South African Recipes from Gambit2 (DalNet).
*Warning there is quite a bit behind these cuts*
*Beef Curry*
2 Tsp oil 2 large onions, sliced
few cardamom pods, bruised few pieces of cinnamon sticks
1kg boneless beef, cubed salt
1 large tomato, chopped 15ml (1Tsp) garlic & ginger paste
15ml (1Tsp) ground coriander 15ml (1Tsp) ground cumin
15ml (1Tsp) chilli powder 15ml (1Tsp) turmeric
water 6 medium potatoes, peeled & quartered
Heat oil, add onion, cinnamon and cardamom and braise until the onion starts to Soften. Add the meat, salt to taste and garlic and ginger paste. Cook mixture slowly for a few minutes till the meat is slightly browned.
Add the tomato and simmer slowly, being careful not to burn. When the tomato has cooked away, add the coriander, cumin, chili powder and turmeric, together with a little water. Add the potatoes and simmer until the meat is very tender, adding extra water if necessary.
Serve with rice and sambals.
Or for something different, serve as a Bunny Chow.
*Bunny Chow*
Take a loaf of bread, cut in half and cut the inside out, leaving a crust about 1 inch thick. Fill with curry and use the cut out bread for dipping in the curry.
*Bobotie*
Describe a bobotie to a visitor from afar and you’ll receive a puzzled frown or even a wrinkled nose in return. Well it does sound odd: “A pungent curried lamb or beef mince with dried fruit and nuts, topped with a baked custard spiked with lemon or bay leaves”. Here at the Cape we relish this as one of our best indigenous dishes, an excellent blend of oriental and occidental ingredients and techniques.
Once savoured, most ask for more. (C. Louis Leipoldt – Afrikaans poet and gourmet)
1 kg (2lbs) lean beef mince 30ml (2T) oil
3 medium onions (chopped) 2 cloves garlic (crushed)
2 bay or lemon leaves 10ml (2t) mild curry powder
5ml (1t) turmeric 125ml (1/2 cup) vinegar
1 egg beaten 30ml (2T) brown sugar
125ml (1/2 cup) flaked almonds 125ml (1/2cup) seedless raisins
60ml (4T) apricot jam salt and pepper to taste
1 thick slice of bread soaked in 500ml (2 cups) milk
[If you have garam masala available to you, then also add 1 good teaspoon of it, or to taste.]
Heat oil in a large saucepan, add mince and stir till browned and crumbled. Remove meat.
To the oil add onion, garlic, bay/lemon leaves, curry powder and turmeric and saute, stirring occasionally until onion is soft. Return meat to saucepan. Stir in vinegar, beaten egg and brown sugar and simmer for 10 minutes. Squeeze milk from bread, retaining milk. Add bread, almonds, raisins and jam, and season to taste. Leave to cool slightly. Grease a large oven proof dish and place meat mixture in it, leveling the top. Beat 3 eggs with the milk, add salt and pepper to taste and pour over the meat. Stick a couple of lemon or bay leaves into the meat and bake at 180C (350F) for about 20 – 30 minutes or until topping has set and is slightly browned. Serve with Funeral rice.
*Funeral Rice*
A traditional way of cooking rice which was served at funerals.
250ml (1cup) rice 125ml (1/2cup) seedless raisins
5ml (1t) turmeric 2.5ml (1/2t) salt
Put rice, raisins, turmeric and salt in saucepan, add 600ml (1pint) water and boil till rice is cooked. If necessary add more water.
Strain rice.
*Pumpkin Fritters*
750ml (3 cups) cooked mashed pumpkin cake flour
5ml baking powder pinch of salt
1 egg beaten
Combine pumpkin with sufficient flour, salt and baking powder to form a not too soft batter. Add egg and mix well. Fry in hot oil till brown on both sides. Drain on paper towel.
Serve warm as a vegetable with food, or sprinkle with cinnamon sugar as a desert.
*Sweetcorn Fritters*
1 can Sweetcorn (cream style) 1 cup cake flour
1 teaspoon baking powder 2 eggs (beaten)
pinch of salt
Sift flour, baking powder and salt. Make a well in flour and drop in beaten eggs. Mix to a batter. Add sweetcorn and mix well. Fry in oil until cooked and brown on both sides.
A cup of cooked rice can also be added as a variation.
*Pork Meatloaf*
500g minced pork meat 250g bacon (minced or finely chopped)
200g (250ml) cooked rice 180g (375ml) dried breadcrumbs
1 onion (finely chopped) 2 eggs (beaten)
5ml salt 2ml dried sage
1 pinch pepper
Preheat oven to 180C (350F). Grease a bread tin of 21 x 11 x6.5 cm.
Mix all the ingredients together and press into bread pan.
Bake for one hour.
*Instant Chutney*
4 large onions 1 tin peach jam
375 g dates 250 ml vinegar
7 ml Tabasco Sauce 7 ml salt
Mince the onion, dates and peach jam together. Add the vinegar, Tabasco sauce and salt and mix well. Place in sterilized jars and seal.
*Uncooked Chutney*
10 red chillies 2 onions
4 cloves garlic 1 tin (900g) apricot jam
125 ml Worcester Sauce 50 ml vinegar
12.5 ml salt
Mince the chillies, onion and garlic together. Add rest of ingredients and mix well. Place in sterilized jars and seal.
*Ryskluitjies (Rice Dumplings)*
150g (190ml) raw rice 120g (250ml) cake flour
10 ml baking powder 5 ml salt
2 eggs 40g (50ml) melted butter
Cook rice till soft and drain. Add rest of ingredients and mix well. Spoon desert spoons full into a pot half filled with boiling water to which a pinch of salt has been added. Cook slowly for 10 minutes with the lid on.
Carefully remove dumplings with a slotted spoon and place in a serving dish. Pour extra melted butter over, sprinkle with cinnamon sugar and serve hot.
*Curried Green Beans*
oil 500g onions, thinly sliced & slices halved
salt 500 ml (2cups) water
150 ml white vinegar 1 kg frozen cut green beans
250 ml (1 cup) sugar 10 – 15 ml curry powder
30 ml cornflour
Heat a little oil, add onions and cook gently, stirring occasionally, until the onions start to soften, but not colour. Add a little salt and the water. Bring to the boil and add green beans. Return to the boil and cook for 5 minutes (if using fresh green beans cook a little longer). Scoop out onions and beans with a slotted spoon. Measure out 250 ml (1 cup) of the bean liquid and reserve. Discard the remainder. Return reserved liquid to the pot, add the vinegar and sugar and bring to the boil, stirring until the sugar has dissolved. Combine curry powder and cornflour to a paste with a little water and stir in.
Cook for 2 -3 minutes until the curry tastes cooked and the mixture thickens. Return the vegetables to the pot and cook for 1 – 2 minutes. Bottle hot, cool and store in the fridge.
Serve the beans at room temperature.
*Saucy Onions*
24 pickling onions, unpeeled 2 eggs
30 ml (2T) sugar 30 ml (2T) white wine vinegar
30 ml (2T) water
Cook onions in simmering salted water until just tender and drain. Cool and peel. Whisk eggs with sugar in top of a double boiler. When sugar has dissolved, continue whisking while adding vinegar and water. When sauce thickens, remove from
heat and pour over onions. Sauce is best made just ahead of serving, but onions and sauce can also be bottled and stored in the fridge.
The sauce is also good over crisp-tender cooked green beans.
*Saucy Beans*
250 ml (1 cup) dried sugar beans 5 ml (1t) salt
30 ml (2T) brown sugar 60 ml (4T) wine vinegar
30 ml (2T) butter or margarine
Soak beans overnight. Drain, cover with cold water, add salt and simmer until tender. Drain. Add remaining ingredients to saucepan, stir until sugar has dissolved, return beans and simmer about 10 minutes. Serve at room temperature. Can also be bottled and stored in the fridge.
*Vegetarian Biriyani*
375ml (1½ cups) brown rice 125ml (½ cup) brown lentils
30ml (2T) oil 4 large onions (thinly sliced)
2 sticks cinnamon 2ml (½t) ground cloves
5 whole allspice 5 cardamom pods (crushed)
5ml (1t) ground coriander 2ml (½t) ground cumin
ground black pepper 4 hardboiled eggs (shelled & sliced)
butter 1 vegetable stock cube or 5ml (1t) salt
500ml (2cups) boiling water chopped fresh coriander leaves (dhania)
Parboil rice in 500ml (2cups) water until water is absorbed.
Pick over lentils carefully, wash and drain, cover generously with cold water, bring to the boil and cook until water is absorbed. Heat oil, add onion and spices with a generous grinding of black pepper and saute, stirring occasionally until onions are fairly soft. Combine onion mixture with lentils.
In a large heavy saucepan or dutch oven, layer one third of onion and lentil mixture, top with one third of sliced eggs and one third of the rice. Dot rice generously with little cubes of butter. Repeat layers twice more, ending with remaining rice. Dot top of rice with more butter. Crumble stock cube into boiling water and pour over rice.
Cover tightly, bring to a simmer and cook until liquid is absorbed.
Garnish with chopped coriander leaves and serve with sambals and a fruity chutney or wrap in Roti.
*Cucumber Sambal*
1 cucumber (peeled & grated) salt
crushed garlic 1 green chili (seeded and finely chopped)
white vinegar
Sprinkle the cucumber with salt and leave a while. Squeeze out the moisture, stir in the garlic and chili and moisten with a little vinegar.
*Carrot Sambal*
4-5 carrots (coarsely grated) 5ml (1t) salt
1 small onion (finely grated) 1 clove garlic (crushed)
lemon juice or white vinegar 1 green chili (seeded and finely chopped)
sugar
Combine carrots and salt and leave a while, then squeeze dry. Add onion, garlic and chili and enough lemon juice or vinegar to moisten. Add sugar to taste.
*Vinegar Pudding*
Sauce
2 cups water 1½ cup sugar
3/4(0.75) cup vinegar
Cook the water, sugar and vinegar in a pot for 5 minutes. Allow to cool.
Pudding
2 tablespoons butter or margarine ½ cup sugar
2 eggs (beaten) 1½ cups self raising flour
2 tablespoons smooth apricot jam ½ teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons mixed spice (or 1 teaspoon ground ginger & ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon)
Beat the butter and sugar together until creamy and then beat in the eggs. Sift in the self raising flour, spice and salt and mix. Stir in the apricot jam and mix well. Pour the sauce in an oven proof dish and and dish the pudding batter in it.
Bake for 35-40 minutes at 180°. The pudding should be golden brown.
Serve hot with the sauce and hot custard.
*Roti*
1kg Flour 1tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Salt 250 g Butter
Water
Mix flour, baking powder and salt. Add enough water to make a soft dough that is easy to roll out.
Sprinkle flour on a working surface and roll dough out thinly.
Spread butter over the right hand two thirds of the dough.
Fold the unbuttered left hand third of the dough over the middle third.
Now fold the right hand third over so that you have tree layers of dough with butter in between. Fold top part to the middle and the bottom part to the middle.
Turn the dough over so that the smooth side is on top and again roll out thinly. Spread with butter and repeat process until all the butter is used up.
Cover the dough with a cloth and let it stand in a cool place for a couple of hours.
Roll the dough out thinly and cut out pancakes the size of the pan you would use to fry them. (At this stage they can be frozen)
Brush the roti on both sides with ghee* and fry on both sides. While frying it must continuously be brushed with ghee, otherwise it will become crisp and it must remain soft.
Place roti on a plate and keep warm. (Hint: Place plate on top of a pot of boiling water with the lid covering the roti)
To serve, place in a plate and dish curry on top. Roll up and eat, preferably by hand, or with a knife and fork.
*Ghee*
Melt butter in a pot, let it cook and regularly dish the froth off. Pour the reduced butter through a muslin cloth.
