Rougaille

Ingredients

Sauce

• 4 tbspsunflower oil
• 2onions (300 g), finely sliced
• 5garlic cloves, crushed
• 20 gfresh ginger, grated
• 8ripe tomatoes (800 g), peeled and roughly chopped, or 2 x 400 g tins
• 4 sprigsfresh thyme
• 12fresh curry leaves
• 2green chillies, slit, plus 1 tsp mazavaroo
• 1 tspground turmeric
• 1 tbsptomato puree
• 150 mlwater
• 1.5 tspsalt
• 1 tspsugar, if the tomatoes are sharp
• 1large handful coriander leaf, chopped
• 3spring onions, sliced

The protein, choose one

• 500 gCreole or Toulouse-style sausages, pricked and halved
• or 600 g firm fish steaks such as tuna or snapper, salted and fried first
• or 500 g raw prawns, shelled

To serve

• 500 glong-grain rice, steamed
• 300 gyellow split-pea dholl
• Achard de legumes or satini coco

Directions

1. If using sausages, brown them whole in the oil over medium heat for 8 minutes until coloured all over, then lift out and cut into thick pieces. If using fish, rub the steaks with salt and turmeric and fry 2 minutes a side, then set aside. Prawns go in raw at the very end.
2. In the same oil, fry the onion for 10 minutes over medium heat until soft, golden and sweet. This is the base of every Creole rougaille and cannot be hurried.
3. Add the garlic, ginger, turmeric and slit chillies, and cook 2 minutes until fragrant.
4. Stir in the tomato puree and fry 2 minutes, then add the chopped tomatoes, thyme and curry leaves.
5. Cook uncovered over medium heat for 15 minutes, mashing the tomatoes against the side of the pan, until they break down completely and the sauce darkens from red to brick and the oil separates at the edges.
6. Add the water and the salt, and the sugar if needed, and simmer 5 minutes to a thick, spoonable sauce that holds a furrow.
7. Return the sausage or fish and simmer gently 8–10 minutes so it takes on the sauce; if using prawns, add them now and cook just 4 minutes until they turn opaque and curl.
8. Stir in the mazavaroo, taste for salt and heat, and finish off the heat with the coriander and spring onion.
9. Serve with steamed rice, a bowl of dholl and a pickle on the side, in the standard Mauritian arrangement of rice, curry, dholl and satini on one plate.

Technique

• Rougaille is a sauce, not a dish, and takes its name from whatever goes into it: rougaille saucisse, rougaille poisson sale, rougaille ourite. Learn the base and you have a week of dinners.
• Thyme and fresh curry leaf are the Creole signature. Without them you have a Mediterranean tomato sauce, however good.
• Cook the tomatoes down properly. A rougaille that still tastes of raw tomato has been rushed; you want them collapsed, dark and glossy with visible oil.
• It is never made with coconut milk in Mauritius, though Reunion cooks sometimes finish theirs differently.

Substitutions

• Salted snoek or dried salted fish, soaked overnight and flaked, makes the classic rougaille poisson sale and is worth seeking out.
• No Creole sausage: a coarse pork sausage with garlic and a pinch of smoked paprika stands in well.
• Tinned tomatoes work out of season; add the sugar and cook them 5 minutes longer to lose the tinned edge.

Variations

• Rougaille ourite, made with octopus simmered until tender, is the Rodrigues island version.
• Rougaille zoeuf poaches eggs directly in the sauce for a cheap weekday supper.
• Reunion rougaille is often sharper, with more ginger and a splash of vinegar.

History

A sauce made from stewed tomato, onion, garlic and ginger, typically cooked with fish, sausage or egg, documented across Mauritius as one of the country’s most essential everyday dishes, reflecting the island’s genuinely layered culinary history combining French colonial cooking technique with African, Indian and Chinese influence, each brought to Mauritius through distinct waves of settlement, indentured labor and trade over several centuries. Its versatility, since rougaille sauce can be paired with nearly any protein available in a Mauritian kitchen, reflects the dish’s role as a foundational, adaptable base within Mauritian home cooking rather than a single fixed recipe. Rougaille remains one of Mauritius’s most iconic and universally prepared everyday dishes.

Frequently asked questions

What is Rougaille?

Rougaille is a main from Mauritius: creole tomato, onion and thyme sauce with sausage, fish or prawns. A sauce made from stewed tomato, onion, garlic and ginger, typically cooked with fish, sausage or egg, documented across Mauritius as one of the country’s most essential everyday dishes, reflecting the island’s genuinely layered culinary history combining French colonial cooking technique with African, Indian and Chinese influence, each brought to Mauritius through distinct waves of settlement, indentured labor and trade over several centuries. Its versatility, since rougaille sauce can be paired with nearly any protein available in a Mauritian kitchen, reflects the dish’s role as a foundational, adaptable base within Mauritian home cooking rather than a single fixed recipe. Rougaille remains one of Mauritius’s most iconic and universally prepared everyday dishes.

How long does Rougaille take to make?

Rougaille takes 15 min of preparation and 35 min of cooking. The recipe makes 4 servings. It is rated easy to make.

What can I substitute in Rougaille?

Yes, within limits. Salted snoek or dried salted fish, soaked overnight and flaked, makes the classic rougaille poisson sale and is worth seeking out. No Creole sausage: a coarse pork sausage with garlic and a pinch of smoked paprika stands in well. Tinned tomatoes work out of season; add the sugar and cook them 5 minutes longer to lose the tinned edge.

What is the most important thing to get right in Rougaille?

It is never made with coconut milk in Mauritius, though Reunion cooks sometimes finish theirs differently.