MALAGASY FOOD

We ex-pats enjoy a lot of Malagasy dishes and these are some of the goodies and recipes and street food that you will find here in Madagascar, whether you are a tourist or a new resident and future ex-pat, or someone who is simply curious about the Malagasy food lifestyle. Let's explore the tasty dishes of Madagascar.

I enjoy for breakfast a very filling meal of watery rice with small pieces of salty beef or dried salted fish. In the Salalava tribe and even the Tsimihety tribe, it is called Sabeda or in the official language, it is called sosoa if you ask for this food in Tana and in the highlands. It is very tasty and in my opinion much better than sweet cereal.

One of the most delicious and popular street food you will enjoy is the BEEF OR MASIKITA SKEWERS The kebabs are served on a wooden skewer with three pieces of meat, all covered with various Malagasy spices depending on the chef. Often the meat in the center is fatty for flavor but I order the skewers without the fat. They are also served with finely shaved grated mango and carrots and cucumber and papaya with squeezed tamarind juice. Can also be served with rice and tomato rougail. This makes it a very delicious sit-down meal and much healthier than fast food or cordon bleu or a regular diet of French fries. Beef or masikita skewers ideally come from zebu fillet. Since it is the tenderest part of this unique Madagascar cow family. This delicious meal will fill you up for an inexpensive price of around one to two euros/dollars. This food is fresh and cooked as you watch the cook spin the beef kebabs over the fire. It makes for a wonderful experience and a great atmosphere as you listen to the Malagasy music playing in the background. It is polite to say Mazotoa <---- which means to enjoy your meal in Malagasy

Mokary is a wonderful treat mostly for breakfast and good with coffee. Made from crushed rice to almost a powdery form and with a little bit of sugar. and rising powder, usually water or coconut water, and cooked in a mold, very delicious and excellent street food you can watch while it is being cooked.  It is sort of like a doughnut but without the hole in the center. A nice hot mokary is a wonderful experience for the price of 500fmg  ( about 13 cents the USA ) but usually, two mokary  is enough

Here is our whole tasting: ranon'apango, coffee, natural juice, English candy, Fresh and THB. Not mentioned in the video is Mangidy, one of my favorite drinks.  This video is in French but you can change the subtitle setting by going to the gear setting and choosing from over 100 different languages.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTzGOtt_cv0

For me, discovering a country also involves culinary discoveries. I find that tasting local products allows you to get to know the people you meet better (what they like, their tastes ...). The origins of the Malagasy are found a lot in their dishes, a mixture of Africa, Asia and India. And yes, it is by eating that we learn a lot about the past of this people, at the center of a crossroads in the Indian Ocean! I really liked this tasting of Malagasy products, including snacks! Besides the fact of eating, for me, they evoke more than something to nibble: it's all an atmosphere, smells, noises of schoolchildren during recess (because they go to the school gate and call the street vendors of snacks), the early morning breeze on your face when you take your breakfast sitting on a board next to the saleswoman who stirs up the charcoal ... In short, a tasting of Malagasy products loaded with memories! Here is all of our tasting: sweet mokary, salty mokary, godrogodro, jolebo (jalebi in official Malagasy), pigeon poo, kabab, petis, sambos, nem, Robert chocolate.  As always you can go to the gear settings to put the subtitles into your language as this video in french.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czN5qLjjGuQ

Today, the street food is the delicious Pak-Pak. I'm making this today as a burrito for the Mexican food I'm cooking for today's meal. I understand that many of you cannot handle the truth, but I share with you the good and the bad and the ugly of Malagasy cuisine. You can run but you can't hide from the facts and how wonderful Malagasy cuisine will cheer you up. It's humble food so I hope you eat it right. Here is a video to explain how to make the Pak Pak at home. The "Pak Pak".
A small, simple flour pancake with a little baking powder, salt, water (or coconut milk), and which you fry quickly.
Eat at all hours of the day as a snack, or as an accompaniment to meals, such as bread, or with mini zebu skewers and lightly spiced green mango.
Yum yum ... It's really authentic and delicious!
The video was made in Dzamandzar, a town on the island of Nosy Be in Madagascar.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4D-iUKm7GE