Nope, I have not been to Mauritius but it is definitely on my travel to-do list. A few years back I read somewhere that It was Mark Twain who wrote ‘ Mauritius was made first then heaven, heaven being copied after Mauritius ‘ with that recommendation… I’m off to book a flight!
I’ve had a plan to visit Mauritius for a while, meanwhile, I visited this Mauritius restaurant with my mum.
I love to eat and finding inspiration for authentic and new recipes from different cultures around the world. Cooking with various and different flavours is always the fun part and pretend to be in that culture or country for a while.
We tried their vegetarian dishes and drinks, one of them was Gateau Piment Curry , first, we thought that the fritters they used were so similar to our Gujarat Na Daal Vada , which are made with green moong lentils.
I would say, this curry is a close cousin of Indian style Kofta Curry or vada Curry, was not surprised as Mauritians are a fusion of French, Indian, Creole and Chinese people and their cuisine is blended of Chinese, European and Indian.
So as soon we had the first bite of this delicious Gateau Piment Curry, we looked at each other and nodded our approval. Since that day we had made this curry at home, but somehow one or the other reason could not appear on the blog. So now it is time to look at the recipe of Gateaux Piments Curry!
I am sure you want to know what is Gateaux Piments or Gato Pima? Gateaux translate Fritters or Vada and Piments translates Chilli Pepper, so these are Chilli Fritters. These crispy outsides and soft inside Chilli Fritters are made with Split Chickpea or Chana Daal, green and red chilies and a couple of basic Indian spices, yes resembles South Indian Masala Vada or Paruppu Vadai,. These fritters are popular dish amongst the Mauritians and you can find them every nook and corner of this island, yes just the way you can find samosa in India and Chips in England.
So how these fritters make their way into the curry? I guess when you have leftover Gateaux Piments so they just throw into a hot and spicy finger licking gravy or sauce that is prepared with tomato, coconut milk, and spices, and serve it with round and soft gujarati rotlis , ghee rice , poori or ajwain paratha . This dish is fit for any occasion, whenever you feel like having it or any get-together, In Mauritius, this curry is served on a wedding day or any big occasion too.
Notes:- Adjust spiciness according to your liking. Chilli Fritters are freezable. If you are preparing this curry for get together or for a crowd gravy can be made early. When ready to serve heat the gravy and toss the fritters into. If you can’t find fresh thyme, use 1/4 tsp. carom seeds ( ajwain) More Kofta Curry Recipes 1. Vegan Sweet Potato and Tofu Kofta Curry
Gateaux Piments Curry
ingredients:
250g chana daal or split chickpeas
4 red dry chillies broken into pieces
2 fresh green chillies broken
100g spring onion chopped
1/2 medium red onion chopped
2 tbsp. freshly chopped coriander -optional
Salt to taste
Oil for deep frying
1 big onion finely chopped
1 tbsp. garlic, ginger puree
2 green chillies finely chopped
1 sprig fresh curry leaves
3-4 sprigs thyme
1 tsp. red chilli powder
1/2 tsp. turmeric powder
1 tbsp. ground coriander and cumin
1 tbsp. ground cardamom, fennel, and fenugreek seeds or powder – Saunf, Elychi and Methi
1/4 tsp. cinnamon powder
1 tsp. Curry Powder
400ml coconut milk
2 tbsp. oil
Fresh coriander for garnishing the curry
75g tomato puree -optional
instructions:
How to cook Gateaux Piments Curry
- Clean, wash and soak chana daal for at least 4-5 hours or overnight.
- Drain the water from the daal, and grind in a grinder until you get the coarse paste. (You won’t need any water to make the paste, but if you really struggle to make a paste then add a couple of spoons)
- Now add all the other ingredients except oil and grind the mixture for 5 seconds.
- Remove the mixture into another bowl.
- Heat oil in a kadai or deep fryer, make small balls and gently drop them into the hot oil. (keep a couple of tablespoon of this paste to use in curry sauce)
- Fry these fritters on a medium to low heat until light golden brown and crispy.
- Remove it and leave on a kitchen paper.
- Enjoy hot with chai or chutney and leave some to make curry.
- To prepare gravy, heat oil in a pan or kadai.
- Add onion and fry until translucent, now add ginger and garlic puree.
- Fry this mixture for a couple of minutes then add curry leaves and thyme sprigs.
- Now add tomato puree and cook this mixture until oil separates from the mixture.
- Add all the ground masala and powders with salt and fritters paste.
- Cook the mixture until you get the really nice aroma of spices, then add coconut milk.
- Gently simmer the sauce or gravy for a few minutes.
- Now add fried chili fritters and let it simmer the curry for another five minutes.
- Turn off the heat and garnish it with fresh coriander.
- Serve hot.
- I served with mine with yellow rice and salad.
- Enjoy!
NOTES:
Did you make this recipe?
Being a British-Asian we follow two cultures, Indian and English and there is no problem with that. We choose whatever is best from both cultures.
One of them is festivals, which appears one after another and makes our lives full of happiness, joy, and closeness.
As soon as the new year celebrations finish, Indian Festival Makar Sankranti comes and as that goes away, Valentine’s Day makes everything rosy and then follows the Indian spring festival Holi, a vibrant, colourful and fun-filled festival that brings out a child in you 🙂 so there is no ending of festivals of both cultures right up to the end of the year.
The festival Holi also known as The Festival of Colours is the second most popular Hindu festival after Diwali and these both festivals are ancient celebrations.
Holi festival is celebrated in the UK by Hindu and non-Hindu as well, normally in the temples but nowadays younger generation celebrates this colourful festival in Bollywood style as celebrating Holi in this manner has been more and more popular in recent years.
In Gujarat, Holi celebrations continue for two days. On the first day, people celebrate this festival by Prayers and visiting temples, many observe the fasts on the first day too. and with a large bonfire lit on that night, and performs puja by throwing grain such as popcorn, puffed rice, and coconut in the bonfire.
On the second day, the same festival becomes a raucous affair for some younger generation as they throw colour powder at each other as a ritual and nobody seems to mind this it is all in good faith.
We all know that all celebrations cannot be complete without any treats and same goes in our house too.
During Holi celebrations, you can make Dhani Na Ladoo , such a simple, sweet and satisfying treat for us kids.
The joy of these fun-filled days is incomparable and indescribable.
This year I am keeping it very simple and time-saving, so I decided to do away with different types of foods and just stick to one recipe which is Dhani Na Ladoo!
Rose petals are for a photographic purpose only.
JOWAR DHANI NA LADOO/LADU
ingredients:
- 100g sorghum puffs- jowar dhani
- 200g grated jaggery
- 1 Tbsp. ghee or coconut Oil
- 2-3 Tbsp. pistachio and almond Slivers (optional)
- A few dried rose petals
instructions:
How to cook JOWAR DHANI NA LADOO/LADU
- Dry roast Jowar Dhani on a low heat until crispy but not browned.
- Leave it aside.
- Heat ghee in a wide pan and add grated jaggery.
- Let the jaggery melt and make runny syrup.
- Once you have nice and runny jaggery, add roasted dhani and nuts slivers.
- Quickly mix well and turn off the heat.
- Remove the mixture into another plate.
- Apply little ghee on your both palms and quickly make round balls of this mixture.
- Be careful mixture will be very hot.
- If you can’t handle the hot mixture, set in a greased tray and as soon as it is set cut into the desired shape.
- Sprinkle rose petals.
- Once cooled store in an airtight container.
- Enjoy!
