Mauritius

🇲🇺Mauritius

Achard de Légumes

Achard

Cabbage, carrot, green bean and palm heart blanched, then dressed in mustard-seed, turmeric and oil and left to pickle for a day.

🇲🇺Mauritius

Alouda

Cold milk sweetened and thickened with soaked basil seeds and cubes of coloured agar jelly, flavoured with vanilla or almond syrup.

🇲🇺Mauritius

Aubergine Fritters

Gato brinzel

Rounds of aubergine dipped in a spiced chickpea-flour batter and deep fried.

🇲🇺Mauritius

Banana Chips Mauriciens

Chips de banane

Thin slices of banana fried or dried into a crisp Mauritian snack.

🇲🇺Mauritius

Banana Fritters Mauriciens

Beignets de banane

Ripe banana pieces coated in batter and fried as a Mauritian tea-time sweet.

🇲🇺Mauritius

Bol Renversé

Rice packed into a bowl over stir-fried chicken or prawn with pak choi and a thickened sauce, then inverted onto the plate with a fried egg on top.

🇲🇺Mauritius

Breadfruit Croquettes

Croquettes de fruit à pain

Mashed breadfruit shaped and fried as a Mauritian snack or side.

🇲🇺Mauritius

Camaron

Large freshwater prawns, blue-clawed and river-farmed, that carry a premium over sea prawns on Mauritian menus.

🇲🇺Mauritius

Cart Pineapple with Chilli Salt

Ananas confit

Victoria pineapple peeled, spiralled and cut on the spot, dusted with salt and crushed chilli.

🇲🇺Mauritius

Cassava Biscuit

Biscuit manioc

A pale, hard, barely sweet biscuit pressed from cassava flour, made in Rodrigues and eaten with tea or crumbled under ice cream.

🇵🇬Papua New Guinea

Cassava Pudding

Poudine manioc

Grated cassava, coconut milk, sugar, and vanilla bake into dense, translucent-chewy pudding slices served across island tables.

🇲🇺Mauritius

Chamarel Rum

Rhum de Chamarel

An agricultural rum distilled at Chamarel from fresh cane juice pressed on site rather than from molasses.

🇲🇺Mauritius

Chana Puri

A puffed fried flour ball split open and filled with curried chickpeas or split peas and chilli chutney.

🇲🇺Mauritius

Chilli Cake

Gato piment

Split peas soaked, ground coarse with chilli, cumin, spring onion and coriander, then dropped in oil as small balls the size of a walnut.

🇨🇳China

Chin Chow Drink

仙草

Black grass jelly boiled from mesona leaves, chilled, chopped and served in its own lightly sweetened syrup as a cooling drink.

🇲🇺Mauritius

Clam Curry Mauricien

Curry de palourdes

Clams simmered with tomato, curry leaves and Mauritian spices.

🇲🇺Mauritius

Coconut Sweet

Gato coco

Grated coconut cooked with sugar until it stiffens, tinted pink or white and cut into small blocks.

🇲🇺Mauritius

Corn Pudding

Poudine maïs

Ground maize cooked with milk, sugar, vanilla and often coconut until it sets firm enough to cut into squares.

🇲🇺Mauritius

Dholl Puri

Two thin flatbreads rolled with ground yellow split peas into the dough, folded around butter bean curry, tomato satini and chilli paste and handed over in a paper twist.

🇲🇺Mauritius

Fish Samosas Mauriciennes

Samoussas au poisson

Thin Mauritian samosas filled with seasoned salted fish, onion and herbs.

🇲🇺Mauritius

Freshwater Prawn Curry

Cari camaron

Large river prawns cooked in their shells in a light massala-and-tomato curry so the heads flavour the sauce.

🇲🇺Mauritius

Hakien

Bean-curd sheet rolled around minced pork and spring onion, steamed, then sliced and fried in a light batter.

🇲🇺Mauritius

Heart of Palm Salad

Salade de palmiste

The tender core of a felled palm shaved raw into ribbons and dressed simply, sometimes with smoked marlin or a light vinaigrette.

🇲🇺Mauritius

Mauritian Boulettes

Boulettes

Sino-Mauritian steamed dumplings of minced fish, chicken, pork or grated chayote, served a few at a time in a clear broth with garlic and chilli sauce.

🇲🇺Mauritius

Mauritian Briani

Briani

Rice layered with marinated chicken, mutton or fish, potatoes, saffron-yellow curd and fried onion, sealed and steamed so the potatoes soak the fat.

🇲🇺Mauritius

Mauritian Chicken Curry

Cari poule

Chicken browned with onion, curry leaves and a local massala blend, then simmered with potato and finished with fresh coriander and thyme.

🇲🇺Mauritius

Mauritian Chop Suey

Chop suey

Chicken or prawn stir-fried with cabbage, carrot and beansprout in a light cornflour-thickened sauce, eaten over rice in Sino-Mauritian canteens.

🇲🇺Mauritius

Mauritian Daube

Daube

Chicken or beef browned with ginger, garlic and onion and stewed in a tomato sauce lightened with thyme and a squeeze of lime — the French-Creole cousin of rougaille.

🇲🇺Mauritius

Mauritian Farata

Farata

Layered wheat flatbread slapped and folded with oil, then crushed on the griddle so it separates into flakes; sold plain or wrapped around curry as a roti chaud.

🇲🇺Mauritius

Mauritian Halim

Halim

A thick soup of split peas, cracked wheat and shredded mutton or chicken, cooked down for hours and finished with fried onion, coriander and lemon.

🇲🇬Madagascar

Mauritian Infused Rum

Rhum arrangé

White cane rum steeped for weeks with vanilla pods, lychee, pineapple, coffee bean or spice until it takes the flavour and colour.

🇲🇺Mauritius

Mauritian Lychee

Litchi

Lychees from the island's short December-to-January crop, sold in bunches on the branch at the roadside.

🇲🇺Mauritius

Mauritian Massala

Massala

The island's own ground spice blend — coriander, cumin, fenugreek, mustard, turmeric, clove and dried chilli — sold loose by weight and darker than Indian curry powder.

🇲🇺Mauritius

Mauritian Spring Roll

Spring roll

Thin wheat wrappers rolled around cabbage, carrot, glass noodle and minced chicken, fried and cut in halves.

🇲🇺Mauritius

Mauritian Venison

Cerf

Rusa deer, introduced by the Dutch and hunted on private estates, served as a stew with red wine or grilled in steaks.

🇲🇺Mauritius

Mazavaroo

Bird's eye chillies pounded to a paste with garlic, salt and oil, sold in jars and used a teaspoon at a time.