Smoked sausage rougail from Réunion Island
Réunion Island is a French department in the Indian Ocean, about 900 km east of Madagascar, with vibrant creole food and culture. Sausage rougail (rougail saucisse), or sausage and tomato stew, is the emblematic dish of the island. Like many Réunionese dishes, it is served with rice, beans, and a spicy condiment. In this recipe, I chose to cook up some lentils and to make a fresh tomato salsa, Réunionese style, to go with it. I also added a little extra vegetable to the lentils and the rougail stew.
My husband and I visited La Réunion on our honeymoon a few years ago, and we absolutely recommend visiting for avid hikers. We had many a tasty meal while we there, too, and got to learn about Réunionese cuisine, sausage rougail included. This version is mostly authentic, aside from the celery, but I find it adds nice texture to the stew. The proportions of the flavorful ingredients may vary from one cook to another. Here, I’m sharing a combination that we love at our house!
What is rougail?
The term rougail (pronounced roo–guy, for an English speaker) comes from India, from the Tamil word urukay, meaning a pickled green fruit. Depending on who you ask, a rougail now describes either the spicy stew or the spicy fresh salsa sprinkled on top. Here, I go with the rougail being the stew. In order to qualify as rougail, the stew must have chopped onions that are browned before adding the diced tomatoes. (For another emblematic dish from Réunion, a cari, the onions are added at the same time as the tomatoes.) A rougail should also contain fresh hot pepper and chopped pre-boiled sausage, other smoked meat, or smoked fish.
Key ingredients:
- Sausage Either smoked or plain sausage will work for this recipe. Use the type or brand you like best, creole or otherwise. For readers in the US, a smoked kielbasa would be accessible and work well. Cooking from France, I picked a Montbéliard sausage, which is a lovely smoked sausage from the Jura region of eastern France.
- Rice This is a staple of the Réunionese diet, and locals eat it almost every day. Though ubiquitous, rice isn’t native to Réunion. They import it. History has left its mark on Réunionese cooking, with influences from China, India, Africa, and France. Those first two get credit for the love of rice. 😉
- Lentils For a Réunionese dish, I would be remiss not to recommend Cilaos lentils, a native variety. These small brown lentils are grown in the caldera of Cilaos, and not too many get exported. Any brown or green (not red) lentil will work. When cooking the lentils, add salt after cooking to avoid the texture becoming tougher.
- Side note about Cilaos: Réunion is a volcanic island, featuring an active volcano, Piton de la Fournaise and three picturesque calderas: Cirque de Cilaos, Cirque de Salazie, and Cirque de Mafate. To road to get to Cilaos is called the route des 400 virages (road of the 400 switchbacks). Don’t eat too many lentils before getting in the car… The views were amazing, but the road was harrowing!!
- Kaffir lime, known as combava on Réunion Island, is a wrinkly little green citrus fruit that grows on Réunion and features in other Asian dishes. Its leaves and zest have a vibrant, fresh citrus flavor. Here I use powdered kaffir lime leaves in the tomato condiment. If you can only find whole kaffir lime leaves, grind them with a mortar and pestle. Lime zest would be a decent substitute if you can’t get ahold of kaffir lime at all.
Short on time? Instead of cooking up lentils, you can save about 30 minutes by simply adding canned red kidney beans, rinsed, directly to the sausage rougail stew in the last five minutes of cooking.
Smoked sausage rougail from Réunion Island
Ingredients
Lentils:
- 125 g brown or green lentils (¾ cup)
- 2 carrots
- 1 branch of celery
- 1 onion
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- 360 ml vegetable broth (1 ½ cup, no salt added)
- 190 ml water (¾ cup)
- ¾ tsp salt
- Pepper to taste
Tomato salsa, Réunion style:
- 2 small tomatoes (150 g/5 oz)
- 1 tbsp finely diced onion
- ½ jalapeño
- 1 tsp grated fresh ginger
- ⅛ tsp kaffir lime powder (or ¼ tsp grated lime zest)
- ⅛ tsp salt
- 2 tsp olive oil
Sausage rougail:
- 4 smoked sausages, about 500 g (1.1 lb) total
- 2 onions
- 1 branch celery
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- 400 g diced tomatoes (1 can, 14 oz)
- ½ tbsp grated fresh ginger
- 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
- ½ small jalapeño
- 1 tsp tomato paste
- ¼ tsp dried thyme leaves
Cooked rice to serve
Instructions
Lentils:
- Rinse the lentils and check over for stones.
- Peel and chop the carrots in ½ cm (¼ inch) dice. Chop the celery to the same size. Peel and finely dice the onion.
- Heat 1 tbsp oil in a pressure cooker or medium pot. Cook the vegetables in the oil for about 5 minutes over medium heat, stirring occasionally. The goal is to soften the vegetables, not to brown them too much.
- Add the lentils, unsalted broth, and water. If using a pressure cooker, cook under pressure for 14 minutes. Make sure that the water level is at a safe level for the size of your pressure cooker. If cooking normally, cook for 30-40 minutes, until tender.
- Once cooked, add salt and pepper.
Réunionese tomato salsa:
- Seed and chop the tomatoes.
- Add all the ingredients to a bowl and mix.
Sausage rougail:
- Bring a large pot of water to boil. Blanch the sausages for 5 minutes. Drain the sausages and slice into 1-cm (½-inch) thick pieces.
- Peel and dice the onion. Dice the celery into ½ cm (¼ inch) pieces.
- Reusing the same pot, now empty, heat 1 tbsp oil and cook the onion and celery for 5 minutes over medium heat.
- Add the rest of the rougail ingredients, including the chopped sausage, and let simmer for 15 minutes. Cook the rice while the rougail is simmering.
- Taste for salt.
Serve
- Serve the sausage rougail on or alongside cooked rice, topped with the Réunionese tomato salsa, and with the beans on the side.