Delicious Mauritian Octopus Curry, Saffron & Coconut Cream…

This dish is inspired by my father’s recipe for octopus curry, I cooked it with him recently and his traditional Mauritian curried octopus is on our menu for our Summer BBQ supper club. But here I wanted to find a twist to the curry we do at home and using other flavours like saffron, coconut milk for a more creamy fragrant curry, this was a success!

So I would like to share it with you all, I’m not the BIGGEST fan of octopus, I dont know what it is about those tentacles, long, slippery legs.. sometimes the texture but recently I have warmed to it, being quite similar to squid it should be cooked more often.

We purchased one from our fishmongers, to prep the octopus it was cooked with water in a pressure cooker for about 15- 20 minutes of until when poked with a fork easily through the thickest part.  It has to be tenderised to make sure it doesn’t go too rubbery or chewy (not pleasant)

Once cooked we reserved some of the water it cooked in to add to the curry, for that extra flavour. Octopus is great even just fried in oil till crispy and served with drinks.

Saffron & Coconut Octopus 

Recipe

1kg Octopus

400ml Can of Coconut Milk

2 Garlic cloves

1 inch piece of ginger

1 tablespoon Saffron

1/2 tsp turmeric

A few curry leaves

Sunflower Oil

Salt and Pepper

Clean the octopus carefully, cook in a pressure cooker for 15-20 minutes of till tender when forked or you can boil in a saucepan with water for longer (about 30 minutes)

Take out the octopus and let it cool down.Cut into small pieces, put some oil in a frying pan and cook pieces of octopus, add the chopped garlic and ginger.

Sprinkle with saffron, turmeric and add the curry leaves and stir. Cook for 5 minutes on low heat. Add the coconut milk, simmer for 15-20 minutes, keep checking don’t let the octopus over cook or it will become chewy! Season with salt and pepper.  Before serving sprinkle with some fresh coriander. Delicious with basmati rice.

Ta da!