Shrimp Condiment-Mazavarou- is an authentic Seychellois spicy and fiery condiment, made with shrimps and dominated by chilli. It is used as an accompaniment to enhance and add that extra heat to curries, grilled fish and bouyon .
- 300 g sundried fresh water shrimps ( note 1)
- 4 tbsp vegetable oil
- 2 large onions, finely chopped
- 3 large ripe tomatoes, finely chopped
- 10 curry leaves
- 6 bilimbi, cut in thin rondels or 2 tsp tamarind paste.
- 1 tsp minced garlic
- 1 tsp minced ginger
- 10 birds eye chillies, crushed ( note 4)
- ½ tsp cracked black peppercorns
- 1 tsp cumin seed
- 1 tsp mustard seeds
- 2 cinnamon leaves, shredded (or ¼ tsp cinnamon powder)
- 5 cloves
- 1 tsp sugar
- 80 ml vinegar
- 1 sprig thyme- chopped
- 1 sprig parsley- chopped
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 1 lt water- for soaking of shrimps
- 50 ml vinegar to mix with water for soaking of shrimps
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Soak dried shrimps in vinegary water for a minimum of 4 hours to rehydrate the shrimps and wash away all unnecessary debris and , if salted, to wash away the extra salt. This process also helps to soften the shrimps making it easier to pound and also helps to release the flavour. ( note 1)
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Remove the shrimps for the soaking liquid and use a cloth and wring out as much of the water as possible from the shrimps and keep.
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Roast the cumin seeds, mustard seeds and cloves till they begin to release their aroma.
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Remove from heat and allow to cool.
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Pound the ginger, garlic, chilli and roasted spices into a paste using a mortar and pestle. You can also use a food processor. ( note 2)
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Place in a bowl and add the vinegar and mix. Keep.
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Heat the oil on a medium flame in a wok-style pan to medium-high heat.
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Add the shrimps and stir fry for about 5 minutes. Remove from the pan and allow to cool and then roughly pound them using a pestle and mortar, or blend roughly using a food processor. You need a coarse finish.
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In the same pan, fry the onions till light brown. Add the tomato, bilimbi, or tamarind paste, and curry leaves and fry until the tomatoes are mushy.
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Add the spice-vinegar paste, thyme and parsley, sugar, and cook until the oil begins to separate.
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Add the pounded shrimps to this sauce, mix well and cook for 10 minutes until all liquid has evaporated.
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Taste before you season with more salt because there could till be some residual salt in the paste
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Allow to cool and store in a sterilised jar until needed.
- Dried shrimps can now be purchased from most Asian shops and big supermarkets. Please note that most of the dried shrimps are also salted before being dried and the soaking is critical or your mazavarou may end up being too salty
- You may decide to use a food processor instead of the pestle and mortar. Please note that the paste is not meant to be too fine.
- If you are using a food processor you may decide to add the vinegar to facilitate the blending process.
- You may decide to add more chilli if you want your mazavarou to be extra hot. You can also use any type of hot chilli, but the bird’s eye and the piman kabri have traditionally been used because they were for a long time the two most popular chillies on the islands.
- If you do not have access to green chillies you may use dried chillies. However, you will need to soak them for about 30 minutes to rehydrate them. Roughly chop your chillies before pounding.