Some friends have asked us for recipes of dishes that are typical for Madeira, or of things we make ourselves because they are not, or not often available in Madeira, or very expensive. Think of peanut butter. something we can easily buy in the Netherlands but is very expensive here.
oriental stuff
But there is also a number of oriental products we have to make ourselves since the supermarket chain ‘Sá’ went bankrupt as a direct result of the government corruption that caused the ferry to the mainland to cease operations. Sá used to have a row of overseas products, and since Timor Leste used to be a Portuguese colony before it became independent, it made sense that we could get most oriental ingredients there. But since quite recently, there is a small shop in Funchal with oriental products, but the shop is tiny and we can only hope it will survive on the ling run.
indonesian cuisine: part of the modern Dutch culture
So we will be gathering recipes for this kind of products, like sweet soy sauce ‘ketjap manis‘ and hot pepper paste ‘sambal oelek or ‘sambal badjak‘. The Dutch colonial past caused the Indonesian cuisine to be a part of our culture now, so every now and then we really love to make a rich Indonesian rice dish which comes with dozens of small dishes and therefore needs lot of ingredients, spices and herbs. So gradually, the number of recipes here will grow. Come back here now and then and see if we added something to your liking. Or, of course, subscribe to the blog at the bottom of the page and get a message whenever we add something new.
recipes of Madeiran delicacies
But mostly, the emphasis will lie at Madeiran specialities, stuff everyone who visited the island knows, and may want to try and make it at home to bring back the good memories.
