These Stewed Taro Leaves are a Mauritian dish that is served as an accompaniment. When stewed this tropical green leaves (also called kalo) turn a dark brown, almost black and are thick and delicious when cooked with onion, a few spices and tangy tamarind paste. Mauritians eat this as street food with a roti.
What you need… • 20 stalks of taro with leaves. Peel the first layer, clean thoroughly and chop. • 1 Tablespoon oil • 0.5 onion, chopped fine • 0.5 teaspoon garlic teaspoon • 0.5 teaspoon ginger paste • 1 teaspoon chilli flakes • 0.5 teaspoon cumin seeds • 5 curry leaves • 1 Tablespoon tamarind paste • Salt to taste • 1 tomato, chopped • A few coriander leaves to garnish
How to make it… 1. Heat the oil in a pan to a medium pan and fry the onion, garlic and ginger until the onion softens (about 5 minutes) 2. Add the chilli flakes, cumin seeds and curry leaves, and cook for 3 minutes. 3. Add the taro leaves, tamarind paste, salt and a little water, cover the pan and cook for 15 minutes. 4. Add the tomato and cook until the colour darkens and is fully stewed (about 15–30 minutes). Add a little more water if needed but not too much as this should be served thick. 5. Garnish with the coriander leaves and serve. • Photo of leaves by Thierry Caro, published in Wikipedia
CHEF’S TIP Chop everything as fine as possible to speed up the stewing process.
Biryani is a popular dish all over the sub-continent and among the Indian disapora. Rice and the other ingredients are mixed together with whole and ground spices and slow cooked to create a fragrant, rich dish. Biryani is a celebration dish and this vegetable version from Mauritius and party pre-cooks ingredients before layering them and leaving covered so all the flavours infuse. You can cook the rice while the vegetables are cooking but keep an eye on it as you don’t want to overcook it.
What you need… • 7 Tablespoons oil • 3 carrots, peeled and cut into thin strips of 5cm-long pieces • Salt to taste • 100g runner beans, topped and tailed, split and cut into thin 5cm-long pieces • 2 big potatoes, peeled and cut into 4cm-sized chunks and mixed with a drop of yellow food colouring and a pinch of salt • 2 onions, thinly sliced • 2 teaspoons fresh mint, finely chopped • 2 Tablespoons coriander leaves, finely chopped (keep a couple for garnish) • 2 Tablespoons yoghurt • 100g peas (frozen are good) • 3 chillies, chopped • Salt to taste • 2 Tablespoons ghee • pinch of yellow food colouring • 300ml water • 300g rice • 3 cardamons, cracked open • 3 cloves • 1 cinnamon, 5cm long
How you make it… 1.Heat 3 Tablespoons oil to a medium heat and fry the carrots with a pinch of salt for 5 minutes. Remove the carrots and set aside. 2. Add the runner beans to the same oil and fry with a pinch of salt for 3 minutes. Remove the runner beans and set aside. 3. Add another 1 Tablespoon oil to the pan and once heated add the soya beans and fry with a pinch of salt and fry until they brown (about 5–7 minutes). Remove the soya beans and set aside. 4. Add 3 Tablespoons oil and once heated add the potatoes and fry until the edges are crisp and they are nearly cooked through (about 10 minutes). Don’t crowd them in the pan. You may need to cook them in two batches depending on the size of your pan. Remove the potatoes and set aside. 5. Add the onions and fry until they brown (5–7 minutes). 6. Meanwhile mix the carrots, runner beans and soya bean in a bowl and add the mint, coriander, yoghurt, garlic and ginger pastes and mix well. When the onions are ready add them and mix everything together. 7. Add 1 Tablespoon ghee to the pan to a medium heat then add the Biryani Mix with a splash of water and cook for 2 minutes. 8. Add the vegetables, the peas and the chillies, mix well and remove from the heat. 9. In another large pot (it will need to be large enough for all the ingredients and leave plenty of space on top) layer the uncooked rice evenly along the bottom. Add a layer of vegetables, then a layer of potatoes, then a layer of partly cooked rice, adding a pinch of salt every so often to taste. Repeat until all the ingredients are used up. 10. Add the water, spread the rest of the ghee and the food colouring on the top, cover with a tight lid (you can seal with some tin foil and put something fairly heavy on top to keep it down) and cook on a low-medium heat for 30 minutes. Don’t remove the lid during this time. 11. Remove the lid, garnish with coriander leaves, enjoy the aromas and serve.
To make the rice… 1. Wash the rice well to remove the starch. This may take 7 or 8 rinses. Soak the water for 30 minutes. 2. Remove a third of the rice and put to one side (this will be added to the bottom of the biryani). 3. Cover the rest of the rice with water by about 2cm, add the cardamom, cloves and cinnamon and bring to a boil. As soon as it comes to a boil turn off the heat and drain the rice. You do not want the rice fully cooked.
CHEF’S TIP A Biryani is a meal in itself but if it’s too dry for you then eat it with a small vegetable curry.Make your next celebration dish a Mauritian Vegetable Biryani.
With just a handful of ingredients and a oven and you’ll soon have a batch of these Sweet Coconut Buns (Macatia Coco), a favourite in Mauritius and delicious when warm and with a bit of butter.
What you need… For the buns • 250g plain flour • 1 Tablespoon butter • 2 Tablespoons sugar • 1 teaspoon instant yeast • 120ml warm water
How you make it… 1. Mix all the ingredients for the buns, adding the water at the end, bit by bit. Knead the mixture for a couple of minutes. Leave the dough for 1 hour, which will allow it to rise. 2. Heat the oven to 180 C. 3. Roll the dough for a couple of minutes and divide it into 5 or 6 equal amounts. 4. Mix all the ingredients for the filling. 5. Take one of the lumps of dough and push down using your thumbs to create a cup. Fill the cup with some filling and close the cup back into a ball. Roll gently and keep working the dough until it is completely sealed again. It should now be in the shape of a small bun. Place it on a lightly greased baking tray and repeat the process until you have used all the dough and filling mixture. 6. Using a brush coat all the buns with milk. 7. Place the baking tray into the preheated oven and bake for 30 minutes. 8. Remove from oven and let the buns stand for a few minutes. Sprinkle a bit of dessicated coconut on the top and serve warm.
CHEF’S TIP You can add a touch of tropical to these buns by swapping the vanilla essence for pineapple essence.
