Mine Frit: The Mauritian Fried Noodles Recipe

Mine frit is the stir-fried noodle dish you will find just as readily in the Chinese canteens of Port Louis as on street stalls and in family kitchens across Mauritius. Mauritians of Chinese descent make up only around 3% of the population, according to figures cited by the Hong Kong magazine South China Morning Post, but their cooking — and this noodle dish first of all — has become an everyday fixture for the whole island.

Where mine frit comes from

The name is the meeting of two languages: mine means noodles in Hakka, the language of the Chinese traders and craftsmen who settled in Mauritius from the nineteenth century onwards, while frit comes from the French frire, to fry. That double origin sums up the dish itself: Chinese wok cooking applied to wheat noodles, seasoned with soy sauce and served the Mauritian way, with chilli on the side.

Chinese immigration to Mauritius came in several waves, largely from Guangdong province, in the wake of trade and then the settlement of families who opened shops and small eateries. Mine frit and boulettes are among the dishes this community introduced and that the whole island subsequently adopted, to the point of becoming classics sold on every street corner in Port Louis.

What you need for a good mine frit

• Fresh wheat noodles — the yellow Chinese noodles sold as “mines”: 400 g to 1 kg depending on numbers
• A protein: sliced chicken, prawns, or both for a “royal” version, sometimes with Chinese sausage added
• Eggs, beaten and cooked as a thin omelette, then cut into strips
• Oyster sauce for the meat marinade
• Soy sauce, in particular a dark or black-mushroom soy sauce, which gives the noodles their characteristic colour
• Shrimp paste, garlic and ginger for the aromatic base
• Vegetables: grated carrot, pak choi or shredded white cabbage, bean sprouts, spring onion

These ingredients, particularly the dark soy sauce, the shrimp paste and the pak choi, are found in Asian grocers and the island’s larger supermarkets; which chain you shop at can make a real difference for this kind of product.

The wok and fierce heat change everything: it is the fast, high-heat cooking that stops the noodles turning pasty and gives them that slight crispness at the edges.

The recipe, step by step

Serves 4.

1. Slice the meat, chicken or prawns, and marinate for at least 20 minutes in oyster sauce and crushed garlic.
2. Prepare the vegetables: grate the carrot, shred the pak choi, chop the spring onion.
3. Beat the eggs, cook a thin omelette, let it cool, then cut it into strips.
4. Fry the marinated meat in the wok with a little shrimp paste, then set aside.
5. Cook the noodles in unsalted boiling water, just long enough to loosen them, then drain.
6. In the hot wok, stir-fry the vegetables with a dash of soy sauce.
7. Add the meat, the noodles and the dark soy sauce, tossing over high heat until the noodles take on an even brown colour. Taste before adding salt — soy sauce is already very salty.
8. Fold in the omelette strips and the spring onion right at the end.

Mine frit is served immediately, with a little chilli sauce or garlic vinegar on the side.

The variations you will find in Mauritius

Chicken mine frit is the most common version. “Mine royal” adds prawns and sometimes Chinese sausage; some eateries offer a vegetables-only version. The amount of soy sauce and the choice between light and dark sauce also change from one address to the next, which is why no two mine frit are ever quite alike, even a few streets apart.

Where to find it, and the rest of Sino-Mauritian cooking

You will come across mine frit in the Chinese canteens and street stalls of Port Louis, but also in most restaurants serving Sino-Mauritian food across the island. To place this dish among the other classics of the Mauritian table, our tour of Mauritian culinary specialities and the recipe for sausage rougaille round out the meal nicely.

Frequently asked questions

• Can dried noodles replace fresh ones? Yes, rehydrated according to the packet instructions, but the texture stays a little less springy than with fresh noodles.
• Can mine frit be made in advance? The dish is meant to be eaten straight out of the wok. The components — marinated meat, cut vegetables, omelette — can however be prepared ahead and assembled at the last minute.
• Is there a version without meat or seafood? Yes: mine frit with vegetables only, with the omelette providing the protein, is a common version.

Sources and verification

• South China Morning Post — the history of Chinese immigration and street food in Mauritius
• Je Papote — Mauritian mine frit recipe (in French)
• L’Atelier de Kristel — Sino-Mauritian mine frit recipe (in French)