Street Food · Charcoal-Grilled Fish
Fihunu Mas
📷 Closely related photo — Photo via Pexels/Unsplash — free for commercial use
Cooks score the fish all the way to the bone on both sides before grilling, so the chili-and-curry-leaf paste can season every layer of flesh, not just the skin.
A whole reef fish or tuna is deeply slashed, rubbed inside and out with a fiery paste of chili, garlic, ginger and curry leaves, and grilled whole over charcoal until the skin blisters and blackens while the flesh stays smoky and moist.
Why it's made this way: With almost no farmland to speak of, Maldivian islanders have leaned on the surrounding reefs for protein for centuries, and grilling the day's catch whole over open coals remains the fastest way to turn a boat's haul into dinner.
Roughly what's in it
280kcal
32gprotein
4gcarbs
15gfat
Estimated per typical street-vendor portion — not lab-tested.
More from Maldives
Part of World of Street Food — 690 dishes from 118 countries.
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