A masala recipe spells home for Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh
A unique spice mix evokes memories for a family in Cox’s Bazar who were forced to leave Myanmar
Just over two years ago Alid, Hafsa, and their three small children fled violence in Myanmar. The Rohingya refugees’ former home is in a region just over the border from their new one in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, where the World Food Programme secures access to food for hundreds of thousands of people.
Having left everything behind, the family long for reminders, however subtle, of home — not least in the dishes they prepare. “In winter we like to eat curry cooked with fresh green chilli instead of dried chilli,” says Alid — red, dried chilli being the most common type found in the markets here. “We cultivated green chilli in Myanmar.”
The family make a Rohingyan masala — a mix of spices — called mosolla here, using seven core ingredients and up to seven other ones, that are used in nearly every meal.
With 100 Bangladeshi taka (US$1.20), Alid buys enough for his wife to make a mix that will last two weeks. As retailers in WFP’s electronic voucher shops across the refugee camps diversify the produce they offer, Alid may soon be able to find the ingredients he needs there.
Hafsa and her method
Hafsa, aged 23, knows mosolla from her own family. “I saw my parents and grandparents buying the herbs from the market and then drying them. That’s how I learned to make it,” she says.
Dressed in a flowery dress and bright orange headscarf, she washes the ingredients by hand and lays them out on a metal tray under the warming sun. She’ll leave them to dry over the course of the day.
Hafsa pickles vegetables to sell so they can pay for extra school lessons for her kids and younger siblings. She has scoped out a small patch of hillside tucked behind her shelter to start growing her own vegetables too.
Hafsa pours the dried ingredients into a mortar and crushes them by hand with a pestle. Her mother, Nour, a small but assertive woman who lives nearby, comes and helps too. They sit on the porch in front of Hafsa and Alid’s shelter, afraid the concrete floor inside will otherwise crack under the strength of these two women as they pound the herbs and spices into a fine powder. The aroma fills the air.
This masala is unique — a family affair and a Rohingya specialty. Hafsa will use the spice mix to prepare some meat and vegetables for dinner. “Having a meal together with my family is special,” Alid tells us.
Make Rohingya Mosolla
Hafsa makes 250 grams to last two weeks, using the masala once a day.
Ingredients
(Use roughly the same proportion of each):
bay leaf
mace
coriander
cinnamon
cumin
black cumin
anise
sesame
black pepper
cardamom
turmeric
mustard seed
long pepper
1. Rinse the seeds, herbs and spices in clean water and drain.
2. Spread them evenly in a tray or pan to dry overnight. Alternatively, you can dry them in a warm pan on the stove to save time.
3. Use a pestle and mortar to crush the ingredients once dry. Continue crushing and grinding until a fine powder forms.
4. Store the spice mix in an airtight container. It will last up to four months.
5. Use the masala as you prefer to marinate meat or spice soups and curries.
Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh are completely reliant on external assistance. Originally provided with food staples like rice and lentils in bulk each month, more than half of the 800,000 refugees supported by WFP now receive e-vouchers, cards enabling them to buy the groceries they need when they need them. All refugees supported by WFP will be invited to the e-voucher platform by mid- 2020, thanks to generous support from our donors including the US, Canada, Germany, EU Humanitarian Aid, the UK, Australia, Japan and The Netherlands.
