Recipe
🥙 LUNCH
Bis Keemiya
Crisp fried Maldivian pastry parcels filled with tuna, cabbage, onion and boiled egg, the islands favourite tea-time snack.
Maldivian · medium · serves 6
prep 40 min · cook 20 min
~414 cal · 26g protein · 42g carbs · 16g fat · 5g fiber · 5g sugars · 3g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Bis keemiya is the Maldivian take on the samosa, a crisp fried pastry parcel filled with flaked tuna, shredded cabbage, onion and boiled egg. The name nods to the egg in the filling, and the wrapper is thin and shattery rather than heavy.
Sold from tea shops on every inhabited island and eaten with sweet black tea, it is the quintessential Maldivian afternoon short eat, or hedhikaa. Tuna, the most abundant local catch, localises a snack that arrived through centuries of trade with India and Sri Lanka.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally dairy-, nut- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 6
2 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup water
1 1/2 cups canned tuna, drained and flaked
3 cups cabbage, finely shredded
1 onion, finely sliced
3 boiled eggs, chopped
1/4 cup , chopped
1 green chili, chopped
1 tsp ground black pepper
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
2 cups vegetable oil, for frying
to taste salt
Instructions
1
Make a firm dough from the flour, water, a spoon of oil and salt. Knead until smooth, cover, and rest 20 minutes.
2
Saute the onion and curry leaves in a little oil, add the cabbage and cook until softened, then stir in the tuna, chili, pepper and turmeric and let cool.
3
Fold the chopped egg into the cooled filling and season with salt.
4
Divide the dough into balls, roll each into a thin round, place filling in the centre, and fold over into a sealed parcel, pressing the edges firmly.
✎ Chef’s note
Seal the edges with a dab of flour paste so they do not burst open in the hot oil.
5
Deep-fry in medium-hot oil, turning once, until deep golden and crisp. Drain and serve hot with tea.
Maldivian tea shop snack.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Malé. Mas huni is assembled rather than cooked. The tuna has already been smoked and dried into valhoamas, so it is simply shredded up with grated coconut, onion, chilli and lime and eaten with roshi flatbread. Maldivians, unlike much of the Pacific, have no tradition of eating fish raw.
🗺️
Maldives. Maldivian food is built on the sea and the coconut, tuna in every form, coconut, and fiery chili, epitomized by mas huni eaten at breakfast. Fresh, simple, and fish-forward, it's the taste of twenty-six atolls and some twelve hundred coral islands.
🌍
Asia. A grain line runs across the continent. Rice dominates the wet south and east, wheat the drier north and west, and the tools follow it: the wok and the steamer where rice is milled, the tandoor and the griddle where wheat is ground. Tea travels the other way, drunk green, black, salted, buttered or with milk depending how far it got from China.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Maldives
Mas HuniShredded smoked tuna tossed with grated coconut, onion, chili, and lime, the Maldivian breakfast, with roshi flatbread.
Mas RihaA Maldivian tuna curry in a fragrant coconut sauce with curry leaves, pandan, and dried chili.
GarudhiyaA clear, fragrant tuna broth served over rice with lime, chili, and onion, the everyday heart of the Maldivian table.
Browse all Maldives recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Deep pot for frying.
Storing it: Store in an airtight container. Most keep 2 to 3 days at room temperature, and longer refrigerated.
Make it a Maldives meal
Foni BoakibaaDessert
Kukulhu RihaDinner
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Frequently asked questions
What is Bis Keemiya?
Crisp fried Maldivian pastry parcels filled with tuna, cabbage, onion and boiled egg, the islands favourite tea-time snack.
Where does Bis Keemiya come from?
Bis Keemiya is a Maldivian dish from Malé, Maldives.
Can Bis Keemiya be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Bis Keemiya recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions, including several at once such as gluten-free and dairy-free together. Treat them as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Bis Keemiya safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Bis Keemiya take to make?
About 60 minutes total (40 minutes prep, 20 minutes cooking), serving 6.
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