plate 30: mauritius

I don't know about you, but I'm over winter. I love all that cosyness that goes with it: pulling up the doona so far you can barely see your face; open crackling fires; and steaming hot cups of tea... but I have a cold at the moment, so all that snuggliness has been tainted by snottiness (I never thought that word would ever be penned on my food blog). I've been craving summer sunshine, which may have been the reason for my tastebud trip to Mauritius this week. Here's the first image that greeted me on an image search of this island in the Indian Ocean: definitely rather be here than at the desk or sick in bed. Sigh.

I had no idea about Mauritian food, but now I know it's described as Creole - a style of cooking that fuses ingredients and techniques from Africa, India, France and the Caribbean. Mauritian fare also features elements of the Chinese kitchen, too, so it's quite the combo.

One of the most common ingredients in Mauritian cuisine is chilli and it's the star of gateaux piments, or chilli cakes. These deep-fried nuggets of yellow split peas, chilli, coriander and shallots are said to be the hot chips of Mauritius, sold in paper bags at markets and street stalls all over the island. To steal a line from Jerry Maguire, you had me at "hot chips". (My God the little Jonathan Lipnicki was so dang cute in that movie! "Jerry, did you know that dogs can smell fear?".) Sorry for being momentarily sidetracked by small children - I'm as enamoured by them as I am by food.

Although I've eaten a fair amount of deep-fried deliciousness in my time, I've never actually made a deep-fried dish at home - it was high time I did. The gateuax piments were pretty easy to make. Just blend up the split peas (after soaking them overnight) with chopped coriander, chilli and shallot, and a bit of ground cumin, then roll into small balls and deep-fry in batches until golden.

At first bite it was clear they were missing a certain something, though: seasoning. OK, I have a bit of an embarrassing kitchen confession: I often forget to season my food and taste as I go along. I know, it's a kitchen crime, but I think it's because I get so carried away with making sure I'm getting techniques right and hoping like hell I haven't forgotten a crucial ingredient, that I omit one of the most vital - salt.

A little sprinkling on top saved them somewhat, and they weren't altogether that bad. They were actually pretty more-ish. The flavour was fresh, herbacious and the chilli gave a lovely sharp kick. While they didn't have the crunch outside and super-soft inside I was hoping for, they did have a nice springy texture. Almost falafelesque, and I do love a falafel. In fact, a site I read said you can also eat them in hot crusty bread with butter: I reckon that'd be rather tasty.