Mchuzi wa Pweza
Octopus in Coconut Curry
Octopus rewards patience and punishes impatience. Simmer it slowly until a knife slides in without resistance, then let it finish in coconut milk. Rushed octopus is rubber; this is not.
Ingredients
- 1 kg octopus, cleaned
- 400 ml coconut milk
- 2 onions, sliced thin
- 3 tomatoes, chopped
- 4 cloves garlic, crushed
- 1 thumb ginger, grated
- 1 tbsp curry powder
- 1 tsp ground coriander
- 2 green chillies, split
- Juice of 1 lime
- A handful of fresh coriander
- Salt to taste
- Oil
Method
- Put the octopus in a heavy pot with no water — it releases plenty of its own. Cover and cook on a low heat for 45–60 minutes, until a knife pushes into the thickest part with no resistance.
- Lift it out, keep the liquid, and cut into bite-sized pieces.
- In another pan, fry the onions slowly in oil until soft and golden — eight minutes at least. This is where the sweetness comes from.
- Add garlic, ginger and chilli. Fry two minutes. Add the curry powder and coriander and stir for thirty seconds.
- Add the tomatoes and cook down until the oil separates out at the edges.
- Return the octopus with a little of its cooking liquid. Pour in the coconut milk. Simmer gently 15 minutes — do not boil hard, or the coconut splits.
- Finish with lime juice and fresh coriander. Serve with rice or chapati.
Tips from the counter
- Freezing octopus before cooking genuinely tenderises it — ice crystals break down the muscle fibres. A frozen-then-thawed octopus cooks softer than a fresh one.
- The rule is fast or slow. Under 10 minutes or over 45. Anything in between is where rubber lives.
- Some coastal cooks drop a copper coin or a cork in the pot. It does nothing, but the tradition is charming.