Africa

Dholl Puri: Mauritian Split Pea-Filled Flatbread with Rougaille and Butter Bean Curry

Name: Dholl Puri: Mauritian Split Pea-Filled Flatbread with Rougaille and Butter Bean Curry
Prep time: 1 h
Cook time: 50 min
Total time: 1 h 50 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Mauritian
Ingredients: 180 g Yellow split peas; 700 ml Water; 1/2 tsp Salt; 1/2 tsp Turmeric; 1 tsp Cumin seeds; a little Black pepper; 300 g All-purpose flour; 1/2 tsp Salt; 150 ml Reserved bean cooking liquid; 40–80 ml Lukewarm water; 1 tbsp Neutral oil; as needed Flour for dusting; 200 g Butter beans (cooked); 3 Tomatoes; 1 Onion; 1 clove Garlic; 10 g Ginger; 1 Green chili; as needed Cucumber or carrot achar

A careful recipe for Mauritian street food dholl puri, from the dry yellow split pea filling to the thin griddle-cooked flatbread. Covers eating it with rougaille, butter bean curry and achar, Indian-Mauritian migration history, regional differences, substitutions, storage and troubleshooting.

Published: October 24, 2026Total: 1 hr 50 minLevel: Intermediate

Cooking flow

Cooking steps

STEP 11 / 8

Wash the beans and soak for 30 minutes

30 min

Washing yellow split peas in water and soaking them in a bowl — Soak for 30 minutes until the surface of the beans is moist. Don't soak too long

Put 180 g yellow split peas in a bowl and wash 2 to 3 times, changing the water. Once the beans have absorbed a little water and the powdery feel on the surface is gone, soak them in plenty of water for 30 minutes. If the room is hot in summer, put them in the refrigerator; after soaking, drain. Drain when the bean corners are rounded when pinched and, when split with a fingernail, a little hard core remains in the center. Left up to overnight, they get too soft and are hard to turn into a powder filling.

STEP 22 / 8

Cook the beans and set aside some of the liquid

20–25 min

Cooking turmeric-yellow beans in a pot and setting aside the liquid in a measuring cup — Soften the beans but don't cook them until they fall apart in the liquid. The liquid is used in the dough

Put 700 ml water, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp turmeric and the soaked beans in a pot and bring to a boil over medium heat. Once boiling, lower to medium-low and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes with the surface barely trembling. Turn off the heat when the beans split when pressed with a finger but keep their outline, before the liquid turns yellow and cloudy. Set aside 150 ml of the cooking liquid, then drain the beans in a sieve and spread them in a thin layer on a wide plate. Leave for 10 minutes until the steam is gone, letting extra moisture escape.

STEP 33 / 8

Grind the beans to a dry powder

10 min

Grinding toasted cumin and cooled beans into a dry powdery filling — Don't make the filling a wet paste; give it a texture that holds when squeezed and returns to powder when loosened

Put 1 tsp cumin seeds in a dry skillet and toast over low heat for 1 to 2 minutes, rolling them, until fragrant. Put them with the cooled beans in a grinder or food processor and grind to somewhere between fine crumbles and powder. Don't add water. It passes when it holds together when pinched with your fingers and crumbles when dropped on the counter. Divide into 8 and press lightly into small balls about 2.5 cm (1 in) across. If large grains remain, grind briefly once more so they don't break through the rolled dough.

STEP 44 / 8

Knead the dough with the bean liquid and rest

40 min

Kneading flour dough with bean cooking liquid on the counter — The color of the liquid passes into the dough. Don't add the water all at once; bring it to a dough a little firmer than an earlobe

Cool 150 ml of the bean cooking liquid to about 40°C (104°F). Put 300 g flour, 1/2 tsp salt and 1 tbsp oil in a bowl, add the liquid and mix. While it is still floury, add only 40 ml lukewarm water. Knead with the palm of your hand for 5 to 7 minutes, until the flour grains are gone and the dough springs back slowly when pressed. Only if it doesn't come together, add lukewarm water 2 tsp at a time. Cover with a dry kitchen towel and rest 30 minutes at room temperature, then divide into 8 after resting.

STEP 55 / 8

Wrap the beans in the dough and seal

15 min

Placing yellow bean filling in the center of the flour dough and gathering the edges to close it — Put the filling in the center of the dough and don't make the seam too thick. Less is safer at first

Press each piece of dough out to 8 cm (3 in) across and make a slight dip in the center. Place 25 to 30 g of bean filling on each, lift the edge and gather it at the top, and pinch the seam closed with your fingers. It's important not to leave air between the dough and the filling, but don't squash it hard and turn the beans into a paste. Place seam side down, cover with a cloth and wrap the rest the same way. If you used warm filling, rest 10 minutes even after wrapping to let the dough surface settle.

STEP 66 / 8

Roll thin to 20–22 cm across

15 min

Rolling the bean-filled dough with a rolling pin into a thin round about 20 cm across — Roll a little at a time from the center outward, bringing the whole to 2–3 mm thick

Dust the counter lightly with flour and set the dough seam side down. Press from the center outward with your palm, then roll briefly with the rolling pin to 20 to 22 cm (8 to 9 in) across and 2 to 3 mm thick. Rather than pressing hard in one direction, turn it 90 degrees each time and the circle keeps its shape. Even if bean grains show through the surface, if there is no hole it can be cooked. If a hole opens, press it shut with your finger and cook it without rolling any thinner. Too much dusting flour scorches on the tawa, so brush off the excess by hand.

STEP 77 / 8

Cook on the tawa 60–90 seconds per side

20 min

Cooking dholl puri on a tawa with bubbles and brown spots on the surface — Bubbles on the surface and brown spots are the signs of doneness. Overcooked, it cracks when wrapped around the curry

Preheat the tawa or heavy skillet over medium heat for 3 minutes. The guide is that a drop of water on the surface sizzles and disappears in 2 to 3 seconds. Lay the dough down and cook 60 to 90 seconds per side. Flip when small bubbles appear on the surface and light brown color and spots show on the underside. Cook the flipped side another 60 to 90 seconds, and brush on about 1/4 tsp oil thinly only if dry areas remain. If the heat is so strong that it darkens in about 30 seconds, drop to medium-low, and if spots don't appear, go back to medium temporarily. Wrap each finished dholl puri in a cloth so it doesn't dry out until the next one is done.

STEP 88 / 8

Stack two and serve with curry

5 min

Two stacked dholl puri served with butter bean curry, rougaille and achar — Wrap the curry in two stacked pieces. Acidity, the sweetness of beans and the aroma of cooked wheat in one bite

Stack two cooked pieces and serve with butter bean curry, rougaille and achar. You can also put a little curry on one piece and fold it, but sandwiching it between two lets the juices reach the whole dough so you taste the bean filling and the tomato's acidity together. Freshly cooked, the surface is supple; as it cools, the folds crack easily. Keep it covered with a cloth until just before it goes to the table.

0 / 0

Ingredients

1 / 3

Bean filling

Ingredient	Amount	Substitutes & what to check
Yellow split peas	180 g	Chana dal also works. Red lentils release more moisture
Water	700 ml	For cooking the beans. Set aside 150 ml of the cooking liquid
Salt	1/2 tsp	Added when cooking the beans
Turmeric	1/2 tsp	Color and earthy aroma. Without it the yellow of the beans is weaker
Cumin seeds	1 tsp	Toast before using. If ground, adjust starting from 3/4 of the amount
Black pepper	a little	Only when you want extra heat. Omit for children

2 / 3

Dough

Ingredient	Amount	Substitutes & what to check
All-purpose flour	300 g	All bread flour tends to turn out tough. 240 g all-purpose plus 60 g whole wheat also works
Salt	1/2 tsp	For the dough
Reserved bean cooking liquid	150 ml	Cool to about 40°C (104°F)
Lukewarm water	40–80 ml	Add a little at a time depending on how the flour absorbs
Neutral oil	1 tbsp	Rice bran or light sesame oil also work
Flour for dusting	as needed	Too much makes the surface powdery

3 / 3

Accompaniments

Ingredient	Amount	Role
Butter beans (cooked)	200 g	A bean curry in the style of cari gros pois. White beans also work
Tomatoes	3	For rougaille. Fully ripe gives a rounded acidity
Onion	1	Half each for the curry and rougaille
Garlic	1 clove	For rougaille. Omit if you dislike it
Ginger	10 g	For rougaille. Grated
Green chili	1	Omit to taste, or remove the seeds
Cucumber or carrot achar	as needed	Adds acidity and crunch. Store-bought is fine

0 / 0

A pair of thin Mauritian flatbreads, rich with cumin

Set the dough on a hot tawa and small bubbles rise on the surface, the yellow of the split peas faintly showing through. When brown spots appear on the flipped side, stack two fresh ones and scoop up tangy tomato rougaille or a thick butter bean curry. Dholl puri (Dholl puri / Dhal puri) is a representative Mauritian street food in which split peas are wrapped in wheat dough and cooked thin.

Unlike the fried Indian dal puri, the star isn't the toasty aroma of oil but the crumbly texture of dry split peas and the fragrance of cumin. Rather than eating a single piece as bread, stacking two to wrap curry and pickles is closer to the way it is enjoyed locally.

A bean-filled roti raised at island street stalls

Mauritius government tourism material also introduces dholl puri as a dish loved on an island where food cultures meet. After the abolition of slavery, the number of indentured laborers from India grew in the 19th century, and a table of beans, vegetables, dal and pickles became part of island cooking. Rather than treating the dish as an "import" of one country, it is closer to reality to see it as Indian home cooking that grew into a street dish within island life, also shaped by African, European and Chinese influences.

Behind it lies the history of Aapravasi Ghat, through which more than 460,000 indentured laborers, mostly from India, passed between 1834 and 1920. UNESCO describes this facility, built in 1849, as the place where people from India, East Africa, Madagascar, China and Southeast Asia entered the island. Dholl puri is not just a recipe but a dish in which the use of beans and flour carried by people on the move became everyday at the island's table.

Local introductions and travel writing describe it as a light meal cooked at stalls from early morning and eaten in places such as Quatre Bornes, Rose Hill, Vacoas and Port Louis. The thickness of the dough, how much the beans are left in grains, the heat of the rougaille and the achar served alongside differ from stall to stall, so there is no need to treat any one formula as absolute at home. However, two things greatly affect flavor and texture: turning the beans into a dry powder rather than a paste, and cooking it thin and eating it in pairs.

The overlap in name and beans with Indian fried dal puri (in Japanese) and Guyanese split pea fritters pholourie (in Japanese) comes from immigrant food cultures changing form in different places. When making dholl puri, don't make it thick like fried bread. Treat it as a roti cooked on a tawa, matching the thinness of the dough to the juiciness of the accompaniments.

Ingredients (makes 8 pieces, serves 4)

Ingredients for dholl puri: yellow split peas, flour, cumin, turmeric, tomatoes and butter beans — Cook the beans dry and use the cooking liquid in the dough. Matching the state of the flour and beans makes wrapping easier

The quantity makes eight thin flatbreads 20 to 22 cm across, about two per person. The dholl gram used in local recipes is found elsewhere as yellow split peas or chana dal. Even with the same package label, cooking time varies with how the beans are split and their size, so go by the state "splits when pressed with a finger but doesn't fall apart in the liquid" rather than by time.

You will use a pot for cooking the beans, a skillet for drying them, a flat tawa or heavy skillet and a rolling pin. You can make it without a tawa, but a flat surface of about 26 cm that lets you cook a rolled round without moving it makes it easier to heat evenly to the edges.

Allergies and dietary restrictions

This recipe contains wheat and legumes. If you serve achar or store-bought curry, check separately for labeling of dairy, mustard, seafood, peanuts and so on. Replacing the wheat flour with rice flour changes the dough's ability to be wrapped and rolled thin, so it can't be treated as a gluten-free alternative recipe.

Where to find things

Fresh tomatoes and onions are fine from everyday shopping. What's worth looking for is whole cumin seed, which supports the bean aroma; turmeric, which evens out color with only a little; and a flat tawa, which makes it easy to lay out the dough when cooking many pieces.

Cumin seed leaves a core of aroma when mixed into the toasted beans. Look for jars labeled whole cumin seed, without salt or other spices mixed in. If you only have ground cumin, you can still make it; choose whole seed when you have other dishes that will use up the jar.

Turmeric is only 1/2 tsp, but it matches the yellow of the filled beans with the earthy aroma of the curry. Check that the label shows turmeric alone; it makes sense to buy if you'll use it in curries and bean stews too.

A tawa is not a necessity. A heavy skillet can cook one piece at a time, so if you make this only once a year you can do without it. If you often cook roti or chapati, or want a wide flat surface to flip dough on, check that it is cast iron, suits your home heat source, and note the diameter and whether it has a handle.

Instructions

While the beans cook, cut the accompaniments, and while the beans cool, knead the dough. In this order it is easier to avoid the mistake of tearing the dough by putting warm filling into it.

Making rougaille and butter bean curry

Eaten alone, dholl puri puts the aroma of beans and wheat forward. Add the acidity of rougaille and the juiciness of butter bean curry and the table is set for the flatbread. If you make both at once, cut the onions and tomatoes while the beans cook.

Rougaille

Roughly chop 2 tomatoes, 1/2 onion, 1 clove garlic, 10 g ginger and 1 green chili. Put 2 tsp oil in a skillet and cook the onion, garlic and ginger over medium heat for 3 minutes. Add the tomatoes and a little salt and simmer over medium-low heat for 6 to 8 minutes. Stop when the tomato corners remain and juice comes out when pressed with a spoon, and the acidity layers over the bean filling. You can add chili later, so it's fine to start with half.

Butter bean curry (cari gros pois style)

Cook 1/2 onion in 2 tsp oil for 4 minutes, then add a little garlic, a pinch of turmeric and 1 tomato. Add 200 g drained butter beans and 150 ml water and simmer over low heat for 8 to 10 minutes. Mash just two or three beans with a wooden spoon and, when the liquid has thickened, adjust with salt. Don't make the curry a thin soup; bring it to a thickness that doesn't run out when you fold the dholl puri.

At Mauritian tables, pickled vegetables, coriander and chili sauce may also be served. Even a small spoonful of whatever achar you have puts crisp acidity against the sweetness of beans and wheat.

Substituting while protecting the dryness of the beans

When you can't find the local ingredient names, there's no need to push toward a different dish while keeping only the dish name. If you know the order of what makes dholl puri what it is, you can read the effect of substitutions.

Ingredient or tool in question	Closer to local	Easier to get	What changes
Beans	Dholl gram, yellow split peas	Chana dal	Chana dal grains are slightly larger and need a little longer to cook
Alternative beans	Yellow split peas	Skinless moong dal	Moong dal gets soft, so leave less cooking liquid
Dough	Refined wheat flour	All-purpose flour, all-purpose plus whole wheat	The more whole wheat, the more toasty but the more prone to cracks
Cooking surface	Iron tawa	Heavy skillet	Heat retention differs. Lower the heat with a thin pan
Acidity	Local achar	Cucumber or carrot pickles	The spice aroma changes, but the palate-cleansing role remains

If using chana dal, mash one at 15 minutes into cooking. If a core remains, extend by 2 to 3 minutes at a time, then spread the softened beans on a plate and cool fully. Red lentils break down quickly and hold moisture before grinding into powder, so they are not suited to a first attempt.

With a dough of only whole wheat, the thin rolled edges crack easily. If you want to keep the wheat aroma, limit whole wheat to 60 g and make the rest all-purpose; that works better with the task of wrapping beans.

Fixing things when they go wrong

The beans turned into a paste

They were overcooked or mashed before draining. If there's a lot of moisture, put them in a dry skillet over medium-low heat and dry them for 3 to 5 minutes, spreading with a wooden spoon. Move to a plate, cool completely and wait until a squeezed handful keeps its shape. If it still doesn't hold together, don't force it to be wrapped; use it as a bean side dish added to the rougaille, and prepare a small new batch of beans for the dough so the failure doesn't spread.

The dough tears while rolling

The filling is too big, the seam too thick or the dough dry. Cover the surface with a damp cloth and rest 10 minutes, then spread the circle first with your palm without pressing hard with the rolling pin. Pinch a torn hole closed and stop at about 18 cm. If you force it to 22 cm, beans come out, and scorched grains stick to the tawa.

No browning and the dough is stiff

The tawa wasn't preheated enough or there is too much dusting flour. Do the water-drop test before cooking the first one, and brush off excess flour. If spots don't appear by 90 seconds a side, raise the heat a little, but don't leave it until the surface dries. Wrapping each cooked piece in a cloth right away brings back suppleness through the steam.

Burnt on the surface but cold inside

The heat is too high. Lower to medium-low, shorten the time per side and flip after bubbles appear on the surface. Because the filling is already cooked, it is easier to adjust if you treat browning the dough and carrying heat to the center as separate things.

Storage and nutrition guide

It's a dish to eat freshly cooked, but wrap leftovers one by one in plastic wrap after cooling and keep them for about 2 days in the refrigerator. To eat, warm each side in a dry skillet for 30 to 45 seconds, and if stiff, use a spray bottle just once. To freeze, cool fully, bag them separately and plan to use within 1 month. If left a long time after thawing, the dough cracks easily from the beans' moisture, so it is easier to handle by placing it still frozen in a skillet over low heat.

Nutrition (estimate per person for 2 dholl puri, not including accompaniments)

Nutrient	Guide
Calories	500 kcal
Protein	19 g
Fat	12 g
Carbohydrates	84 g
Fiber	10 g
Sodium	620 mg

The values vary with the beans, the oil actually absorbed and the curry or achar you serve. With beans and wheat as the main ingredients, two pieces is closer to a staple than a light snack.

FAQ

Q1. Are yellow split peas and chana dal the same?

They are not the same bean. The dholl gram in local recipes, the yellow split peas sold in Japan and the chana dal at Indian grocers differ in grain size and aroma. At first, use whichever is easier to get and stop cooking when it splits when pressed but isn't holding too much water. Giving priority to whether you can make a dry filling, rather than an exact match of the dish's name and the bean, makes adjusting easier.

Q2. Can I make it without a tawa?

You can make it in a heavy skillet. If the bottom is thin, don't preheat too long and cook one piece at a time over medium-low heat. Don't move the dough after setting it down; flip it by looking at the bubbles and brown spots. Only people who cook roti often need to consider a dedicated tawa.

Q3. How many pieces do you stack to eat?

We planned on two per person. Serving a single piece with a side is also a way to eat it, but stacking two to wrap bean curry and rougaille gives a good balance of cooked wheat, beans and acidity. For a small appetite, one piece plus a side works.

Q4. Is it still local-tasting without chili?

It's fine. Heat can be added later through the rougaille or achar, so it is easier to adjust the whole if you leave out the green chili and keep cumin and turmeric in the bean filling. Even when adding heat, don't put much in the beans from the start; serve a sauce at the table.

Q5. How much can I make the day before?

You can do the steps through cooking the beans and grinding them to powder, or prepare the rougaille and butter bean curry, the day before. Cool the filling, seal it and refrigerate. Do the wrapping in dough on the day you cook, and if using cold filling, bring it back to room temperature for about 10 minutes. Storing wrapped dough for a long time moves moisture across and makes it tear easily before rolling.

Indian fried dal puri (in Japanese): compare it with the small puri that puffs up in oil, also filled with beans.
Dal tadka (in Japanese): shows the difference between a dish where beans are cooked down and the step of drying the beans for dholl puri.
Guyanese pholourie (in Japanese): another Indian-diaspora dish with beans and spices, with a different texture to enjoy.

Sources

Explore Mauritius | Government of Mauritius (accessed and checked 21 August 2026)
Aapravasi Ghat: How a UNESCO World Heritage site keeps the memory of indentured labour alive | UNESCO (accessed and checked 21 August 2026)
Aapravasi Ghat | UNESCO World Heritage Centre (accessed and checked 21 August 2026)
Dholl Puris Recipe | Les Moulins de la Concorde (accessed and checked 21 August 2026)
The Story of Dholl Puri in Mauritius | restaurants.mu (accessed and checked 21 August 2026)
Mauritian Dholl (Dhal) Puri | Mauritius Life (accessed and checked 21 August 2026)
Mauritius street food guide | Mauritius Life (accessed and checked 21 August 2026)
Mauritius: dholl puri savoury pancakes | The Guardian (accessed and checked 21 August 2026)
Mauritian Dholl Puri Recipe | Cook's Hideout (accessed and checked 21 August 2026)