National Dish Mauritius: Dholl Puri (Recipe)
In this article
Dholl Puri is a thin flatbread with ground split peas rolled inside it, and it is Mauritius’s street food. Two are served together, filled with bean curry, rougaille and chilli paste, folded and handed over in paper. They cost almost nothing.
About Dholl Puri
The bread comes from Bihar, brought by indentured Indian labourers in the nineteenth century, and Mauritius made it its own. The split peas are cooked, dried out and ground fine, then enclosed in dough and rolled so thin that the filling shows through as a yellow speckle.
Rolling without tearing is the skill, and Mauritian street vendors do it at a speed that looks impossible.
Ingredients (serves 1–2)
- 200 g wheat flour
- 100 g yellow split peas (soaked overnight)
- 1 tsp cumin
- Salt to taste
- Water, as needed
- Vegetable oil, for frying
Shopping for the ingredients
Yellow split peas, dal, soaked overnight. Turmeric is usually in the dough and gives the bread its pale gold colour. Plain flour, not strong; the dough must be soft and extensible rather than elastic.
Preparing the dish
Cook the split peas until just tender but still holding shape, then drain them thoroughly and dry them out in a pan before grinding. Wet pea paste is what makes dholl puri burst while rolling. Rest the dough at least thirty minutes.
Step-by-step instructions
- Cook the yellow split peas until soft, drain them well and dry them out in a pan, then grind with cumin and salt to a coarse powder.
- Knead the flour with water and a pinch of turmeric into a soft dough and rest it 30 minutes.
- Divide into small balls.
- Flatten a ball of dough, place a little of the pea powder in the centre and shape the dough back into a ball.
- Carefully roll the ball out into a thin flatbread, turning it as you go.
- Heat a dry pan and cook the dholl puri on both sides until it puffs and shows brown spots, brushing lightly with oil.
Gluten-free / lactose-free version
Dholl puri contains no dairy. The bread is wheat, so it is not gluten-free; a chickpea flour flatbread fills a similar role in other cuisines but is a different thing.
Tips for vegans and vegetarians
Dholl puri is vegan as written, and so are the usual fillings: bean curry, rougaille and chilli paste. It is one of the great vegan street foods and nobody in Mauritius thinks of it that way.
More tips and tricks
Dry the split peas out properly before grinding. Grind them to a powder, not a paste. Roll from the centre and turn the bread a quarter after each pass, which keeps the filling evenly distributed and stops it breaking through.
Adapting the recipe to your taste
Farata, the plain layered flatbread, is the unfilled cousin. Chana puri uses chickpea flour. More cumin and a little chilli in the pea powder is common.
Ingredient substitutions
Chana dal replaces yellow split peas. Turmeric is optional but traditional. Any neutral oil for brushing.
Drink pairing ideas
Alouda or a lassi is the Mauritian street pairing. Phoenix beer works. Cold water, given the chilli.
Serving and presentation ideas
Two puris stacked, filled with bean curry, rougaille and chilli, folded in half and wrapped in paper. Eaten standing, with the hands, in about a minute. Anything more formal misses the point.
A bit of history
Indian indentured labour arrived in Mauritius from 1834 to replace enslaved workers after abolition, and roughly two thirds of the population descends from those migrants. Dholl puri came with them and became national. It anchors Mauritian cuisine.
More recipe ideas
Summary: Dholl Puri
Dholl puri is a thin flatbread with ground split peas rolled inside, served in pairs with curry and chilli. Dry the peas before grinding, grind to a powder, and roll from the centre outwards.
