Aunty Laila’s Fish and Aubergine Curry

My mother’s brother (my Uncle Hassan) owns a food cart, which he sets up at the Rose-Hill bus station on weekdays and sells freshly fried poori (a tortilla-like flatbread) with vegetable curry. His wife (my Aunty Laila) gets up at the crack of dawn and cooks up the curries that are ladled into the poori. They make a good team, in a yin-and-yang kind of way. If they were in New York I’d enter them into the Vendy Awards.

Aunty Laila is a dab hand in the kitchen. Getting her and my mother together is a bit like an episode of Iron Chef. While I was in Mauritius Laila came over to my mum’s and cooked a feast of fish curry with aubergines and roti. Here’s a picture of her rolling out roti.

Before whipping up dinner, Aunty Laila prepared a Mauritian specialty for tea time: boiled bread fruit with a tomato and cilantro salsa-like chutney. The breadfruit tasted quite like cassava and it was pure starchy deliciousness.

For the curry she used a local fish called capitan, a rather meaty white fish, which she had fried before getting to our place. The meal was fantastic. Here is her recipe.

2Ibs of firm fish fillets such as tuna or swordfish
Canola Oil
6 Japanese aubergines (cut into lengthways into two)
1 tablespoon of curry powder
3-4 chopped cloves garlic
1 tsp of chopped ginger
Fenugreek powder
4-5 small plum tomatoes, chopped or ¼ can of chopped tomatoes
Fresh coriander (cilantro)

Fry fish in canola oil. Remove with a slotted spoon and put aside. Make a paste with curry powder, garlic, ginger and fenugreek powder by adding a bit of water. In a saucepan add curry paste to aubergines. Let it simmer away on a low heat for about five minutes. Add tomatoes and continue cooking for 2-3 mins until you have a thick gravy. Add about ½ to ¾ cup of water. Salt. Add fish and let simmer together for about ten minutes. Throw in a handful of chopped fresh coriander (cilantro) towards the end.

Serve with white rice or roti and watercress salad.

During my last visit to Mauritius I tapped into the foodie elite but, at the end of the day, it’s home cooking that reaches into my gullet and takes a hold of my heart. From the simple everyday household staple of la daube (a tomato-based stew of chicken or meat with hot peppers and thyme) to a festive biriyani (a rich, spiced rice dish), the food here is a melting pot of African, French and Indian influences. It is a no frills way of eating and it is addictively tasty.

Sophia Govinda, my jolly, generous mother is a fierce home cook. Ma (as I call her) is a barely five-foot fire-plug that can pull a feast off in a snap. Her specialty is biriyani, vegetable samosas and she makes some incredible Mauritian-Tamil dishes. Here is her recipe for meat curry with split chick peas and rasau (a fiery hot spicy soup) — two dishes devoured at Tamil festivities.

Ma’s Dal Gram with Meat Curry

½ Ib Channa Dal (Found in Indian food supply shops)
2Ibs of lamb or mutton shoulder, cut on the bone in stew sized pieces.
3 cloves of chopped garlic
Small piece of chopped ginger
One medium onion, chopped
5 plum tomatoes chopped or ½ small can of chopped tomatoes
1 Tablespoon curry powder (good quality Madras curry powder is essential)
Garam masala
Cilantro
Fresh curry leaves
3 medium sized potatoes, cubed

Soak ½ Ib of dal for two hours, drain and keep the water (you’ll see why in the next recipe). Bring the dal to boil with plenty of water. Skim the froth and let simmer on a low-medium heat until it is almost cooked. Strain and put aside.

Saute lamb or mutton for 2-3 mins, then add chopped garlic, ginger, onions and curry leaves. When the meat is halfway cooked add potatoes and curry powder and chopped tomatoes. Stir. Let the juices dry up. Stir in dal and add half a cup of water. Cover and let simmer for 20 mins or so then add a large pinch of garam masala. Throw in a handful of chopped cilantro during the last five minutes of cooking. You should have a think, rich, almost dried up gravy. Make sure the potatoes are cooked by tasting or testing with a fork.

Serve with freshly cooked white basmati rice and a cucumber salad.

Raseau

1 ½ tsp of mustard seeds
Fresh curry leaves
2 small shallots, chopped
2 garlic cloves chopped
1 teaspoon of chopped ginger
2 fresh thai peppers or 2 dried, chopped
1 tsp of whole black peppercorns
2 chopped plum tomatoes
¼ tsp of turmeric powder
2 heaped tsp of cumin powder,
1 tsp tamarind paste

Crafty lady that my mother is, she keeps the water that the dal had soaked in and used it as the soup base.

Heat oil in a pan, add mustard seeds and curry leaves until that crackle. Then add shallots, garlic, ginger, chili, black peppercorns, plum tomatoes, turmeric, cumin powder and hot peppers. Pour in dal water, bring to a boil, add tamarind paste and salt. Continue to let the mix boil for about 5 mins. Add a handful of chopped cilantro just before serving.

This soup is typically served hot, in cups, and sipped throughout the meal.

Next up will be my Aunty Laila’s fish and aubergine curry. I’m homesick already…