Whether a newcomer to cookery who’s hoping to learn the basics or an aspiring chef looking for fresh ideas, Spice Spoons is the perfect place to take the next step on your culinary journey. A wide array of lessons includes fresh produce selection, skill enhancing techniques and masterclasses on perfecting everyday local dishes.

Spice Spoons at Anantara Bazaruto Island Resort affords rich destination dining, embracing bold flavours from Mozambique’s Portuguese heritage against the backdrop of vibrant African island life.

Spice Spoons offers guests the opportunity to work with personal chefs, where culinary adventures start with learning how to choose fresh produce from the resort’s vegetable garden, and progress on to learning how to cook local Mozambican dishes using pre-arranged ingredients with step-by-step guidance from an expert chef. Flavour enthusiasts will also learn traditional cooking techniques, crafting authentic African recipes and sampling their creations during a chef-hosted meal. Spice Spoons cooking classes immerse guests in an authentic experience of local cuisine.

One of the more popular dishes is the Prawn Matapa, a Mozambican dish prepared with peanuts and young cassava leaves, cooked in coconut milk with crab or shrimp. This century-old recipe has been passed down from generation to generation and is named after a once thriving African empire. The dish is a firm favourite among local communities who often add a mix of seafood ingredients to create their own unique versions.

Hailing from Portuguese and Mozambican culture, piri-piri chicken is another popular pick. This iconic Mozambican dish is a succulent feast of chicken cooked with lemon, pepper, garlic and piri-piri sauce. With just the right balance of ingredients, guests can taste the delicious flavours of ginger, cloves and coriander through the hot and zesty glaze of piri-piri and lemon juice. Marinated overnight and sizzled on a hot barbecue grill until golden brown, cooking this dish is half the fun. All meals are paired with complementing local beverages.

“Spice Spoons is an interactive experience where guests can learn how to enjoy the art of cooking local dishes, and then share their cooking journey and recipes with friends and family back home, making them chefs at their own dinner parties,” says Donaldson Madubela, Executive Chef at Anantara Bazaruto Island Resort.

Prawn Matapa Recipe

Ingredients

• 600g prawns, peeled
• 1 fresh coconut
• 100g peanuts
• 500g cabbage/cassava leaves, finely chopped
• 2l water
• Salt

Method

1. Grind the peanuts into a powder and dissolve in half of the water.
2. Grate the coconut flesh and add to the rest of the water to make coconut milk. Mix this with the ground peanuts.
3. Steam the cabbage/cassava leaves for 30 minutes.
4. In a separate pan, bring the peanut and coconut milk to a boil and add the cabbage/cassava leaves with a pinch of salt.
5. Add the peeled prawns and cook for about 90 minutes on a low heat.
6. Serve with white rice.

 Enjoy!!!!

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