🍢 SNACK
Gâteaux Piment (Mauritian Chili Cakes)
Little crisp fritters of soaked, coarsely ground yellow split peas with onion, spring onion, green chili, cumin and coriander, fried golden and eaten hot.
Mauritian · easy · serves 6
prep 20 min · cook 20 min · plus 6 h hands-off time
~261 cal · 11g protein · 28g carbs · 12g fat · 11g fiber · 5g sugars · 2g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Gâteaux piment, chili cakes, are the most famous street snack of Mauritius. They are sold hot from street stalls and markets all over the island, and they turn up at parties as gajacks, the Mauritian word for snacks to share.
Despite the name they are not cakes at all but fritters, made from yellow split peas (dholl, as they are known in Mauritius) soaked overnight and ground to a coarse, grainy paste, then mixed with onion, spring onion, fresh coriander, cumin and green chili. Families vary the seasoning, adding fennel seed or . They came to the island with its Indian community and became something wholly Mauritian.
The texture should be crisp outside and light inside, much like falafel. Mauritians eat them hot on their own, two or three at a time, or split into a buttered baguette as a snack on the go.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally vegetarian, vegan and gluten-, dairy-, nut-, egg- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 6
- 250 g (1 1/4 cups) yellow split peas (dholl)
- 1 small onion, finely chopped
- 3 (about 45 g) spring onions, finely chopped
- a small handful fresh coriander, chopped
- 2 to 4 green chilies, finely chopped, to taste
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 1/2 tsp fennel seeds, optional
- 6 , chopped, optional
- 1 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- about 4 cups vegetable oil, for deep-frying
Instructions
- 1Rinse the split peas, cover generously with cold water and leave to soak for at least 6 hours or overnight.
- 2Drain well and rinse. Grind in a food processor in short pulses to a coarse, grainy paste, not a smooth purée, adding no water.✎ Chef’s noteSome whole and broken bits of pea should remain. That coarse texture is what makes the cakes crisp and light; a smooth paste fries dense and oily.
- 3Tip into a bowl and mix in the onion, spring onions, coriander, chilies, cumin, fennel and curry leaves if using, salt and baking soda.
- 4Heat the oil in a deep pan to 180C (350F). With wet hands, shape walnut-sized balls, about 2.5 cm (1 inch) across, and fry them in batches, turning, for about 5 to 8 minutes until deep golden and crisp.
- 5Drain on paper towels and eat hot.
Mauritian street-food tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Port Louis. Creole cooking here is a stack rather than a blend, and the layers are still visible on the same street: rougaille from the French line, vindaye with its mustard and turmeric from the Indian, mine frite from the Chinese shophouses, all sold from stalls a few steps apart.
🗺️
Mauritius. Mauritius had no indigenous population at all, so the melting-pot description is literal rather than decorative: everyone on the island descends from someone brought or arrived, whether enslaved from Africa and Madagascar, indentured from India, migrant from China, or colonial from France and Britain. The cooking is the record of that, four traditions using the same tomatoes, chillies and coriander.
🌍
Africa. Africa's fifty-four nations hold cuisines as different as Morocco's slow-cooked tagines and South Africa's open-fire braai, yet shared threads run through them: ancient grains like millet, sorghum, and teff; stews thickened with groundnut, okra, or palm; and fiery condiments from Tunisian harissa to Ethiopian berbere. Staple starches, fufu, injera, ugali, couscous, anchor communal meals often eaten by hand from a shared dish, where hospitality is a point of honor.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Mauritius
Dholl PuriFeather-soft flatbreads with ground split peas hidden in the dough, folded around bean curry and chutney.
RougailleA Creole tomato stew of Mauritius, simmered with thyme, ginger, and curry leaf around fish or sausage.
Farata with Butter Bean CurryFlaky griddled flatbread (farata) served with a light butter-bean curry, a popular Mauritian breakfast.
Browse all Mauritius recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Blender, Food processor.
Storing it: Fried food is best eaten fresh while crisp. Re-crisp leftovers in a hot oven or air fryer; the microwave makes them soft.
Make it a Mauritius meal
AloudaDrink
NapolitaineDessert
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Cuisine
Diet
Frequently asked questions
What is Gâteaux Piment (Mauritian Chili Cakes)?
Little crisp fritters of soaked, coarsely ground yellow split peas with onion, spring onion, green chili, cumin and coriander, fried golden and eaten hot.
Where does Gâteaux Piment (Mauritian Chili Cakes) come from?
Gâteaux Piment (Mauritian Chili Cakes) is a Mauritian dish from Port Louis, Mauritius.
Can Gâteaux Piment (Mauritian Chili Cakes) be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Gâteaux Piment (Mauritian Chili Cakes) recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions. Treat the substitutions as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Gâteaux Piment (Mauritian Chili Cakes) safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we still count coconut as a tree nut to be cautious, although the FDA stopped listing it as one in 2025), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Gâteaux Piment (Mauritian Chili Cakes) take to make?
About 6 h 40 min in all: 20 minutes prep and 20 minutes cooking, plus 6 h of hands-off waiting the method needs, serving 6.
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