Maldivian sweets and desserts: what to try

Before imported sugar became normal, sweetness on the islands came mostly from the coconut palm. Toddy tappers climb the palms and collect the sap, called raa. Boiled down for hours, it turns into a dark, honey-like syrup known as dhiyaa hakuru. The Edition describes it as the flavour that gives many local sweets their coconut depth. Cooked further, it becomes a pale, creamy paste called karu hakuru.

Toddy tapping has declined, and white sugar is now the everyday sweetener. But many cooks still prefer hakuru for festive dishes, and you will taste the difference: rounder, smokier, less sharp. Read more about the tree itself in our guide to the coconut palm in Maldivian life.

The other building blocks are simple:

• Grated coconut and coconut milk in almost everything
• Rice and rice flour, plus starches such as breadfruit, cassava, sago and taro
• Flower waters — rose and jasmine — for scent
• Cardamom and pandan leaf in puddings
• Bananas, often mixed in raw

A useful word: *foni* means sweet. So foni boakiba is a sweet cake, as opposed to the savoury kulhi boakiba, the spicy fish cake.

These are listed alphabetically, not ranked. Spellings vary, because Dhivehi words are written in Latin letters in several ways.

Addu bondi

A speciality of Addu, the southernmost atoll. The national tourism board describes it as a fragrant coconut sweet, often made from young coconut and scented with jasmine or rose water. The Edition calls bondi a cylindrical, jasmine-flavoured coconut sweet and the pride of the southern kitchen. If you travel south, look for it; see our Addu City guide.

Aveli

Flattened rice flakes mixed with ripe banana, grated coconut and sugar. It is a soft, no-cook sweet, traditionally made for maahefun, the gathering held just before Ramadan begins.

Bondibaiy

The best-known Maldivian dessert: rice simmered slowly in coconut milk with sugar, often with cardamom or pandan. It is a celebration dish, made in big pots for Eid, weddings and the birth of a child, and shared with neighbours. Maldivians often eat it with something salty, such as smoked tuna or a spicy fish dish, which sounds odd until you try it. Versions use sago (saagu bondibaiy) or breadfruit (banbukeyo bondibaiy). Make it yourself with our bondibaiy recipe.

Folhi

Thin crepes, eaten plain, sweetened with hakuru, or alongside a rice pudding. Regional versions exist. Haalu folhi, linked with Kulhudhuffushi in the north, is a thin, crisp sheet made from rice, egg and sugar that keeps well. Gabulhi folhi is named by The Edition as a much-loved sweet in the northern islands.

Foni boakiba

A sweet cake cut into squares, the sweet cousin of the fish cake. Older material from the national tourism board describes it as made with coconut, rice flour, sugar, water and rose water; The Edition simply calls it a flour cake and lists it among iftar foods across the atolls. Recipes differ from island to island, so do not expect two to taste the same.

Foni faaroshi

Dried bread broken into rough pieces and mixed with dhiyaa hakuru, coconut and banana, so the bread soaks up the syrup. Another maahefun favourite, with a savoury twin made with fish paste.

Huni hakuru

Grated coconut cooked with sugar or hakuru, often steamed wrapped in banana leaf. Sticky, chewy and very sweet — one or two pieces with tea is plenty.

Kashikeyo foah

A sweet from Eydhafushi in Baa Atoll. Screwpine fruit (kashikeyo) is cooked to a pulp, then mixed with sugar, jasmine water, young coconut and a little corn flour, and rolled into small balls the size of an areca nut (*foah*). The Edition notes that screwpine sweets are a Ramadan tradition there.

Kiru and kiru boakiba

*Kiru* means milk. Kiru is a smooth, creamy rice pudding; one Maldivian cook writing in The Edition recalls her family making a big pot of it, with folhi, on the first day of Ramadan. Kiru boakiba is a set milk pudding made with coconut milk and rice flour or corn flour, usually eaten at afternoon tea.

Kunbus

A rare Eid treat in some islands. MMTV describes it as a caramelised coconut sweet cake made with coconut, dhiyaa hakuru, sugar and flour, wrapped in banana leaves and slow-cooked underground over several days. You are unlikely to find it unless you are invited.

Maafuh

Soft balls of roasted finger millet flour mixed with banana, coconut and sugar. Old-fashioned and filling, and another dish linked with maahefun.

Naroh falidha

A breadfruit sweet flavoured with jasmine water and toddy syrup, which the tourism board says some people call the Maldivian doughnut. Few people still make it.

Tea time

Most sweets are eaten in the afternoon with black or milk tea, next to savoury snacks. Tea shops on local islands lay out trays of short eats, and a few of them are sweet. Our guide to hedhikaa, Maldivian short eats explains how this works.

Ramadan and iftar

Ramadan is when sweet dishes really come out. Families break the fast at sunset with drinks, short eats and puddings, and many homes still make the dishes their parents made. Before the month starts, maahefun brings people together to share aveli, foni faaroshi and puddings. Modern iftar tables now often include cheesecakes and other new desserts beside the old ones. If you visit during the fast, read Ramadan in the Maldives first: on local islands, do not eat, drink or smoke in public in daylight.

Eid

Eid begins with breakfast after the morning prayer. The centre of the table is usually kulhi boakiba, the fish cake, but bondibaiy and other sweets sit next to it. Families share food between houses, a custom called *thashibari*, and visitors who are invited in are often handed a plate.

Life events

Bondibaiy marks births, weddings and other family milestones. If you are offered a bowl, accept it: sharing food is part of the occasion.

You do not need a special restaurant. On a local island:

• Tea shops and cafés usually have a tray of snacks in the afternoon; ask which ones are sweet.
• Ramadan evenings bring the widest choice, as cafés and homes prepare iftar food.
• Your hosts are the best people to ask where to find hakuru or a home-made pudding.

Home cooking is still where the best versions are found, and a small local island is the easiest place to come across it. On Dhiffushi, in North Malé Atoll, Ramadan evenings and Eid are the times to look. Our guide to food in Dhiffushi covers what you can eat on the island day to day.

Taking sweets home

Sealed packs of local sweets are easy to carry, but each country has its own rules on bringing food in. Check your home country’s customs rules before you pack homemade puddings or syrup.

• Most sweets are vegetarian, made from coconut, rice and sugar. A few, such as some folhi and puddings, contain egg or dairy. Our vegetarian and vegan guide has more.
• They are very sweet. Small portions are normal.
• Fresh fruit counts as dessert too. Mango, banana and papaya often end a meal; see tropical fruits of the Maldives.
• Toddy is not alcohol in its fresh form, but it ferments quickly, which is why cooks boil it into syrup straight away. Alcohol is not allowed on local islands.
• Ask before photographing someone’s home kitchen or family meal.

For the wider picture of island cooking, start with Maldivian food: dishes to try.