gato Zironmon (Pumpkin Cake)

I really liked the look of this pumpkin cake, so I decided to try it. I was imagining that it would probably taste a bit like pumpkin pie, though it also has orange zest along with the spices.

The recipe provided instructions for making pumpkin puree from scratch, but I cheated by using canned pumpkin puree.

I melted butter and combined it with the pumpkin puree, brown sugar, eggs, vanilla extract, and orange zest. Then, in a separate bowl, I mixed together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. I should note here that the recipe called for self-raising flour, but I replaced it with a combination of all-purpose flour, baking powder, and salt.

I combined the wet and dry mixtures, then poured the batter into a greased cake tin.

I baked the cake for around 50 minutes, by which point it was passing the toothpick test so I took it out of the oven.

While this cake tasted good, the texture was a bit gummy. However, I think that my baking soda being a bit old probably had something to do with that—I had actually intended to buy some before making this but I forgot. I may also have underbaked it slightly. But, as I said, it did pass the toothpick test, so I’m not sure. I have this cake in my freezer at the moment and plan on turning it into a delicious pumpkin bread pudding with rum sauce!

This recipe is from The Creole Melting Pot. Just make sure you have fresh baking soda!

Other Popular Seychellois Dishes

• Vegetable curry with lentils – served with red cabbage salad on the side.
• Biskwi bourbon – a sweet enriched bread that is sliced and then baked again to form a biscuit (or cookie). Often served with tea and papaya jam.
• Gato bannann seselwa – deep-fried banana fritters.
• Crab soup – typically made from a type of local crab called ‘giraffe crabs’ and sweet potato, seasoned with lemongrass, chili, ginger, and lime.

Final Thoughts

Everything this week was pretty good! My favorite dish was the gato piman seselwa.

Next time, I will be cooking food from Sierra Leone.