Rougaille is at the heart of authentic Mauritian Creole cuisine. It is not only the easiest Mauritian dish to make, but its combination of tomatoes – known as pomme d’amour in Mauritius – chillies, garlic, ginger and onion leave little to be desired. Prawn Rougaille utilises the rich seafood of Mauritius, but this spicy tomato sauce can be made with fish, meat, or paneer (for vegetarians).
Prawn Rougaille
Serves two
Ingredients:
4 king prawns/(200g of paneer/260g of beef/120g of chicken according to choice)
1 finely chopped onion
1 finely chopped fresh chili (add more if you like spice)
1 finely chopped onion
2 tbsp ginger paste
2 tbsp garlic paste
4/5 dried curry leaves
1 tbsp ground cumin
1 tbsp ground coriander
1 tbsp ground chili
400g chopped tomato
Sunflower oil
A few stems of finely chopped coriander (for the end)
Salt and pepper to taste
Method:
- In a bowl, place the king prawns with a tablespoon of ginger paste, garlic paste and ground coriander. Season with salt and pepper and leave to marinate for half an hour.
- Once marinated, heat the sunflower oil in a saucepan. Add the chopped onion, dried curry leaves and a tablespoon of ginger and garlic paste. Add the prawns and cook for 4 minutes. Remove the prawns and set them aside.
- In the same pan, add the cumin, ground chilli and fresh chilli, followed by the chopped tomatoes. Immediately after, add about a cupful of boiled water- this will create the sauce.
- Season with salt and pepper and leave this to simmer on low heat.
- After about 5 minutes, add the prawns back in and cook for a further four minutes.
- Sprinkle some fresh coriander over the prawn rougaille.
In Mauritius, this dish is normally served with rice and lentils. Enjoy!
