I have such fond memories of this Island! One of my good friends is from there, and I recently paid this beautiful and exotic island a visit a few months ago.
It is so full of life, culture and amazing foods.
I had the pleasure of getting out of the hotel and the hotel food. I went to the food markets and tasted different Mauritian offerings, from octopus salad; spicy samoosas, and what we in South Africa call a vetkoek; but this was much more scrumptious and spicy hot! Obviously I bought loads of spices, herbs and fruits. I asked one man who was selling spices at the market to mix for me the masala he cooks with at home, and oh boy was it hot. Even the memory is making my mouth water right now.
They also have large sugar cane farms in Mauritius and we obviously had to stop on the side of the road and get some. I’m not sure how legal it was, but the tour guide seemed to think it was fine.
Mauritian cuisine combines a lot of influences; African, Indian, French and Chinese. They do lots of curries, flat breads and pickles. The most commonly used ingredients are tomatoes, onions, garlic and chillies, with cinnamon, cardamom, cloves being the big C’s in spice combinations.
My dinner tonight is inspired by my experience of this island. I’m making Cari Poisson, which translates to fish curry.
What do you need?
- 1 onion cut into cubes
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4 chopped cloves of garlic
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4cm of ginger chopped
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150ml of tomato purée
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Spices- 1 tsp of cumin seeds, 2 tsp garam masala, 3 tsp of mild curry powder, 1 tbs of curry leaves, salt & pepper
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Vegetable oil
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2 cups of water
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60ml of lemon juice
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2 tsp of sugar
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1/2 cup(125ml) corn flour
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Fish fillets (kingklip)- deboned, cut into chunks
What to do?
In a blender/food processor, lightly blitz onions, garlic and ginger. Do not blend into a paste, just until chopped.
Into a hot pan with olive oil, add in the mixture and roast until brown, add all the spices and continue roasting.
Add in 1/2 cup of tomato purée and cook for a few minutes.
Add water, lime juice and sugar.
Reduce to a simmer at lower heat, 5 on a normal electric stove. Cook for 20 minutes.
In the meantime, cook a cup of Basmati rice in salted water, strain when cooked and set aside.
Season the fish generously with salt & pepper. Then dust with cornflour and shallow fry in a hot pan with olive oil. Until bown and half cooked through.
Then place the fish in the simmering sauce and let this cook in the sauce for 5 minutes, to soak in the flavours.
Serve with Basmati rice and a sprinkle of coriander.
My best curry of the week!
