Gateau piment

Ingredients

Batter

• 400 gyellow split peas, soaked 6 hours or overnight in plenty of cold water
• 1 tspwhole cumin seed, toasted and coarsely ground
• 3–5bird’s eye chillies, chopped
• 4spring onions, sliced very fine
• 12fresh curry leaves, shredded
• 1large handful coriander leaf, chopped
• 2 tspsalt
• ½ tspbicarbonate of soda
• 2–3 tbspcold water, only if needed

To fry and serve

• 1 litresunflower oil, for deep-frying
• 4Mauritian baguettes (pain maison)
• Butter, for spreading
• Mazavaroo or satini pomme d’amour, to fill

Directions

1. Drain the soaked peas thoroughly in a colander for 15 minutes and shake out every drop; a wet grind gives a batter that spreads in the oil and fries greasy.
2. Grind the peas in a food processor or a stone mill, in two batches, to a coarse, slightly gritty paste with the texture of wet semolina. Stop before it becomes smooth. Add water only by the teaspoon if the machine stalls.
3. Tip into a bowl and mix in the cumin, chilli, spring onion, curry leaf, coriander and salt. Beat by hand for a minute so the paste lightens.
4. Rest 20 minutes so the salt draws the mixture together and the herbs perfume it.
5. Heat the oil in a deep pan to 170–175°C (350–350°F); a pinch of the batter should rise and bubble steadily within a few seconds.
6. Beat the bicarbonate of soda into the batter just before frying. Added early it flattens the colour and the fritters fry dense.
7. Shape with two teaspoons or a wet hand into small rough balls the size of a walnut and slide them into the oil, 8 or 10 at a time so the temperature holds.
8. Fry 4–5 minutes, turning, until deep golden brown and hard-crusted; a fritter broken open should be dry, crumbly and pale yellow inside, never damp or pasty.
9. Drain on a rack, not on paper, so the crust stays crisp.
10. Eat hot in a split buttered baguette, three or four to a roll, with mazavaroo or tomato satini. This is the Mauritian street breakfast, bought from a stall at seven in the morning.

Technique

• The grind is everything. Gateau piment should be sandy and crumbly inside; a smooth blitzed batter gives a heavy, doughy fritter closer to an Indian vada.
• Never soak the peas so long that they begin to ferment or sprout, and never cook them first. Raw soaked peas are what make the fritter light.
• 170°C (350°F) is the working window. Hotter and the outside darkens before the middle dries out; cooler and the fritters drink oil and go limp.
• They are at their best within ten minutes of leaving the pan, which is why Mauritians buy them by the paper bag from a stall rather than making them at home.

Substitutions

• No yellow split peas: chana dal soaked the same way gives a slightly nuttier, firmer fritter and is used by some vendors.
• No fresh curry leaves: leave them out rather than using dried, and add an extra spring onion.
• Bird’s eye chillies can be replaced with any small hot green chilli; the fritter is meant to bite.

Variations

• Gateau arouille swaps the peas for grated taro, giving a softer, stickier fritter sold from the same stalls.
• Some cooks add a tablespoon of chopped dill or a pinch of asafoetida to the batter.
• A larger, flatter version is fried for gateau piment sandwiches with satini coco.

History

Split pea fritters spiked with chili and coriander, fried at street stalls and eaten at teatime inside a bread roll.

Frequently asked questions

What is Gateau piment?

Gateau piment is a snack from Mauritius: crunchy split-pea chili fritters, breakfast in a baguette. Split pea fritters spiked with chili and coriander, fried at street stalls and eaten at teatime inside a bread roll.

How long does Gateau piment take to make?

Gateau piment takes 25 min of preparation and 6 hr soaking, 20 min frying of cooking. The recipe makes about 30 fritters. It is rated medium to make.

What can I substitute in Gateau piment?

Yes, within limits. No yellow split peas: chana dal soaked the same way gives a slightly nuttier, firmer fritter and is used by some vendors. No fresh curry leaves: leave them out rather than using dried, and add an extra spring onion. Bird’s eye chillies can be replaced with any small hot green chilli; the fritter is meant to bite.

What is the most important thing to get right in Gateau piment?

Fry 4–5 minutes, turning, until deep golden brown and hard-crusted; a fritter broken open should be dry, crumbly and pale yellow inside, never damp or pasty.