Skip to content
LoginRegister
WhatToEat.Today
Recipes

All recipes

Vegetarian, or something you can't eat? Set your diet once and we'll hide recipes that don't fit.

13 recipes

Mauritian cassava biscuits

In Mahébourg, on the south-east coast of Mauritius, a family biscuit works has made thin cassava biscuits on hot iron plates for more than a century, and biscuit manioc has become the island's signature tea biscuit. They are pale, square and so crisp they snap cleanly, with a gentle sweetness and flavours such as plain, coconut, vanilla or cinnamon. Mauritians eat them with a cup of vanilla tea, spread them with butter, or crumble them over a bowl of fruit. Made with cassava flour, they are naturally gluten free. Chef's tip: mix the dough with very hot water, which partly cooks the starch and makes the dough pliable; cold water is the common mistake, and the dough cracks and crumbles as you roll it.

55 minMauritianBakingGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

MacatiaSweet breakfast buns

Bakeries in Saint-Denis and Saint-Paul fill their shelves with macatias before dawn, and they go fast: plump, shiny buns with a close, cotton-soft crumb and just enough sugar to taste sweet with black coffee. Children take them to school, workers tear one open on the bus, and people split them and fill them with butter, cheese or even a spoon of cari for a quick lunch. Some bakers add grated coconut and call them macatia coco. The commonest mistake is using milk that is too hot, which kills the yeast; it should feel just warm on your wrist. Chef's tip: brush the buns with a little milk as soon as they come out of the oven and cover them with a cloth, which keeps the crust soft rather than crisp.

150 minMauritianBaking
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Pâté créolePork and chicken pie

Christmas Eve, New Year and big christenings in Réunion are not complete without a pâté créole, a deep, golden shortcrust pie filled with pork and chicken that have spent a night soaking up garlic, ginger, thyme, parsley and four-spice. It bakes slowly so the meat cooks in its own juices into a tender, fragrant filling that slices neatly, and it is served warm or at room temperature with a green salad. Families often order one from the local baker or traiteur, but it is a satisfying weekend project at home. Because the filling goes in raw, the usual mistake is cutting the meat too large and taking the pie out too early; dice it small and check the centre with a thermometer. Chef's tip: keep a little hole in the middle of the lid; it lets steam escape so the crust stays crisp, and it is exactly where the thermometer goes.

180 minMauritianBaking
by KrazyBadal 0 views

TereréIced yerba mate

In Asunción the hottest part of the day stops for tereré: a horn or cup packed with yerba mate, topped up again and again with ice water infused with crushed herbs, and passed round the group through a metal straw. It was recognised by UNESCO as part of Paraguay's cultural heritage, and the herbs (yuyos) change with the season and the drinker's mood. Yerba mate contains caffeine, so it isn't one for small children. The common mistake is pouring water straight into loose yerba, which then clogs the straw; tilt the yerba to one side first. Chef's tip: for tereré ruso, swap the water for cold orange or grapefruit juice.

10 minParaguayanDrinksVeganGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Mandi'o chyryryFried cassava with onion and egg

Mandi'o chyryry means 'fried cassava' in Guaraní, and it is what rural Paraguayan families make from yesterday's boiled mandi'o: chunks crushed and fried in a big pan with onion until crisp in places, then scrambled with eggs. It comes out for breakfast with cocido or for a quick supper, and costs next to nothing. Use sweet cassava, the kind sold in supermarkets. The mistake is stirring constantly, which turns it to mush; let the cassava sit and brown. Chef's tip: the best chyryry starts with cold, day-old boiled cassava, which fries crisper than freshly boiled.

45 minParaguayanSidesGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Cocido quemadoBurnt sugar mate drink

Cocido is how Paraguay starts the day: in Asunción, in the villages of Guairá and Itapúa, and in school kitchens, a pot of burnt yerba is brewed and poured into cups with chipa, the cheesy cassava bread, or with a hard galleta. The old way is to drop a glowing piece of charcoal into a pot with yerba and sugar and stir until the sugar burns. On a home stove you caramelise them together in a dry pan instead, which is safer and gives the same smoky, toffee-like taste. The drink is clear amber-brown, with roasted, slightly bitter mate notes over burnt-sugar sweetness; with milk added it becomes cocido con leche, creamy and coffee-coloured. Yerba mate contains caffeine, so treat it like a cup of coffee. The common mistake is letting the sugar go black: it turns acrid and bitter. Pull it off the heat when the caramel is deep amber and the yerba smells toasted, not burnt. It is ready when the liquid is a clear dark amber and tastes of toffee and smoke. Chef's tip: the water will spit fiercely when it hits the hot caramel, so pour it in from the side, at arm's length.

14 minParaguayanDrinksVeganGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Postre MassiniCustard sponge with burnt sugar top

Montevideo's birthday cake of choice since the early twentieth century, the Massini is two thin layers of sponge sandwiching a thick filling of whipped cream folded with egg-yolk custard, crowned with a thin glassy crust of torched yolk and sugar. Bakeries across Uruguay sell it on Sundays. Traditional versions sometimes add a sweet fortified wine to the custard; this one is alcohol-free. The custard is cooked to a safe 71 °C. The common mistake is assembling with warm custard, which melts the cream into a puddle. Chef's tip: if you don't have a blowtorch, put the sugared top under a very hot grill for a minute and watch it closely.

80 minParaguayanBaking
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Mauritian vanilla tea

In Mauritius the kettle goes on for dité at breakfast and again at four, when the heat of the day breaks and someone brings out gato piment, a packet of biscuits or a slice of gato patate. The tea is grown on the island's central plateau, around Curepipe and the Bois Chéri hills, and the local favourite is black tea perfumed with vanilla, the same vanilla that grows on the neighbouring islands. It is drunk strong, very sweet and milky, often with evaporated or condensed milk: a round, creamy cup with a soft caramel-vanilla scent and no bitterness. The common mistake is boiling the tea leaves with the milk until they stew; brew the tea in water first, then add hot milk. It is ready when the tea is the colour of milky caramel and the kitchen smells of vanilla. A cup has about as much caffeine as ordinary black tea. If you cannot find vanilla-scented Mauritian tea, a strong black tea and a split vanilla pod do the job well. Chef's tip: dry the used vanilla pod and bury it in your sugar jar; next time the sugar alone will scent the tea.

11 minMauritianDrinksGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Bred songeBraised taro leaves

Songe is the island's name for the taro plant, and its big heart-shaped leaves end up in many Creole and Indo-Mauritian kitchens on a weekday night, braised down into a dark, silky tangle that tastes somewhere between spinach and artichoke. Buy the leaves from an Indian or Asian grocer, where they are sold as arbi or patra leaves; never pick them wild. Raw taro leaves contain needle-like crystals that make the mouth and throat prickle, and the commonest mistake is pulling them off the heat too soon, so they are blanched first and then cooked until completely soft, with a little tamarind to help. Spoon it next to rice, dholl and a fresh chatini, or tuck it into a farata. Chef's tip: taste a small piece before serving; if you feel even a faint scratch at the back of the throat, cover the pan and give it another five minutes.

40 minMauritianSidesVeganGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

NapolitainesJam shortbread sandwiches with pink icing

Pink, round and glossy, napolitaines sit in the front window of every pâtisserie in Port Louis and Quatre Bornes, and they come out at birthday teas, christenings and school fêtes. Two discs of tender, barely sweet butter shortbread are glued together with strawberry jam and dipped in a thin pink icing that sets to a crisp shell; the biscuit should crumble against the sweet glaze, not snap. The common mistake is baking them until golden: they must stay pale, or the shortbread turns hard and tastes toasted. Look for a vegetarian red food colouring, as many red colourings are made from cochineal insects. Chef's tip: chill the cut rounds for 15 minutes before baking so they keep their sharp edges and do not spread.

75 minMauritianBaking
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Lao iced coffee

High on the Bolaven Plateau above Pakse, the coffee towns around Paksong grow most of Laos's beans, and roadside stalls there brew them dark and strong through a long cloth sock, all day long. Ordered cold, it arrives as a glass of ice with a thick layer of sweetened condensed milk at the bottom, the black coffee poured over and stirred to a caramel brown, often with a free cup of weak tea to sip afterwards. It is bitter-sweet, chocolatey and much richer than a café latte, made for hot afternoons on the plateau or a morning stop in Pakse. A French press or a fine sieve lined with a paper filter stands in for the cloth sock. Pouring hot coffee straight onto ice before adding the milk is where it goes flat: the condensed milk won't dissolve in cold coffee and sinks in a gluey lump. Chef's tip: stir the condensed milk into the hot coffee first, then pour over the ice.

10 minLaoDrinksGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

AloudaChilled milk drink with basil seeds

Alouda is the cold, sweet milk drink sold from stalls in the Port Louis central market and at beaches all over Mauritius, especially on hot afternoons. Vanilla- or rose-scented milk is poured over soaked tookmaria (sweet basil) seeds and cubes of agar jelly, and often topped with a scoop of ice cream. It is a cousin of the Indian falooda. Because the jelly is set with agar agar, it is vegetarian. Chef's tip: soak the basil seeds for a full 20 minutes until each one has a thick, clear coat; dry seeds stick in the throat.

35 minMauritianDrinksGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

ChajáSponge, peach and cream cake

Chajá was created in 1927 at a bakery in Paysandú, a city on the Uruguay River, and named after a local bird whose feathers look as fluffy as its crumbly meringue coat. Today it's Uruguay's birthday and celebration cake: layers of light sponge soaked in peach syrup, filled with whipped cream, peaches and dulce de leche, then covered in crushed meringue. It's sweet, soft and crunchy at once, best on the day it's assembled. Chef's tip: soak the sponge but not too much; it should feel moist, not wet, or the layers slide.

90 minParaguayanBaking
by KrazyBadal 0 views