# Rougaille of seafood .Mauritian creole



## moikel (Jun 5, 2012)

I enjoyed the posts of the Louisiana natives so much in Shoneyboy & Chef JJ recent seafood efforts that I  thought I  would post the  Creole food that is around me here. It comes from our Mauritian community .Their melting pot is French,African,Indian & Chinese.

I spent most of yesterday with a young man assigned to work with me whose heritage is Mauritian ,my Doctor migrated from there as a child & there is a family in my street.

My Doctor tells me that the Creole her family speaks is very close to the Creole she hears in American Zydeco music.

The food has French names but non french ingredients.They do some wild curry.

I thought it might interest the forum members who cook Louisiana down home food to see the same style but different from an Island off the coast of Africa.

Exactly what seafood I  use will depend what I  can get on the way home.


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## smokinhusker (Jun 5, 2012)

I'm in!


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## moikel (Jun 5, 2012)

Ducked down to Chinatown at lunch.Its black tiger prawns
	

		
			
		

		
	







	

		
			
		

		
	
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## chef jimmyj (Jun 6, 2012)

Very cool Mick! Can't wait...JJ


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## moikel (Jun 6, 2012)

OK I have put this together from several sources within our Mauritian community Madelienne Phillips great website dedicated to the cooking of Mauritius ,the Food Safari show on SBS TV here, & the Australian Mauritian Association website.

I will put the closest recipe down here now but I changed it jut a bit ,for a reason not just to be clever. I will get to that later.This recipe is from Vijay Baboo who says it is actually his moms. 

1kg prawns/shrimp 1/2 kg tomatoes peeled  chopped 2 hot red chilli,finely chopped 1 tabs garlic 1/2 bunch parsley 1 tab cumin powder 2 stems thyme 1 teas white pepper 2 tabs EVO 1 red onion diced 1/2 cup white wine 1 teas paprika 1/2 cilantro.

I changed to canned tomatoes no big deal. I will use my own dried smoked chilli,ditto. Where I  think I am going to go is add 1tab grated fresh ginger because thats in  Madelienne's version & several others. I am not that big a fan of too much cumin ,so my current thinking is to replace it with 50-50 cumin & some curry powder maybe the specialist seafood curry powder I have still in its packet.Thats not a big leap when you see all the curry they cook. There is a duck or chicken curry by a chef Jocelyn Riviere that looks magic. True Creole when Vijay makes the dish with the French name & Jocelyn makes the curry
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





The version I watched on TV has the prawns head on  but shelled & cleaned.I think I will dehead them,fry the heads off,smash them with potato masher deglaze with white wine & soaking water from dried chilli then strain that into sauce.Does that make sense Chef JJ?

It looks pretty spicy,your sort of dish if your out there Shoneyboy
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





Q view coming when I  get cooking.


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## chef jimmyj (Jun 6, 2012)

Making a Chile Shrimp Stock to add to the sauce would be very tasty. I don't know how much liquid is in the Recipe and this may go without needing to be said, but adjust accordingly. Is there some other liquid called for that the Stock can replace? Is the style of Curry you are planning to use available in the States? Or is it similar to the standard Madras Curry we can get? Cool idea...JJ


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## moikel (Jun 6, 2012)

I will post a photo of curry packet ,I am putting stock where there would have been white wine only. Mainly its because its easier to use the shrimp head off I just dont want to waste the flavour bomb the heads are. I will get on it now,just dragged my fat self back from gym.


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## moikel (Jun 6, 2012)




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## moikel (Jun 6, 2012)




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## moikel (Jun 6, 2012)

OK here is how I went about it. Fried diced red onion with garlic,ginger, in EVO,about 4 minutes.Gave it a slug of white wine  then 1 minute then added 2 cans Italian tomatoes ,cooked it off a bit. Then added 1 tabs of curry powder,thyme leaves,paprika,cbp,salt,chilli about 4 ,parsley. 

In a seperate pan I fried prawn heads with 2 cloves garlic in some EVO.When they coloured I gave them a slug of white wine & some water that I soaked the dry chilli in,then crushed the heads with a potato masher,threw in some parsley stalks. Cooked it off a bit then strained it ,got about a wine glass full.Put that in sauce,let that simmer about 5 minutes.Tasted it bumped chilli & curry powder but thats just me.

In a seperate pan fried prawn tails with some garlic when they had good colour ,gave it a splash of white wine let it bubble poured the lot into the other pan,stirred it turned off heat let it sit a couple of minutes then served it.

Despite my love of wine this is a beer dish.

Verdict ... pretty special & genuinely different. Would I normally combine curry powder & tomato probably not .Did it work 100% on the $. I may do it with cumin next time but I will need some convincing that its going to give me the depth of flavour I got this time. Its a lot less powder than you would use to make a curry proper so its sort of a background note.

It can be made as hot as you like I used about 700gm,jumbo prawns.It would work with any seafood you like.

Its not bayou Creole its  Southern Hemisphere Creole.
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





Hope you liked it.


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## moikel (Jun 6, 2012)

Oops I added chopped cilantro when I  put prawns in.


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## chef jimmyj (Jun 6, 2012)

Beautiful, looks delicious! I have not seen that Curry Powder before, looks like a Thai style. Is it similar to Thai Red or more like the Indian style with Turmeric and Fenugreek?...JJ


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## smokinhusker (Jun 6, 2012)

Oh my that looks wonderful. I'd eat that in a heartbeat. Like you not a huge fan of cumin...but your modifications seem to have worked.


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## moikel (Jun 6, 2012)

Chef JimmyJ said:


> Beautiful, looks delicious! I have not seen that Curry Powder before, looks like a Thai style. Is it similar to Thai Red or more like the Indian style with Turmeric and Fenugreek?...JJ


Its from Malaysia ",contains coriander,chilli,cumin,turmeric,fennel,dhal,fenugreek pepper & other spices" !

I figure its got its origins in the Indian community there but again its a fusion of cultures,Indian,chinese ,Malay. I havent used it before its a quality product cost a whole $2.80 for 300gm. Its a little old because I bought it way back & I make my own powders a lot of the time but its a keeper.

I have  recipes for  Mauritian  curry , cari in creole. Might give one a try.


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## moikel (Jun 6, 2012)

The meat version still $2.80


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## moikel (Jun 6, 2012)

SmokinHusker said:


> Oh my that looks wonderful. I'd eat that in a heartbeat. Like you not a huge fan of cumin...but your modifications seem to have worked.


I reckon if you went to Mauritius some kitchens would be putting curry powder in it as well. Its interesting cooking that has a wonderful colourfull history .I dont want to over think it but you could find similarities in other cuisines ,particularly those Islands on trade routes where the spices transited or where there was different waves of immigration. Food & cooking are a great way to learn history & geography pity they didnt teach it that way when I was in school.
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





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French,Indian,African & Chinese = Mauritian creole who would have thought it.


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## thoseguys26 (Jun 7, 2012)

I haven't seen that brand either, or I just haven't looked for it yet. I'll check it out at our asian store here. Thanks for the info!


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## moikel (Jun 7, 2012)

thoseguys26 said:


> I haven't seen that brand either, or I just haven't looked for it yet. I'll check it out at our asian store here. Thanks for the info!


Your welcome,I think its a pretty good example of that Malaysian style of curry. Indian roots, nonya influences & then you get a unique style.


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## scarbelly (Jun 7, 2012)

Man what a great journey - thanks for taking us along. Looks great


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## moikel (Jun 7, 2012)

Scarbelly said:


> Man what a great journey - thanks for taking us along. Looks great


Your welcome.There are a couple of other dishes that I found that are just screaming out to be tried. A classic chicken curry & these wild little chilli crab cakes that use yellow split peas as part of the mix.Served with a shrimp rougaille  as a side made with those  little dried shrimp you get in Chinatown & a cilantro & mint chutney. 

All in good time.


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## eman (Jun 8, 2012)

Very nice! Looks like a shrimp creole, just w/ different spices?


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## moikel (Jun 8, 2012)

eman said:


> Very nice! Looks like a shrimp creole, just w/ different spices?


I figure thats the French x Indian deal. What spice would go into a shrimp creole in your neck of the woods?

I dont really go for the dreaded fusion food that a lot of celebrity chefs promote,it can go horribly wrong. I much prefer food like this that grew out of migration,inter marriage etc over a few generations.

Interestingly every curry,(kari in creole) I have seen from Mauritius has curry leaf in it which is very Southern Indian & Sri Lankan .Another piece of the puzzle.


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## venture (Jun 8, 2012)

Interesting, as all your posts seem to be.

I'm not too sure about the Chinese in the Creole, and the Creole and Cajun can be different.

Curry is always a problem or a blessing depending what you get and how it turns out.

Keep up the intersting posts.  I enjoy them greatly!

Good luck and good smoking.


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## moikel (Jun 8, 2012)

Indian Curry can be rubbish because its just tastes all the same. I blame the English for that.I dont eat much Indian food for that reason.But if you can find regional Indian food or Indian influenced done from Fiji or West Indies or Mauritius or Malaysia then it gets interesting. Sri Lanka another deal all together.

Mauritian creole has some chinese influences ,mostly cantonese,great migrators way back,Gold rush here 1850s. I have no idea why they went to Mauritius.

If I  can find curry leaf here in winter I will do a Mauritian curry,just so people(including me) can see the difference.


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## moikel (Jun 8, 2012)

Venture said:


> Interesting, as all your posts seem to be.
> 
> I'm not too sure about the Chinese in the Creole, and the Creole and Cajun can be different.
> 
> ...


http://www.sbs.com.au/food/recipe/157/prawn-curry

If you go to this site Peter Kurivita does a classic Sri Lankan prawn curry.He has a high end seafood restaurant here but when he does his "home cooking" its his heritage Sri Lankan stuff. 

He has done a TV series where he went back to Sri Lanka to cook.

Its a real eye opener to see how good it is.


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## moikel (Jun 9, 2012)

Curry leaf. Indispensable in Sri Lanka &Mauritius curry. I am going to find out where to buy a bush that I can put in herb garden.


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## moikel (Jun 9, 2012)

Curry leaf Murraya koenigii ! Found one up at garden store.
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





. Just need to find the warmest spot in garden for it.


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## eman (Jun 10, 2012)

Here it would be the  trinity. onions, bell peppers celery add garlic. black pepper, red pepper, salt, bay leaf.

 Ahron turned me on to the sirracha garlic sauce, so it will be added next time i make this.


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## moikel (Jun 10, 2012)

I havent been to the southern states of the USA,so its just what I  see on TV. I do know the difference between cajun & creole. I figure Creole would apply to where ever the French colonized or settled that also had some African influence. I dont think it needs to be rigidly defined. My late father spent 1956-58 in the states & Canada .He used to sing (badly) "Jambalia ,catfish pie ,seafood gumbo ..." 

I do like food that has a foot in 2 different cultures or that grew over time as the country itself changed. Pure french food is a bit heavy for me & I am heavy enough
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





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## shoneyboy (Jun 10, 2012)




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## moikel (Jun 10, 2012)

Shoneyboy said:


>


Thanks I am going to do that chilli mudcrab still.Just need the right window.


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## moikel (Oct 22, 2012)

Got the window but I had to go 3,500 k to do it.We brought back 12 or so big buck crabs everyday without trying.Bag limit 10 per head no more than 30 a boat. 













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__ moikel
__ Oct 22, 2012






At the fishing camp they used to just kill them clean them .Then steam,cool them off often until next day then spread them on a big plastic table outdoors & hand out bits of steel rod as crackers..

I had taken my own dried smoked chilli, I found sweet chilli sauce ,garlic,spring onions,ginger,some fruit juice,fish sauce & some hot peri peri sauce. Its boat or plane for all supplies so couldnt run down to the market.

They cleared me some space & let me loose with a big wok over a gas burner & away I went.3 nights in a row must have got it right
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





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I just fried onions,garlic,ginger,chilli added cut up crabs turned it around then added the rest got the balance right  a slug of white wine put a lid on the wok let it bubble away until I figured they were done. Bit hard to cook on a wok at stupid hot & take photos at same time . Great fun just the same. I will do these little Mauritian creole crab cakes as we roll into summer here.













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__ moikel
__ Oct 22, 2012


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## dls1 (Oct 24, 2012)

Interesting thread, Moikel. I'm rather late in finding it, but glad that I did. Over the years, I've spent a fair amount of time on Mauritius as well as it's nearby estranged sibling, Reunion Island. The rougailles of Mauritius and the rougails of RI are very similar and are a daily staple and served in a seemingly infinite number of ways - as a component of a meat or seafood dish such as yours, as a side dish or accompaniment, as a stand alone dish, and even as the filling in a roll. The dish is simply a chunky/coarse spicy tomato sauce of Malagasy Creole origins. Beyond a tomato base the common ingredients are onions, garlic, ginger, thyme, parsley, coriander (cilantro), and hot chili peppers. The folks on RI often add cloves to the mix. I've never encountered curry powders in the dish, though I suppose one could add them if desired. Though in the same family of the Louisiana Creole sauce, it's very different dish.

The blend of the cultures and foodstuffs on the island is the result of of it's colonization, and it's keepers and inhabitants along the way. Mauritius has no native population. It was an undiscovered and uninhabited island until the 1500s when the Portuguese explored it. With the exception of hastening the extinction of the dodo bird, they didn't do much and left early on. In the 1600s, the Dutch settled the island, and laid the groundwork for the sugar cane industry. After a period of time, they lost interest in their venture and the French assumed control in the early 1700s. The French established a major naval base there, and greatly expanded the cane industry. For labor, slaves were brought in from nearby Madagascar and East Africa. During the Napoleonic wars, the British took control of the island, and significantly expanded it's military facilities. Other than that, the Brits didn't do much to impact or tamper with the island except to abolish slavery in the mid 1800s. Most of the slaves fled the cane plantations, and many of those remained on the island. This action created a major problem for the plantation owners so they came up with a scheme to import huge numbers of indentured laborers from India with terms that had them working their butts off for 5 years, after which they regained their freedom and a small plot of land. Some Chinese voluntarily followed the Indian flock to the cane fields, but more came, and doing what the Chinese did best in those times, they developed the infrastructure of the supporting retail industry as shopkeepers, etc. Independence from the Brits was attained in the 1960s.

Today, curries and rougailles dominate the food choices on the island. Chinese food is sparsely available in restaurants owned by those of Chinese descent, which serve primarily Cantonese cuisine. Traditional French or British cuisine is essentially non-existent. This isn't surprising since Indo-Mauritians make up 68% of the population and the Creoles come in at 27%. The Franco-Mauritians and Sino-Mauritians split the remaining 5%.

All in all, it's a very interesting part of the world, especially for those seeking new and unique foods. I think that I need to get back there soon.


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## moikel (Oct 25, 2012)

I have Mauritians around me but havent been there.There seems to be more creole here maybe they migrate more. Fairly active little community in a great big multi cultural city like Sydney. I like the natural fusion of cuisines rather than forced so that french,indian,african mix is my thing. My Doctor gets all wistfull when she talks about it because her Dad went back there to live out his days.

 I did a little side by side of West Indian curry goat & Fijian goat curry in another thread . Same sort of thing 2 different transplanted groups of indentured labour on 2 different tropical islands.


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