Welcome to the summary page for FabulousFusionFood's Madagascar recipes, part of East Africa. This page provides links to all the Kenyan recipes presented on this site, with 31 recipes in total.

This is a continuation of an entire series of pages that will, I hope, allow my visitors to better navigate this site. As well as displaying recipes by name, country and region of origin I am now planning a whole series of pages where recipes can be located by meal type and main ingredient. This page gives a listing of all the Indian recipes added to this site.

Being an island in the Indian ocean, Malagasy cuisine is derived from many sources and traditions. Curries, derived from India, are an important aspect of the cuisine. There is also an extensive Malay influence and thus foods containing pork and lamb are an important part of the diet. African stews are also common, though they are often flavoured with curry powder. Seafood also presents an important aspect of the diet and fish dishes served with rice are common.

These recipes, for the major part, originate in Madagascar. Otherwise they are fusion recipes with major Malagasy influences.

Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar (Repoblikan'i Madagasikara in Malagasy and République de Madagascar in French) is is an island country in East Africa, comprising the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's fourth largest island, the second-largest island country and the 46th largest country in the world.[14] Its capital and largest city is Antananarivo.

Following the prehistoric breakup of the supercontinent Gondwana, Madagascar split from Africa during the Early Jurassic, around 180 million years ago, and split from the Indian subcontinent around 90 million years ago,[15] allowing native plants and animals to evolve in relative isolation; consequently, it is a biodiversity hotspot and one of the world's 17 megadiverse countries, with over 90% of wildlife being endemic. The island has a subtropical to tropical maritime climate. Madagascar was first settled during or before the mid-first millennium AD by Austronesian peoples, presumably arriving on outrigger canoes from present-day Indonesia.[17][18][19] These were joined around the ninth century AD by Bantu migrants crossing the Mozambique Channel from East Africa.[20] Other groups continued to settle on Madagascar over time, each one making lasting contributions to Malagasy cultural life. Consequently, there are 18 or more classified peoples of Madagascar, the most numerous being the Merina of the central highlands.

Until the late 18th century, the island of Madagascar was ruled by a fragmented assortment of shifting sociopolitical alliances. Beginning in the early 19th century, most of it was united and ruled as the Kingdom of Madagascar by a series of Merina nobles. The monarchy was ended in 1897 by the annexation by France, from which Madagascar gained independence in 1960. The country has since undergone four major constitutional periods, termed republics, and has been governed as a constitutional democracy since 1992. Following a political crisis and military coup in 2009, Madagascar underwent a protracted transition towards its fourth and current republic, with constitutional governance being restored in January 2014.

Etymology: n the Malagasy language, the island of Madagascar is called Madagasikara (Malagasy pronunciation: [madaɡasʲˈkʲarə̥]) and its people are referred to as Malagasy. The origin of the name is uncertain, and is likely foreign, having been propagated in the Middle Ages by Europeans.[26] If this is the case, it is unknown when the name was adopted by the inhabitants of the island. No single Malagasy-language name predating Madagasikara appears to have been used by the local population to refer to the island, although some communities had their name for part or all of the lands they inhabited.

The name Malagasikara, or Malagascar, is also historically attested. A British state paper in 1699 records the arrival of eighty to ninety passengers from 'Malagaskar' to what would eventually become New York City. An 1882 edition of the British newspaper The Graphic referred to 'Malagascar' as the name of the island, stating that it is etymologically a word of Malay origin, and may be related to the name of Malacca.[36] In 1891, Saleh bin Osman, a Zanzibari traveler, refers to the island as 'Malagaskar' when recounting his journeys, including as part of the Emin Pasha Relief Expedition. In 1905, Charles Basset wrote in his doctoral thesis that Malagasikara was the way the island is referred to by its natives, who emphasized that they were Malagasy, and not Madagasy.

Food and Cuisine:

Malagasy cuisine reflects the diverse influences of Southeast Asian, African, Oceania, Indian, Chinese, and European culinary traditions. The complexity of Malagasy meals can range from the simple, traditional preparations introduced by the earliest settlers, to the refined festival dishes prepared for the island's 19th-century monarchs. Throughout almost the entire island, the contemporary cuisine of Madagascar typically consists of a base of rice (vary) served with an accompaniment (laoka). The many varieties of laoka may be vegetarian or include animal proteins, and typically feature a sauce flavoured with such ingredients as ginger, onion, garlic, tomato, vanilla, coconut milk, salt, curry powder, green peppercorns or, less commonly, other spices or herbs. In parts of the arid south and west, pastoral families may replace rice with maize, cassava, or curds made from fermented zebu milk. A wide variety of sweet and savory fritters as well as other street foods are available across the island, as are diverse tropical and temperate-climate fruits. Locally produced beverages include fruit juices, coffee, herbal teas and teas, and alcoholic drinks such as rum, wine, and beer. Three Horses Beer is the most popular beer on the island[274] and is considered emblematic of Madagascar.