South African Cuisine
Last Updated on Sunday, 28 February 2010 17:38 Written by Helga McLeod Tuesday, 23 February 2010 17:42
South Africa has a good culinary reputation, with fresh fruit and veg growing on our doorsteps and a nation that loves its food and wine al fresco. Influences on South African cuisine by Khoisan, Xhosa, Sotho's, Afrikaners and the British, the Cape Malay and recipes also spills over from Portuguese Mozambique. Our restaurants, hotels and guesthouses all focus on giving visitors good food, made with fresh ingredients.
Typical South African food and dishes:
Amasi - sour milk
Biltong - salty dried meat.
Bobotie - meat and egg dish. Meatloaf plus raisins baked with egg on top & served with sambals, coconut, banana, chutney and rice.
Boerewors - sausage.
Braaivleis - barbecued meat
Braai - barbecue
Bunny chow - curry stuffing in a hollowed-out loaf of bread.
Chutney - sweet sauce of fruit of which Mrs Ball's Chutney has reached cult status.
Frikkadelle - meatballs.
Isidudu - pumpkin pap.
Koeksisters - sweet, twisted pastries, deep fried and syrupy.
Maheu - sorghum beer
Malva Pudding - sweet Apricot pudding.
Mashonzha - made with mopane worms.
Mealie Bread - a sweet bread made with sweetcorn.
Melktert - milk tart.
Melkkos - milk food and dessert.
Pampoenkoekies - pumpkin fritters.
Potbrood - pot bread is a savoury bread baked over coals.
Potjiekos - a stew of meat and vegetables cooked over coals in cast-iron pots.
Putu - stiff corn porridge
Samoosa - savoury Indian pastries, stuffed and fried.
Smoor snoek - salted snoek with potatoes and tomatoes, served with jam.
Smoorvis - steamed fish
Sosaties - skewered meat, grilled over coals. Spiced kebabs.
Tomato bredie - tomato stew, usually with lamb.
Vetkoek - fat cake, deep fried and served with jam or mince meat.
Umngqusho - semolina dish with black-eyed peas.
Umqombothi - beer made from fermented wheat.
Umvubo - sour mild mixed with pap.
Waterblommetjie bredie - a stew made from the flowers of the Cape Pondweed.
Other than traditional, you can expect to find restaurants of Japanese, Chinese, Moroccan, West African, Congolese and chain eateries and fast food outlets include Spur, McDonald's, Steers, Kentucky Fried Chicken and Nando's.
Traditional South African Recipes
Vetkoek
Shopping List
1cup cake flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt
1 egg
125 milk
125 ml oil for frying
Instructions
Beat egg and add to combined flour, salt and baking powder. Add milk and mix to a smooth consistency. Heat oil in a pan and drop mixture with a tablespoon into the oil. Fry 2,5 minutes per side, turn and fry again for a minute. Serve hot with jam or bobotie leftovers.
Koeksisters
Shopping List & Instructions
For the syrup (to be made first)
1kg sugar and 2 cups of water
2 pieces, peeled and crushed ginger
Pinch of salt
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
Grated rind and juice of a lemon
Mix all ingredients and heat in a pan, while stirring until sugar is dissolved. Cover with lid and boil for a minute, uncover and without stirring, boil further for 5 minutes. Let cool for 2 hours in fridge.
For the dough
500g flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons baking powder
60g cold, grated butter
1 egg
1-1,5 cup milk
Combine dry ingredients and rub in butter with fingertips. Beat egg with milk and mix lightly with dry ingredients to a soft dough. Add more milk if needed. Knead until small bubbles appear under the surface. Cover with damp tea towel and leave to stand for an hour.
Roll out to 1cm thickness and cut 6cm long, 1cm wide strips. Plait 3 strips together and pinch ends together to seal.
Heat enough oil for 180 degree C deep frying and fry plaits long enough to turn golden-brown. Remove from oil and drain excess oil in paper towels. Stand the bowl of syrup in a larger one, filled with ice cubes. Soak koeksisters in cold syrup for a couple of minutes and remove with fork, letting excess syrup drip off into the bowl again. Keep refrigerated.
Bobotie
Shopping List
1 kg lamb, minced
2 onions, roughly chopped
1 thick slice of crust-less white bread, soaked in milk
125ml milk
Salt
1/2 chili, finely chopped
1 tablespoon of curry powder
1 tablespoon of lemon juice
2 teaspoon of brown sugar
,5 cup vinegar
1,5 tablespoon of chutney
1/2 hand of chopped almonds
3 eggs
1 clove of garlic, crushed and finely chopped
7 bay leaves
1 orange, sliced in rings
1 lemon, sliced in rings
Olive oil for cooking
Instructions
Preheat oven at 160 degrees C.
In heated oil, fry the garlic, onion and curry powder and cook over medium setting for another 3 minutes before adding the minced meat. Fry mixture until meat is just under-done. Squeeze milk from bread and add bread, the lemon juice, sugar, vinegar and chutney to the meat. Fry for another minute and remove from stove. Stir in almonds.
In a dish, place half the bay leaves, 2 orange and 2 lemon wheels at the bottom. Dish the mince combination on top. Using the other lemon and orange wheels, insert them on the sides, protruding just a little. Beat milk and eggs together and pour over dish. Finish off with the remaining bay leaves and bake uncovered for 30 minutes.
Serve with little bowls of chutney, chopped banana and coconut shavings and/or chopped tomato and onion salsa. Add salad of plain greens and a dish of yellow rice mixed with raisins.
Frikadelle (meat balls)
Shopping List
3 tomatoes
1onion
1 crushed garlic, chopped finely
2 tablespoons oil
1 kg beef, minced
1/2 cup oats
125 ml milk
3 tablespoons brown vinegar
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon salt
A pinch of pepper
125 ml water
2 tablespoons cream of tomato soup powder
Instructions
Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Peel and chop onion, garlic and tomatoes and fry in oil until soft. Mix tomato-mix with mince and oats. Add rest of ingredients (except water and soup) and mix well.
Shape into large balls and place in oven dish. Mix water and soup powder and pour over. Bake 1 hour covered.
South African Braai's
Boerewors from scratch
Shopping List
1,75kg chuck beef, with no fat or gristle
1kg de-boned thick rib of pork
200 g of pork fat
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
1,5 tablespoon coriander, ground
2 tablespoons salt
1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg
half cup vinegar
100g of pork casings
Instructions
Cut fat and meat into blocks, season and mix well. Add vinegar and stuff into casing. Refrigerate for a full day in plastic container with lid. Cook for 13 minutes over slow coals. Serve with Sweet corn Bread.
Sweet corn Bread
Shopping List
2 cups biscuit mix
1 cup creamed sweet corn
1 tablespoon sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup whole milk
2 ounces melted butter
Instructions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F/ 200 degrees C and grease a baking pan. Combine lightly the sweet corn, sugar, biscuit mix, egg and milk in a large bowl. Place into the pan and drip with melted butter. Bake 20 minutes.
Chicken Potjie
Shopping List
2kg chicken thighs or breasts, skinless
4 grated onions
5 skinless tomatoes
1 large tin tomato paste
2,5 tablespoons masala
3 bay leaves
half a hand of basil leaves
2 tablespoons crushed garlic
1 table spoon coriander
2 teaspoon fennel
2 large sticks cinnamon
1 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1 litre red wine
6 Large potatoes cut in half
2 red peppers, sliced
1 punnet of mushrooms
Instructions
Fry onions and garlic in your potjie, add spices and simmer for a few minutes. Add tomatoes, past and some red wine and simmer for another 5 minutes. Add chicken, potatoes and more wine and simmer, covered, on a low heat for just under an hour. Ensure the food doesn't cook dry and add wine when necessary. Lastly add mushrooms and peppers with sugar and stand covered for 10 minutes.
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