Five Mauritian Soups for Cold Nights That Count as Real Dinner

It is 6pm in July, there is drizzle on the plateau, and your hands are cold. The idea of standing in the kitchen for an hour is dead on arrival. So you boil a packet of noodles, or someone runs out for roti, and by 9pm you are in front of the fridge again looking for something else.

Soup is the obvious fix in winter here. Most of us make it in a way that guarantees we will be hungry again before bed.

The one thing that decides if soup works

A bowl of bouillon only counts as dinner if you can point at the protein in it.

Think about the soup you probably made last week. Water, a few potatoes, a handful of vermicelli, some brèdes, a stock cube. It is hot and it tastes like home. It is also mostly water and starch. It warms you for an hour and then leaves you looking for biscuits.

Protein is the part that keeps you full for hours instead of minutes. It is also the part your body uses to repair the work you did in training. Most people here get plenty of rice, plenty of bread, plenty of dholl, and then wonder why they are snacking at night.

So before you pour the water, decide what the protein is. Everything else in the pot is flavour and vegetables.

How to build any bouillon in 30 minutes

Once this order is in your head, you can stop following recipes.

1. Protein first. A palm-sized piece of chicken, fish or meat per person, or a cup of dry lentils for the pot, or eggs at the end.
2. Aromatics. Garlic, ginger, thyme, curry leaves, spring onion. They cost almost nothing and do most of the work.
3. Greens. A big handful per bowl. Brède songe, brède martin, cresson, cabbage, chouchou leaves. Whatever the market had that morning.
4. Starch, measured. One small potato or one nest of noodles for two people. Put it in with a spoon, not by eye.
5. Finish sharp. Lime, coriander, green chilli, black pepper, off the heat.

Two small things that make a real difference. Put the greens in for the last two or three minutes so they stay green. And if you are using a stock cube, go easy on extra salt, because the cube already carries plenty.

The five

1. Bouillon poulet with brèdes and ginger

Serves 3. About 35 minutes.

You need:

• 400g chicken thigh, cut into small pieces (bone in gives more flavour)
• 1 thumb of ginger, chopped fine
• 3 cloves of garlic, crushed
• 1 sprig of thyme
• 2 spring onions, sliced
• 1 small potato, in cubes
• 1 big bunch of brèdes, washed and roughly chopped
• 1.2 litres of water
• Salt and black pepper

Method:

1. Heat a little oil in a deep pot on medium heat. Add the garlic, ginger and thyme and cook for 1 minute until you can smell them.
2. Add the chicken. Brown it for about 5 minutes, turning it so it colours on most sides.
3. Pour in the water and add the potato. Bring it up to a simmer.
4. Simmer uncovered for 20 minutes. Skim off any foam that rises in the first few minutes.
5. Add the brèdes and cook for 3 minutes only.
6. Take it off the heat. Season with salt and pepper, scatter the spring onion over, and serve.

2. Lentil soup with egg on top

Serves 3. About 30 minutes.

You need:

• 1 cup red lentils, rinsed until the water runs clear
• 1 onion, chopped
• 3 cloves of garlic, crushed
• 1 thumb of ginger, chopped fine
• 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
• A pinch of turmeric
• A few curry leaves
• 1 tomato, chopped
• 2 eggs, boiled for 8 minutes and peeled
• 1 litre of water
• 1 lime
• Salt and black pepper

Method:

1. Boil the eggs first and leave them in cold water while you cook the rest.
2. Heat oil in a pot. Add the cumin seeds and curry leaves and let them crackle for about 30 seconds.
3. Add the onion, garlic and ginger. Cook for 4 minutes until the onion goes soft.
4. Stir in the turmeric and tomato. Cook for 2 minutes until the tomato breaks down.
5. Add the lentils and the water. Simmer for 20 minutes, stirring now and then so nothing catches on the bottom.
6. Season. Halve the eggs and sit them on top of each bowl, then squeeze lime over.

The eggs are not decoration. Lentils alone make a light bowl, and the eggs are what turn it into a meal.

3. Soupe chinoise, rebalanced

Serves 2. About 25 minutes.

You need:

• 300g chicken breast sliced thin, or 250g prawns
• 1 litre chicken broth (or water with 1 stock cube)
• 1 thumb of ginger, sliced
• 2 cloves of garlic, sliced
• 2 spring onions, sliced
• 2 handfuls of cabbage or pak choi
• 1 nest of noodles
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• White pepper

Method:

1. Boil the noodles separately, drain them, and set them aside. This is the step most people skip, and it is why the pot ends up all noodle.
2. Bring the broth to a simmer with the ginger and garlic. Let it go for 5 minutes.
3. Slide the sliced chicken in. Keep it at a gentle simmer, not a boil, and poach for 4 minutes until it turns white through.
4. Add the cabbage and cook for 2 minutes.
5. Add the soy sauce and white pepper. Taste before adding salt.
6. Put a small portion of noodles in each bowl, then ladle the soup over the top.

4. Bouillon poisson

Serves 3. About 25 minutes.

You need:

• 500g firm white fish, in big chunks
• 1 onion, chopped
• 3 cloves of garlic, crushed
• 1 thumb of ginger, chopped fine
• 1 tomato, chopped
• 1 sprig of thyme
• 1 litre of water
• Coriander and 1 lime to finish
• Salt and black pepper

Method:

1. Soften the onion, garlic, ginger, tomato and thyme in a little oil for 6 minutes.
2. Add the water and simmer for 10 minutes so the broth picks up the flavour.
3. Turn the heat down until the surface is barely moving. A hard boil will shred the fish.
4. Slide the fish in and cook for 6 to 8 minutes, until it flakes when you press it with a fork.
5. Off the heat, add coriander, a good squeeze of lime, salt and pepper.

5. Giraumon and red bean

Serves 3. About 30 minutes.

You need:

• 600g pumpkin, peeled and cubed
• 2 cups cooked red beans or gros pois (tinned is fine, rinsed)
• 1 onion, chopped
• 3 cloves of garlic, crushed
• 1 thumb of ginger, chopped fine
• 1 sprig of thyme
• 800ml water
• 1 spring onion, sliced
• Salt and black pepper

Method:

1. Cook the onion, garlic, ginger and thyme in a little oil for 4 minutes.
2. Add the pumpkin and the water. Simmer for about 18 minutes until the pumpkin gives way easily under a spoon.
3. Blend roughly half of it, or mash it against the side of the pot. You want a thick base with pieces still in it.
4. Stir the beans through and warm for 5 minutes.
5. Season with plenty of black pepper and finish with spring onion.

The beans are what stop this one being a sweet drink.

Cook once, eat three times

Make a double pot on Sunday evening. The base keeps about three days in the fridge and freezes well in portions. Leave the greens out of the part you are storing and add them fresh when you reheat, otherwise they turn slimy and grey by Tuesday.

Bread on the side is fine. One farata or one slice, not four, and eat the bowl first so you can tell whether you still want it.

You will not feel like cooking at 6pm on a wet Wednesday in July. That is normal, and no amount of discipline changes it. What changes it is having a pot in the fridge with meat, fish or beans already in it, so the hard decision was made on a night when you had the energy for it.