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Maldivian breakfast of mas huni, flaked tuna mixed with grated coconut, served with warm roshi flatbread
Prep25 min
Cook20 min
Serves4 servings
CuisineMaldivian
South Asia

Mas Huni: Maldivian Tuna and Coconut Breakfast with Warm Roshi

How to make mas huni (mashuni), the Maldivian breakfast of tuna, grated coconut, red onion, chilli and lime, with soft homemade roshi flatbread for 4. Covers the mixing order, kneading, rolling and cooking eight roshi, adjusting heat and acidity, frozen grated coconut, smoked tuna and vegetable variations, and how it differs from mas kurolhi.

Total: 45 minLevel: Beginner

Cooking flow

Cooking steps

STEP 11 / 9

Squeeze the onion and chilli with lime and salt

Squeezing red onion, chilli, lime juice and salt by hand in a bowl
Squeeze the onion and chilli with lime and salt before adding coconut or tuna

Put the sliced red onion, sliced chillies, 20 ml lime juice and 5 g salt (the mas huni salt) in a clean bowl. Squeeze gently with your hands for about 1 minute. Stop when the onion has softened slightly and the juices and chilli aroma have come together.

STEP 22 / 9

Mix in the coconut

Adding grated coconut to the lime-squeezed onion and chilli and mixing
The mixture should be moist but still coarse, with distinct coconut shreds

Add 120 g grated coconut and mix until it is evenly combined with the onion mixture. Keep this order: the lime softens the onion first, then the coconut goes in. If liquid pools at the bottom of the bowl, check the moisture in your coconut; don't add coconut milk.

STEP 33 / 9

Fold in the tuna and curry leaves, then chill

Adding drained, flaked tuna and optional curry leaves to the mas huni
Fold the tuna in last and stop while the flakes are still visible

Add the 250 g drained, flaked tuna and, if using, the 6 finely sliced curry leaves. Mix gently so the fish keeps its flakes. Taste, and adjust with a little more lime or salt if needed. Cover and keep in the refrigerator until serving.

STEP 44 / 9

Rub the oil into the flour

Rubbing vegetable oil into the flour and salt for roshi with the fingertips
Rub the oil into the flour and salt before any water goes in

In a wide bowl, combine 300 g plain flour and 5 g salt (the roshi salt). Add 25 ml vegetable oil and rub it into the flour with your fingertips until the flour feels slightly moist. This oil is for the dough only; none goes into the mas huni.

STEP 55 / 9

Add warm water and knead

Kneading roshi dough with oil and warm water added on the counter
Knead until the dough is soft, cohesive and smooth

Add 160 ml warm water first, gradually, and bring the dough together. Add more only as needed, up to 180 ml in total, to make a soft dough. Knead for about 5 minutes, until the surface is smooth. If it feels stiff, add a little more of the remaining water; if it is sticky, use a light dusting of flour.

STEP 66 / 9

Rest, then divide into 8

Dividing the covered, rested roshi dough into eight balls
Keep the balls you aren't working on covered with a cloth

Cover the dough so it doesn't dry out and rest it for 15 minutes. Divide it into 8 balls. Dividing evenly makes it easier to roll the breads to a similar size.

STEP 77 / 9

Roll into thin rounds

Rolling roshi dough into a thin 18–20 cm round using dusting flour
Roll one ball at a time and keep the rest covered

With a little dusting flour, roll each ball into a thin round about 18–20 cm across. They don't need to be perfect circles.

STEP 88 / 9

Cook the roshi

Cooking thin roshi in a flat pan until bubbles and light brown spots appear
Turn when bubbles appear, and stop at light brown spots while the bread is still soft

Heat a flat frying pan or griddle over medium-high heat. Cook one roshi for 45–60 seconds on the first side; when bubbles start to form, turn it and cook the second side for 30–45 seconds. Take it off when light brown spots have formed and the bread is still soft. Times shift with your burner and pan, so watch the bread; it should not be charred black.

STEP 99 / 9

Keep the roshi warm under a cloth

Stacking soft cooked roshi under a clean kitchen towel to keep warm
Cover the stack as you go so each bread stays soft

Stack each cooked roshi under a clean kitchen cloth so it doesn't dry out while you cook the rest. Serve the mas huni lightly chilled or at room temperature, with the roshi warm.

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Ingredients

Ingredients

1 / 3

Mas huni

Ingredient Amount Role and preparation
Canned tuna (in water or oil) 250 g, drained Drain well and flake. Water-packed is the base; oil-packed adds more aroma and fat
Freshly grated coconut 120 g Texture and gentle sweetness
Red onion 80 g Finely sliced. Bite and crunch
Red chillies 2 Finely sliced
Fresh lime juice 20 ml Acidity
Salt (for mas huni) 5 g, or to taste Adjust after tasting, as tuna varies in saltiness
Curry leaves 6, optional Finely sliced. Leave out if you can't find them
2 / 3

Roshi (8 breads)

Ingredient Amount Role and preparation
Plain flour 300 g For the dough
Salt (for roshi) 5 g Separate from the mas huni salt
Vegetable oil 25 ml Rubbed into the flour
Warm water 160–180 ml Start with 160 ml and add only as much as the dough needs
Extra flour for dusting As needed For the counter and rolling pin
3 / 3

To serve (optional)

Ingredient Amount Note
Black tea Optional An optional accompaniment
Boiled eggs Optional Optional accompaniment
Lime wedges Optional Optional accompaniment
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Mas Huni: Lime-Softened Onion, Grated Coconut and Flaked Tuna on Warm Bread

What this bowl should keep

Keep the tuna in visible flakes, the coconut in distinct shreds, and the onion with a little bite. Mas huni is a coarse mix, not a paste, and it is eaten cool with bread that is still warm.

Thin red onion and sliced chilli are squeezed by hand with lime juice and salt until the onion just starts to soften. Freshly grated coconut goes in next, then drained, flaked tuna, folded in gently so the fish stays in pieces. The bowl is kept cool until breakfast, and it is eaten with roshi, a soft, thin wheat flatbread cooked in a flat pan.

This recipe follows the Maldives Chefs' Forum version, "Mashuni with Homemade Roshi," for 4 servings: a no-cook mas huni made with canned tuna, and eight roshi made from scratch. The source lists 25 minutes of prep and 20 minutes of cooking. You will also find the dish spelled two ways, Mas Huni and Mashuni; more on that below.

A Maldivian Breakfast of Tuna and Coconut

Mas huni brings together tuna, grated coconut, onion, chilli and citrus, and is eaten with roshi. The World Tourism Organization's 2021 overview of gastronomy in the Maldives names fish, coconut and rice as key elements of traditional Maldivian cuisine and describes tuna as the main fish staple. Its Mashuni section presents the dish as a breakfast of boiled, canned or smoked tuna with shredded coconut, sliced onion, lime and chillies, and recommends serving it with roshi and strong black tea. That describes a national overview, not proof that every household eats it the same way.

The spelling varies between sources. Visit Maldives writes Mas Huni, while the Maldives Chefs' Forum and the UNWTO brochure write Mashuni. These are spellings of the same dish, so it helps to search with both. Because the sources mention boiled, canned and smoked tuna, this recipe uses canned tuna, one of the two options the Chefs' Forum recipe gives ("canned or cooked tuna, drained and flaked").

Sekai Gohan also has a recipe for mas kurolhi, another Maldivian dish that uses close ingredients such as fish and coconut. Mas kurolhi is served alongside baiypen, a rice porridge; mas huni is eaten with roshi. Similar ingredients do not make them the same dish.

Ingredients for Mas Huni and Roshi (Serves 4)

Canned tuna, grated coconut, red onion, chillies, lime and curry leaves, set apart from flour, oil and salt for roshi
Keep the mas huni ingredients and the roshi ingredients separate, including the two portions of salt

Both parts come from the same Chefs' Forum recipe. There are two separate 5 g portions of salt, one for the mas huni and one for the roshi dough; weigh them separately so they don't get mixed up. Weigh the tuna after draining it.

Allergy and food safety

This dish contains fish (tuna) and wheat (roshi). Optional boiled eggs add egg. The mas huni is not cooked, so use only canned tuna or tuna that is already fully cooked; do not swap in raw fish. Handle the opened tuna with clean utensils and a clean bowl, and keep the finished mas huni in the refrigerator until you serve it.

Equipment

  • Two bowls (one for mas huni, one wide bowl for the dough)
  • Measuring scale and measuring jug
  • Rolling pin
  • Flat frying pan or griddle
  • Spatula for turning the bread
  • Clean kitchen cloth (to cover the dough and keep the cooked roshi warm)

Choosing and Substituting: Coconut, Chillies, Lime and Flour

Coconut. Freshly grated coconut is best for its texture and flavor. If you can't get it, frozen grated coconut is an option. Choose unsweetened grated coconut rather than sweetened baking coconut, thaw it, and check that it hasn't released a lot of water before you weigh it. Expect the aroma to be a little different from fresh. Dried, desiccated coconut is not part of this recipe.

Chillies. Chillies vary widely in size and heat. If you prefer it milder, remove the seeds or use fewer. A Scotch bonnet (local name Githeyo Mirus) can be much hotter; don't treat it as an equal swap for ordinary red chillies.

Lime. The Visit Maldives version uses lemon juice, in a very different amount. Lemon works as a substitute but changes the aroma, so it won't taste the same as lime.

Canned tuna. Saltiness differs by product. Weigh out the full 5 g of salt, but add it with a light hand if your tuna is already salty, and taste before adding the rest.

Onion. Slice it thinly. Soaking or rinsing the onion in water changes its moisture and flavor, so this recipe skips it and relies on the squeeze with lime instead.

Curry leaves. They are optional. If you can't find them, simply leave them out rather than substituting another herb.

Flour and oil. Use plain flour; switching to bread flour changes the dough. A strongly flavored oil will change the aroma of the roshi.

Method: Make the Mas Huni, Then Cook the Roshi

Order of work

Make the mas huni first and keep it in the refrigerator, then make, roll and cook the roshi so the bread reaches the table warm. Cooking all eight roshi one after another takes roughly 10–14 minutes on the pan, plus the time to move each one in and out.

Fixing Watery Mas Huni, Too Much Heat and Dry Roshi

What happens Likely cause What to do
Mas huni is watery Moisture from the coconut; tuna not drained well Drain the tuna thoroughly and don't crush it. Check thawed frozen coconut for excess water. Don't add coconut milk
Onion tastes too sharp Slices too thick; onions vary Slice thinly and give it the full minute of squeezing with lime and salt
Too hot Chilli variety; amount of seeds and membrane Remove the seeds or use fewer chillies next time. Don't treat Scotch bonnets and ordinary red chillies as equally hot
Turned into a fish paste Overmixed Add the tuna last, after the coconut, and fold gently
Too salty Salty canned tuna Weigh the salt separately and add it gradually, tasting as you go
Roshi is stiff or dry Too little water, rolled too thin, overcooked, or left uncovered Start with 160 ml water and go up to 180 ml for a soft dough, watch the time on each side, and cover the cooked breads with a cloth

Variations: Smoked Tuna, Hotter Chillies and Vegetables

Smoked tuna. Visit Maldives lists smoked or canned tuna. Smoked tuna brings a stronger flavor and more salt, so taste before adding salt. Weight and moisture differ from drained canned tuna, so don't assume the amounts in this recipe carry over directly.

Scotch bonnet (Githeyo Mirus). The Visit Maldives recipe uses this chilli by its local name. It may be very hot; there is no one-for-one conversion from ordinary red chillies, so start small.

With vegetables. The UNWTO brochure notes that local vegetables such as pumpkin, gourd, aubergine and greens may be mixed into mashuni. The sources give no amounts or method for these, so treat them as a sign of how households and regions vary rather than part of this recipe.

Without curry leaves. They are optional in the base recipe, so leaving them out is fine.

Making it ahead

If you want to prepare the mas huni in advance, the recipe author suggests adding the lime close to serving. That is a make-ahead adjustment; the base method above, made and served the same day, squeezes the lime in at the start.

Serving Warm Roshi with Cool Mas Huni

A breakfast table where chilled mas huni is spooned in small amounts onto warm roshi
Put a little mas huni on warm roshi and wrap or scoop it up

The recipe makes 4 servings and 8 roshi, which works out to 2 roshi each, though how much people eat varies. Bring the mas huni to the table lightly chilled or at room temperature, with the roshi still warm under its cloth. Put a little mas huni on a piece of roshi at a time and wrap or scoop it up; that is one easy way to eat it, not the only one. The Chefs' Forum lists black tea, boiled eggs or lime wedges as optional additions, and the UNWTO brochure suggests strong black tea. Visit Maldives serves mas huni with roshi or farata.

An older Visit Maldives page describes cafés in Malé and teashops on inhabited islands as places where people eat hedhikaa, or small snacks, and names valoamas (smoked tuna) and hikimas (smoked and sun-dried tuna). That page has no visible date, so read it as background rather than a picture of how households eat today.

Frequently Asked Questions

Are mas huni and mashuni different dishes?

No. They are two spellings of the same dish: Visit Maldives writes Mas Huni, while the Maldives Chefs' Forum and the UNWTO brochure write Mashuni.

Can I make it with canned tuna?

Yes. The base recipe allows canned or cooked tuna. Drain canned tuna well and flake it before weighing out 250 g. Don't substitute raw fish.

Can I use dried coconut?

This recipe uses freshly grated coconut. How to rehydrate dried coconut, and how much water to use, isn't established in the sources, so it isn't recommended here. If you can find frozen grated coconut, thaw it and check its moisture; it works, though the aroma and texture differ slightly from fresh.

How is it different from mas kurolhi?

Some ingredients overlap, such as fish and coconut, but they are different dishes. Mas kurolhi is served with baiypen, a rice porridge; mas huni is a breakfast eaten with roshi.

How many people do 8 roshi feed?

The source gives 8 roshi for 4 servings. Two per person is simply that number divided evenly; appetites vary.

Sources