“Eating an oyster is like french kissing a mermaid” – Tom Robbins
Or. “Oysters on the menu at ZanziBeach Restaurant in Tofo”.
Mermaids in Praia do Tofo are really ocean breeze beautiful. And then I found out that there were oysters right on the menu at ZanziBeach!
Taking the latter approach, with my lovely mermaid close at hand, a grand serving of oyster was requested. Fresh from the sea. Just the way I love my mermaid too. At this great new little seafood spot right on Tofo Beach.
The dish of regal looking oysters soon glided onto our table. Along with twin pinacoladas. A couple of lemons. Hot chilli and pepper sauce.
The floodgates of flavour opened right up. Like an involuntary spasm, the oysters rained their magic on over and into us. Each one its own fantastical adventure. None two remotely the same. Lime and chilli lubricating and spicing the dreamy and intoxicating sensation.
When they were all lovingly spent, the empty table provided that pure moment of bliss that comes flooding in.
Praia do Tofo in Inhambane, Southern Mozambique, is full of distractions. So as the holiday season wound down, and the full tide moved to the early morning, it was time to give it a go early again.
The swell was crashing over the ledge at Tofinho, but out back the water was crystal clear and warm looking. The south wind helped get my Mydo SS Spoon right over the backline, and soon I was settled into a nice pre-sun rhythm. A few days before, a really big fish had hit my spoon but didn’t hold on. Luckily, at this same point. I was really hoping for a smaller fish today. When the waves are this big, like 2 metres, it is nigh impossible to get down to the water’s edge, and retrieve your catch.
So when on my 20th cast, as the spoon splashed its way towards the rock ledge, in between waves, the kingfish smashed me real hard, I thought it was another big guy! Luckily it wasn’t. It was rather, a feisty and stubborn Brassy Trevally, which gave the run around for a few minutes.
When I got his head out of the water, a good 4 metres below, I launched him up into the air. The braid held. The rod held. And as he flew through the air right up next to me on the cliff, I dropped my rod and caught him! Pinning him to the rocks. Adrenalin pumping, I tried to release him. Unfortunately, the pressure to get him up those 4 metres was too much and his mouth was damaged badly on one side. So he came home to become fish soup.
Brassy Kingfish for fish soup
And this is how we do it…very simple recipe, that can be adjusted to suit your ingredients;
Once the fillets are nicely off the fish, skinned and ready for that meal – get rid of the guts and gills and break the carcass to fit in a nice big old pot. Boil. For long time. Like an hour at least.
In a nice big old pan, fire up the veggie side of things. Starting with onions, and tiny blocks of potato. 1cm3 each about. The onions need to brown proper, so lots of stirring is needed to stop the potatoes from sticking. Using as little oil as possible is the way to go. Then when the whole lot is proving too much to handle, chuck in the cubed tomatoes. Stir more like crazy. A few more minutes, and in goes the crushed garlic. As much as you can handle. At this stage you could also be spicing up with your favourite or available spicey ingredients.
Now the fry-up is all melting into itself, you can start taking it easier. By chucking in the water. Quite a lot, like two cups to start with. Chuck in an orange rind (really makes a difference). And a squeeze of lemon.
Coconut milk or water is great to add at this point. Milk also does the trick. Anything else you may have available, can go in now.
Back to the boiling fish. Get rid of the fish head and bones and fins and things, keeping back as much of the white meat as possible. Using a colander can help expedite this process.
Now mix the two together – just chuck the veggie fry straight into the pot of fish. Cook a while longer, on a low heat.
Pour the half glass of white wine in at the very end, just before you serve.
This post is sponsored by ZanziBeach Restaurant. Click here for more information.
Fish soup as served at ZanziBeach right in the beach at Praia do Tofo
And if you want to taste a real Portuguese made fish soup, try ZanziBeach, right on the beach at Tofo. Going for 150 Mets right now, this wholesome and nutritious meal will keep you paddling, casting or swimming all day. It’s got a real tomato tint to it. Specially prepared for the ocean-going fraternity of Tofo, there are also now Prego Rolls (180Mets), and Octopus Salad (250Mets).
A delicious and healthy smoothy/cocktail, rounds off a great after action eating experience.
Maputo, 3 Jul (AIM) – Mozambique’s Minister of Fisheries, Victor Borges, on Thursday laid the first stone for the construction of the new Maputo fish market.
The market will have a hundred fish stalls with refrigerated storage to conserve the produce and a restaurant area.
The project is budgeted at 11.3 million US dollars, of which 8.6 million will be provided by the Japanese government through the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). The Maputo Municipal Council will provide 1.4 million dollars, with the remaining funds coming from the Mozambican government.
Speaking during the ceremony, the minister said that artisanal fishing in Mozambique makes up over 85 per cent of the fishing sector, with the rest being composed of aquiculture and industrial fishing. Borges added that the artisanal sub-sector produced 196,000 tonnes of fish last year out of a total production of 220,000 tonnes.
The minister said the quality and safety of the fish will be checked in the laboratory of the National Institute of Fish Inspection (INIP).
Borges stated that the country currently only has one internationally accredited laboratory, situated in Maputo. However, two laboratories, in the central cities of Beira and Quelimane, are in the process of being accredited, with a third laboratory planned for the northern city of Nacala.
Maputo’s mayor David Simango pointed out that the fish market is the capital city’s third major public construction project currently underway. Work is already taking place on the Maputo Ring Road and the capital’s coastal defences.
