Stylish duo

Fellow foodie, Martine Steenstra, took her fist trip to Africa recently…she came back with some good tales, recipes and a plan to return.

Here’s what she’s sharing-

Fishing bike on the beach in Zanzibar

Octopus is a staple on Zanzibar, it’s hard to find a dish without octopus when eating at local restaurants. But who cares? They also like to dress their salads with the pulp of passion fruits. Octopus and the passion fruit happen to be adventurous African couple in this salad.

Zanzibari salad with octopus and passion fruit

starter – serves 4 – 30 min. prep. time

4 baby octopuses

 red wine vinegar

4 tomatoes

1 cucumber, thinly sliced

2 red onions, sliced in thin rings

1 red chilli pepper, sliced in thin rings

pulp of  6 passion fruits

juice of 2 limes

groundnut oil

sea salt and pepper

Clean the octopus (or if you’re a lazy girl like me; have your fishmonger do it for you). Then poach it in boiling salted water, with a large glug of vinegar, for 10 to 15 minutes or until tender. Dunk in ice cold water and cut the tentacles into small pieces.

Remove and tomatoes pith and seeds, and cut  the remaining flesh in strips.

Arrange the tomatoes, cucumber, onion and chilli pepper on four plates. Place the octopus on top. Dollop the passion fruit pulp on the octopus. Make a dressing with the lime juice, vinegar and oil just as you like it. Zanzibari’s like it tart. Season with salt and pepper.