Mauritius Octopus Curry

Hello lovely Foodies and Seafood lovers 🙂

Today we shall go into an Octopus’ reefs in the Indian Ocean 🙂 Yes I will share the Mauritian style of making Octopus Curry. It is a traditional real lush dish in Mauritius, served with rice and Tomato Chutney

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Servings: 4-5
Ingredients:

• 1 kg Octopus
• 1 Onion, finely chopped
• Coriander leaves
• Coriander Stem (Rinsed well)
• 6 Tomatoes
• 4 cloves of Garlic
• 1 tbsp of Ginger paste
• 4 Curry Leaves
• 3 Bay Leaves
• Fresh Thyme
• 3 tsp Turmeric Powder
• 2 tsp of Cumin Powder
• 2 tsp of Coriander Powder (Optional)
• 1 tsp of Hot Paprika (Optional)
• 3 tsp of Curry Powder (I have used Eagle Brand Curry Powder, you can use any curry powder you wish)
• Corn Flour
• 1 Chili (Optional)
• Salt and Pepper
• Vegetable Oil

Preparations:

1. Start to rinse well your octopus and remove the ink sac or any unwanted parts. I normally rub the whole octopus with corn flour, let it rest in the freezer overnight. The next day, rinse the octopus well to remove the corn flour.
2. Preheat a deep pan or pressure cooker with water and slowly add the octopus once the water has reached a boil. I always use a pressure cooker, allow the octopus to cook on medium heat until 4 & 5 whistles. Once cooked the octopus will tenderized and developed into beautiful pink color, cut the octopus into small pieces.
3. Preheat a sauce pan on medium heat with vegetable oil (Quantity as per your preferences), add the bay leaves so that its juices can infuse together with the vegetable oil. After 15 seconds, add the onions, Fresh thyme, Curry Leaves, turmeric powder, cumin powder, coriander powder and Hot Paprika. Stir well and let it simmer for 3 minutes (lid covered).
4. In the meantime, blend together in a mixer the tomatoes, garlic, ginger, coriander stem and 10cl of  water. Add them into the pan where the cooked spices and onions have tenderized and developed into beautiful color.  You can choose to add the chili at this stage (You can chopped the chilli into pieces or add a whole)
5. Allow them to cook for 5 minutes on medium heat.
6. Add the Curry powder into 5cl of water and mix together with the help of a spoon. Add into the pan and cook for an additional 5 minutes
7. Add the chopped cooked octopus into the sauce and cook for 6-7 minutes (lid covered).
8. Voila, once cooked add the Octopus in a bowl and sprinkle on top coriander leaves.