I'm in Fiji and Fiji is home to a major Indian population and so Curry and Roti are Staples people love to eat Curry. So today we are going on an ultimate Indian Fijian food tour and I'm going to share with you the unique and unseen culture of Indian Fijian Food The majority of Indians were brought to Fiji as indentured laborers during British colonial rule in the late 1800s and early 1900s to work on sugarcane plantations. Indians came from all parts of India east and west and Rural Villages from the north to south with different backgrounds, castes, religions, and languages. When the indenture system was abolished in 1920, Indian laborers were given a choice to return to India at their own expense or to remain in Fiji And because it was nearly unaffordable to return to India, most stayed today.

Indian Fijians also known as Indo Fijians make up approximately 35 percent of the population and have greatly contributed to the diversity of culture, business, and of course the food of Fiji Duck, Masala and Roti Bears. Many similarities to its Indian roots and yet we're gonna find out how it has its own unique Fijian Pacific Island Twist Good morning. It's a beautiful day in Suva Fiji and we are beginning this Fijian Indian tour for breakfast. Bright and early, it's gonna be an amazing day of food.

Andy Good morning, good morning popular Indian Restaurant where where's the taste is? The name of the restaurant is Zamzam. Very popular and the car is one of the best in Fiji Russia is originally from Lambasa yeah, the northern part of Fiji. Okay so we're quite um special because they some of the best Curry makers in Fiji come out of the province of Madhuata right? Oh okay okay thank you very much for having us today. Are you hungry? is really spicy and I know you're like oh I Love? Oh yes for sure you're in for a treat for sure.

Thank you! Immediately step in here. you can smell the aroma of all the spices just filling the air. A lot of the dishes are prepared already but we're gonna step into the kitchen real fast to see a little bit of what's going on what they're cooking before we start eating. Oh this is the chicken curry! Wow! What are some of the most popular dishes to eat here at Zamzam? Most popular is how many dishes do you normally have per day? I have 40 trays, 40 dishes.

Wow what is what is this dish? Mongolian Stir-fry Okay wow. Oh man, this kitchen so exciting. So many delicious Aromas going on. Um and I mean I Love to see the Fijian Indian ingredients a fusion of ingredients and I mean they even have South Pacific ingredients plus all of the Indian influence the masalas, the garlic, the ginger, the herbs.

They even have some Chinese influenced Wok stir-fried dishes. Oh man, I'm hungry and then they're also famous for their Roti We have the Roti station over here. Oh yeah. foreign.

They're going to get started on some fish curry and lamb. Curry are about to begin. Oh which one is this one? Oh chili lamb, you're about to fry the fish. Yep, that would be for for a fish curry or for fried fish.

Pretty good. so we'll fried the fish first and then make into a curry. Okay, 40 different dishes every single day and they're just know exactly what they're doing. all the different dishes to prepare the recipes.

The combination of ingredients that makes for so much flavor. the Aromas are out of control foreign. That's got to be one of the most aromatic combinations on Earth onions tempering down with curry leaves with dry chilies and cumin seed, ginger garlic paste goes in. Thank you.

So the next bronze. Wow I don't know. Thank you thank you very much. Oh I cannot take it any longer.

I'm so hungry I need to eat immediately. Oh wow that is unbelievable cooking. Oh wow! so these are the freshwater clams. This is one of the signature dishes here and these clams are from the famous Railroad river which is the Big River in my home town of Mustang Okay oh the Roti is so soft.

Oh wow, those muscles are so sweet and have a wonderful like kind of chewy texture to them with all of that spice and flavor. Some of the tomato chutney. oh wow yeah that just brings out that flavor, brightens it up the acidity of the Tomato the crunch of the onion, the freshness of the coriander, all that combination. Amazing duck Curry Yep is this chicken okay this is the chicken curry.

the one you guys making okay in the kitchen here in your plate. Nice! That is a feast I'm gonna move into that chicken curry. Good awesome. the spices the Masala the way the flavors just come together.

the curry Leaf the ginger garlic rotating the plate I think we'll move on to the the duck Curry next. Um oh the duck has an incredible room on totally different flavor profile from the chicken. more of like a roasted toasty Masala flavor to it infused with the herbs. So the way that they prepare the duck is they roast it on the fire.

oh that's why it's got that Smoky flavor to it. Yeah it does have that yeah toasty flavor. Yeah so once it's smoked then we're prepared for the curry. So then she marinates it in the Masala which she so the Masala is.

She prepares it here so it's sort of like a signature secret ingredient. It's your own blend of Masala that you use here which makes it extra special. Yeah it is very similar to spinach. really bright and refreshing and green tasting vegetal tasting I Love it.

The prawns. oh and when you suck when you suck that head just the flavor of all of the masala just comes out of it. Oh Oh the prawns are amazing right? Yeah. Fresh water.

So good. Fresh water. Okay, yes okay. even the shell is soft.

Um, every protein is a different blend of spices and Masala and flavor its own unique flavor. I Gotta try that chili achar. They say it's a little dangerous to eat The Bongo Chilis of Fuji Let's try it out. Oh wow oh that's good.

Bump up the spice level and it has a bit of a acidity to it because it's been cured. It's been made into an achar like a cinnamon flavor to it as well. Yeah oh they normally um dried out in the sun as well so get rid of all the moisture. Then once it's like dry and then they mix it up with all the spices and the oils and then they are.

Yeah, prepare it and they get it. Oh it's so good. Gotta have that fish curry as well which just came out of the pot. Okay so the fish curry was marinated in turmeric, fried and then mixed with all of the spices and made into a curry just dish after dish.

It's just so much flavor. Again, excellent. What an outstanding meal at Zamzam! Highly recommended for curries. An assortment of curries.

We made it to Naos that was about a 30 minute or so drive from the center of Suva and it's actually a small town, but it's a bustling town and it's home to a lot of Indian Heritage as well. and so we're going to continue with our Indian Fijian food tour here in this town. It also happens to be the hometown of Andy Andy so this place is called Babasiga. sort of like translates to the Northern Division which is where the owner of this place comes from and it is located just at the South End of the nursery town and very famous for their Lamb on the curry boat.

Awesome And this place is legendary Right Everyone that lives in our story knows this restaurant. Uh, it's a whole limber wall sort of establishment if you know you know. As we say in Fiji Excellent! They are famous here for their lamb on bone Curry and we're gonna watch them as they make the process as they prepare it before we eat it. How long have you had this restaurant 22 years? Okay people come for especially the Roti Curry Roti Curry Okay, okay.

foreign, yes okay. oh and ginger goes in yeah and this is the cheese. Oh nice. Oh I Love the lamb Curry before I've even tried it.

Oh happiness. Oh yes. I'm gonna put it all so how long will that cook for 40? Okay, but I can already guarantee you one of the flavor just overdoses and techniques that they use is just completely Browning The onions, the garlic and the ginger until they're crispy and bringing out their full aromatic potential before adding in that lamb. Curry It's three Roti in a Paso Okay comes a three roti.

Oh this is the chicken curry. Yeah okay, the doll. This is a spectacular meal and such a loyal following of people coming here to eat chicken curry. the lamb Curry and Roti They also have rice and Dal oh I Can't wait, we've got to try that fresh lamb.

Curry Oh hot, right off the griddle. the fluffiness of this roti. um oh wow. mm-hmm Really good.

You really taste the turmeric in there. A lot of turmeric. Hmm. it's amazing.

This is the best! Curry As I mentioned earlier and also so everyone, even from the capital city, they drive out here if they want to have the lamb Curry which is their real deal signature Curry here and the Roti just completely absorbs all of the sauce and the oils that have come out of it. And I would say that the flavors the masalas are definitely similar to what you would find in India but it has its own unique flavor that's specific to Fiji Really strong on the turmeric doll and I think she added some Moringa leaves in here as well. It's a very like a soupy doll. All right.

the doll I love it. It's very very thin, like almost a soup, a doll soup in case the cumin seed in there. the cinnamon. The Moringa leaves really good though.

Really good dog and with the combination of that soft hello iroki it's perfect. Chicken curry. Oh wow, two thumbs up. Yes, that's spectacular as well.

Flavors have really come together with the chicken oil and the masala. The flavor of the cinnamon when I'm eating the curry I Just feel the spices go right up my nose. Babasiga highly recommended the lamb Curry The chicken curry was delicious! Thank you to Shabnam from here! We are continuing with this Indian Fijian food tour and we're going to a place it's legendary for serving and actually it's not even a restaurant. but it is Auntie's home where she specializes.

where she's known for her duck. Curry is legendary. Uh, it's made by Krishna's mom. Nice to meet you Mrs Man we all call her auntie in the neighborhood and that guy is worth the drive to Nursery to come and try the first process.

Yeah you have to roast roast the skin of the duck. Yeah, First cleaned and roast. Okay and so we're beginning with the duck. Curry All the way from the start ducks are ready to go so they're just roasting the skin to give it at fragrance kind of char the skin a little bit after it's roasted.

then turmeric gets rubbed onto the skin. What a process. Also is the turmeric just to wash the wash the duck. Yeah okay oh yeah oh that Cleaver that Cleaver is huge hello foreign as the duck is still being chopped up.

Auntie is preparing her special doll. That's a unique recipe though. with carrots with eggplant, a lot of coriander and turmeric. Oh yes, Curry leaves.

As soon as she strips them off of that Branch the aroma comes out Curry Leaves is one of my all-time favorite. Leafs on Earth Yes sure. Oh the garlic, the green chilies, the ginger. oh this is Masala normal masala.

That's all I made home. Wow. Oh so that's three types of Masala Go in and they're all like darker darker colored masalas. You really smell the darker spices kind of like that toasty Aroma to it.

and really the the clove or cinnamon cardamom coming out of there. Oh and it's time for the duck. It's going in so that lid's gonna go on. but that recipe is just all complete experience.

Auntie knows just exactly the ratios the amount of ingredients in masalas to add in for the amount of duck that we have at hand. two ducks and so how long will that need to cook for now? two hours? Okay, coriander. Well, the duck Curry is boiling. They're gonna make raita to go along with the duck.

Curry Chili's coriander, garlic, carrots, cucumber are all going in. Okay, on to the data. Thank you You put a spoon Really? Oh I've never seen that technique before I think that's a new technique I've never seen before Bravo and we mix the salt a little bit Tamarind Powder this is for the Puri Okay to eat with the duck. Okay, yeah, okay and mix together.

Three more questions. That's okay. Here goes in the next layering of spices. that's the Masala Oh and that fresh jira.

Okay, it's finally time. Thank you Auntie for preparing this Incredible Meal look how thick thick the Masala is really fluffy. Excited to have some fluffy basmati rice as well. And normally I have the doll on top of the rice.

Yes, that doll salad. this is a fully loaded that I does well. IES The duck Curry Oh I'm just gonna pick it up. it's been just simmered down so all of that Masala has just Caked Up and thickened.

thank you. Um oh wow, that's so good. Oh that's unbelievable flavor. Oh the tenderness of the duck.

This, like all the masalas, have been roasted then pounded into a powder bringing out the full aromatic smokiness, the cumin, the black pepper in there, the cinnamon, and this is for sure one of the type of curries that no matter how much you could have made, you could see the entire recipe. You could see the entire process. But there's absolutely no way to fully replicate it because of the Masala because of Auntie's experience. And then I'll move over here into the into the doll and Rush and one of the cues to the doll is at the end she roasted in some oil.

uh there was fenugreek onions there was Mustard Seed and cumin and then poured it into that doll. they just sear it and give it some extra flavor. Um you'll just want to saturate everything with that Masala You can't get enough. Okay the putty.

oh man it's dark so I was telling Mark that um this is the must have Masala that when you in my story the catering here great. This is not a restaurant but they do catering so typically you'd have to order ahead of time. Yeah and they can prepare your your catered Masala duck which is something you do not want to miss and they were telling us that sometimes they get catering orders for like 200 people 200, 700, 700 people 700 so they can they can fulfill all of your Masala dreams. Okay I'm gonna add some of the a little more extra chili in here green chili.

we have some of the salad, we have some of the raita mix that in. oh just mixing it all with that Masala Oh there's few things better in life. Oh with the creaminess of that Oh the Right Touch is good to go so well together. creamy and a little bit sour CE one waiting for you.

Yeah, oh and it really I mean the experience but it's that Masala which they make all by hand. Mixing the ratios of the Masala is controlling the spice blend. That's what truly sets this Masala duck apart. So how often do you eat the Masala duck every day? Yes, every day.

Oh look at the duck. Oh how tender it is. You really taste the black pepper in there as well. That's one of the spices that really comes through in this.

Masala that duck Curry was Sensational mouth-blowing flavor. and although Indians coming to Fiji is far from a good story, it is amazing to see how Indians have thrived and how they've been accepted into Fijian culture. and I think the best way to remember the history is through the food. So a huge thank you to everyone for hosting us! The Fijian Indian food has been just outstanding I Want to say thank also my good friend Andy for taking us around and for arranging everything.

Oh what a time we've been having in Fiji and so I Want to say also a big thank you to you for watching this video. Please remember to give it a thumbs up if you enjoyed it. Leave a comment below I'd love to hear from you and if you're not already subscribed, make sure you subscribe now for lots more food and travel videos and make sure you keep on watching this entire Fijian food. Series where we're traveling around Fiji Eating some of the best local food.

You're not going to want to miss any of it. See you on the next video.