Cooking

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Mauritian Cuisine

Chimchurri Sauce Recipe

1 or 2 Shallots

1 Fresno Chilly or one Red Jalapeno

3-4 Garlic Cloves

1/2 Cup Cilantro

¼ Cup Parsley

¼ Cup oregano

All of the above finely Chopped

Add 1 tsp Kosher Salt or more to taste

¾ Cup Olive Oil

½ Cup Red Wine Vinegar

Serve with Barbecued sliced steak Also Good on sliced fresh Baguette.


Fig Preserves:


10 pounds figs
1/4 cup baking soda
5 pounds granulated sugar
1/4 cup lemon juice
lemon slices (optional)
1 quart water

Wash figs in warm water with baking soda. Rinse well. Cut off stems.
Combine sugar,lemon and water in large, heavy pot and bring to a boil. Carefully drop figs into boiling syrup. Reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, until figs are clear looking and syrup is thick, about 2 to 3 hours.
Add lemon slices 1/2 hour before figs are done.
Immediately pour into hot, sterilized jars, leaving 1/3-inch head space. Adjust caps. Process 15 minutes in boiling water bath.

Yield: +-10

Fruit Sago:

I have always liked sago done the old traditional way in a custard and one day at the supermarket came across this recipe for fruit Sago on a packet of sago.

It looked good so I tried it and it was excellent! A comment though was that the sago in the packet was unusually large so when I do this I now use tapioca which is made from Manioc or Cassava as opposed to Sago which is extracted from the pith of Sago palm. Also I have tried it substituting the fruit with strawberries and the fruit juice with apple juice again very good. Experiment with other fruit.

Ingredients:

• 65 ML sago 1/3 cup
• 50 ML Lemon juice 1/4 “
• 125ML Orange Juice 1/2 “
• 250ML Pineapple Juice 1 “
• 65 ML Sugar 1/3 “
• 2 Egg Whites
• 75 ML Crushed Pineapple 1/3 “

Method

Soak tapioca/Sago 1 hour in water to cover. Add fruit juice and cook slowly until transparent.Stir it initially to prevent the sago from sticking to the pot. Remove from heat and fold in stiffly beaten egg whites and crushed pineapple. Put aside to set and cool. Serve with Ice cream or whipped cream.

There are many variations of hot stuff and lots of variations of chillies some of which are just so hot that when you eat them they do not actually do anything for the palate or enhance flavours at all. I like to use the term amplify as in electronics. Heat if used correctly enhances the flavour and if you have shrimps or seafood it increases the flavour and say with cheese or meat it also does so. You do not want to make anything so hot that it simply destroys the flavour so that you can enjoy the food with its amplified taste. Some chillies/peppers in my opinion fall into this category and are better left out of your mix.

Method: Use a variation of chillies as above or any group as per your taste and include the garlic and ginger which are very important ingredients. Remove the stalks and peel the garlic ginger and if you wish you can also add an onion. I have on occasion even added an egg-plant or two? Once this has been done mince all the ingedients and place in a suitable pot and add some olive oil and salt and a little vinegar and cook at a low temperature so as not to burn the contents. (I also like to add a little mustard oil as a variation) You can then bottle the contents in small 250 ML mason jars and Process them by boiling for at least 20 minutes before sealing the jars! The lids are only put on lightly for the processing. I always check to see bubbles of steam forming in the jars!

Mazavaroo (hot chilli paste with dried prawns)

• Ingredients:
• 125 grams red chillies
• 125 grams small dried prawns (chevrettes)
• 1 small onion finely chopped
• 1 tbs crushed ginger
• 2 tbs vinegar
• Juice from 1 lemon
• 8 tbs vegetable oil
• salt to taste

Preparation:

De-stem the red chillies and roughly chop. Finely chop the small onion.
If you are using dried prawns, soak in hot water until it softens. Remove any loose shells or impurities. Hand strain all water from the prawns. You can also use small cooked prawns. In the latter case, clean and de-vein the prawns as much as you can. (Note: Avoid dried small prawns/chevrettes that have been artificially coloured).
In proportion, use part of the chopped red chillies, small prawns, crushed ginger and finely chopped onion and finely blend in a food processor into a smooth paste. Add some vinegar and lemon juice to form a paste in the blender. You may also use a little hot water if the blender does not blend the mix into a paste.
Open all windows as the chilli / prawn mix will emanate a very strong aroma when cooked. In an open casserole pan (a wok is ideal), over high heat put in 8 tablespoons of vegetable oil. Allow the oil to heat up until very hot but not burning. Stir in the smooth mazavaroo paste and stir fry to cook the prawns and chillies. Stir constantly to avoid burning the paste. You may season the mixture to taste with salt. Allow the moisture in the paste to evaporate, then cook for another minute. Remove from heat and allow to cool.
Store in small glass jars in fridge. It is recommended to freeze the mazavaroo for long term storage. You may then defrost individual small jars in the microwave (5 minutes or more depending upon the size of the jars) for immediate use. Cover loosely with plastic wrap or kitchen paper to avoid spilling. Remove metal lids when defrosting. Store in the fridge after.
Enjoy. This mazavaroo is an excellent appetiser to accompany rice dishes.

Chilly Paste
Ingredients:

• 250G Green or Red chillies ( Stems removed)
• 3 Medium Onions
• 2tbs Fresh Ginger.
• 2 tbs White vinegar
• 10 tbs Oil
• Method:
• Blend to a smooth paste add vinegar
• In a saucepan put in the oil alow to simmer add the paste and simmer for 5 minutes stirring all the time.
• Bottle in jars and seal with alittle extra oil!

• Rougaille: This can be made with the following. Sausages (Pork or beef) beef, Veal Corned beef, Bacon or prawns and you can add boiled eggs and as a last alternative you can also add some peas. (Note :Mom burne preferably did this with pork sausages and did not normally add chillies or cayenne pepper, I prefer to kick it up a notch.) You can find variations of Rougaille on the Mauritious Link above!

Basic recipe

2 Large tomatoes Scalded with hot water and skins removed

2 Large onions Chopped

2-3 cloves garlic

2 tsp thyme

1-1/2 tsp chopped ginger

2 tbs chopped parsley

As many red or green chopped chillies as you can handle

five or six curry or lemon leaves, or (Kafir lime as they say in Mauritius)

First brown the sausages and remove from pan. Then add tablespoon of oil and fry onions untill transparent then add the thyme, garlic,curry leaves, chillies, ginger and parsley. Add a teaspoon salt or to taste plus half ateaspoon black pepper.Then add tomatoes and let simmer. last add the sausages once again.


Whole black or green lentils.

• 2 cups lentils
• 5 or so curry leaves
• 1 tbs crushed garlic
• 1 tbs crushed or chopped ginger.
• 2 large onions chopped
• 2 large tomatoes.
• 2 tbs oil salt and pepper to taste

You can pressure cook lentils for 15 mins or so with curry leaves and thyme salt and pepper. If you don't have a pressure cooker start first with the oil and fry onions garlic and ginger untill onions transparent. Then add rest of ingredients and three cups of water and simmer on low till lentils soft.

serve the above on a bed of rice

Corn Dog Recipe (US or Canadian)

• Ingredients
• 3⁄4 cup yellow cornmeal
• 3⁄4 cup flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1⁄4 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg beaten
• 2⁄3 cup milk
• 6 -8 small wooden sticks
• 6 -8 hot dogs
• oil, for deep-fat frying
• Directions
• Combine cornmeal, flour, baking powder, salt and egg; mix well.
• Stir in milk to make a thick batter; place in a tall narrow glass. Let stand 4 minutes to thicken.
• Meanwhile, heat oil to 375 degrees F.
• Pat hot dogs dry. Dust with flour. Insert sticks in hot dogs; dip into batter. Let excess drip off.
• Fry until golden brown, about 5-6 minutes. (I've found it works best to fry them one at a time. Unless you have a fryer that is big enough to handle more without them touching.)
• Drain on paper towel.
• NB Instead of Vienna's you could use cooked or barbecued boerewors shanks or Pork bangers and also kick it up a notch add some Cayenne pepper!
  

South African Buttermilk Rusks

• Now to some South Africans who may be afficionados of Boerebeskuit or Buttermilk rusks and want to make mosbolletjies the following may not seem quite ksher ,but I have found that South Africans tend to want to use baking powder or self raising flour which is something I try and stay clear of. I prefer using unbleached natural flour either whole wheat or all purpose flour. I also prefer to use yeast as opposed to using baking powder. Apart from being more authentic it is also I believe healthier. I rather bake the beskuit as loaves which I then slice it up to dry as opposed to making mosbolletjies and the breaking them up to dry. To me it just makes sense and is also easier to pack away.

• 250 g sugar (Or less if you prefer)

• 1 Kg Flour (Whole wheat or plain or mixed)

• 1 tsp Salt

• 3 teaspoons dried yeast

• 3 Large Eggs

• 350 Mil Buttermilk

 

• 250 g Marge or Butter

 

• 15 ml Aniseed

( As an alternate you can also add green cardamom seeds or ground cardamom say 2 tsp or replace the aniseed with the cardomom altogether) I actually love the cardomom alternative and it seems the Swiss and Scandinavian countries use it a lot as well in their baking.. As of late I more often use 15ml aniseed plus 15 ml cardomom.

• Method

• Mix All the dry ingredients in a large bowl (I use a Kitchen-aid food mixer with a dough hook)

• Add the melted Marge or butter and mix at slow speed till crumbed consistency.

• (Note do not overheat marge as you will kill the yeast)

• Add the the eggs keeping the mixer going .

• add the buttermilk in small amounts untill all used up. With these measurements you should end up with a clean bowl and a ball of dough.which can be handled quite easily without the need of flour or greased hands.

Transfer the dough into a greased suitable deep dish or Bread Pans for baking and stand it under a cloth and let the dough proof until at least double its size. 1 Hour or more. I tend to not use a cloth and rather let the dough proof in the oven with the oven light on! This raises the temperature in the oven just enough and assists in accelerating the proofing! One kg flour Yields enough for two loaves.

Once risen bake in 190°C Oven for 50 minutes or more.

Remove from pan and let cool, then slice into 2.5cm slices. Cut the slices to rusk size pieces and stack on a cookie pan on a tray with gaps in between for drying. Place in a 100⁰C oven and dry for about two to three hours. Note a convection oven works best for this if you don’t have a convection oven place a spoon or something in the door to prevent it from closing completely. This allows the moist air to escape!

This recipe normally yields a biscuit tin full of rusks. Enjoy with gusto with a good cuppa coffee.

Note-1 You can do this recipe with baking powder or self raising flour as opposed to the yeast and skip the yeast and the time to raise but I prefer the yeast method as it is a more traditional method and also adds to the flavour!

2 I have found that you can buy buttermilk powder at the Health food store and its very convenient to buy and store so that you always have buttermilk on hand. I then add the equivalent amount of powder to the dry mix before starting and increase the liquid to replace the buttermilk

3 Lately I have been baking my rusks in Bread trays as I have found the Loaves easier to slice and dry!

Pickled Herring Salad Recipe

• Ingredients
• 1 can Pickled Herring (12- to 16-ounce)
• ½ cup German Dill Pickles (sliced, cut into strips about 1-1/2 inch by 1/4 inch)
• ½ Medium Granny Smith Apple (diced) ½ cup
• Sour Cream
• 1 tablespoon
• Parsley (fresh chopped)
• Salt And Pepper
• 2 cups Mesclun Salad Mix
• 2 Plum Tomatoes (sliced into wedges) Salt And Pepper
• Directions
• 1. Drain herring and remove pickling spices.
• 2. Place in bowl; add pickle, apple, sour cream and parsley. Stir gently with a rubber spatula. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
• 3. Divide mesclun mix and slice...(Mesclun is a mix of young lettuces and other leafy greens used for salads and garnishes.)

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