Recipes and styling by Thulisa Martins. Assisted by Nomvuselelo Mncube. Photographs by Dylan Swart. Article from the September 2014 issue of Food and Home Entertaining Magazine.
Paying tribute to our Rainbow nation’s diversity, we asked locals to share memories of their traditional food cultures. This is our modern take on dishes inspired by the wonderfully rich heritage of SA
Afrikaans – Jani Venter and her sister, Chrisna Rex. Our ouma was quite the baker and used to get huge orders for her koeksisters and melktert for all the church bazaars. She also won a bunch of awards for her fruit preserves. My sister Chrisna recalls helping her, every afternoon after school, to peel the fruit for her preserves – this was when her incredible wisdom came out in the form of funny sayings and quotes. Our ouma was very strict about how koeksisters should be made.
Koeksister, quince and melktert crumble
Serves 6 EASY 1 hr
The flavour combinations
Melktert Custard
500ml (2 cups) full-cream milk
80ml (% cup) fresh cream
1 vanilla pod
1 cinnamon stick
3 eggs
1 egg yolk
15ml (1 tbsp) cornflour
100g castor sugar
Quince
2 medium quinces, peeled and thinly sliced
juice of 1 lemon
20g butter
45ml (3 tbsp) brown sugar
80ml (1/3 cup) water
5ml (1 tsp) allspice
5ml (1 tsp) ground cinnamon
5ml (1 tsp) ground cloves
Crumble
45ml (3 tbsp) cake flour
45ml (3 tbsp) rolled oats
How to do it
1. For the melktert custard, preheat the oven to 160°C. Add the milk, cream, vanilla pod and cinnamon stick to a large saucepan over low heat and bring to a simmer slowly. As the milk begins to bubble and rise in the pan, remove from heat, cover and set aside to infuse, 15 minutes. Strain the milk into a bowl and discard the vanilla pod and cinnamon stick.
2. Lightly whisk the eggs and egg yolk together in a mixing bowl. Add the cornflour, castor sugar and a third of the warm, strained milk. Beat together, using a wire whisk, until quite smooth. Pour the mixture back into the saucepan and add the remaining milk. Cook over a low heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture is thick and smooth – it should have the consistency of a thick, white sauce. Don’t let it boil.
3. Pour the melktert custard into 6 small potjies (three-legged pots) or ramekins and bake in the oven, 20 minutes. The custard should be slightly set, yet still very wobbly. Leave the oven on.
4. For the quince, place the quince slices, lemon juice, butter and sugar in a saucepan over medium heat. Allow the butter to melt and the sugar to caramelise slightly. Add the water and spices and stir thoroughly, making sure the quince slices are coated evenly in the spices. Bring to a boil and allow the liquid to reduce to a thick syrup, 5-10 minutes. The quince slices should be soft but still hold their shape. Remove from heat.
5. For the crumble, mix together all the ingredients in a bowl.
6. To assemble, layer the quince slices on top of the custard mixture and top with the koeksister crumble. Transfer to the oven and cook until the crumble turns golden, 5-10 minutes. Serve hot or cold.
Sesotho – Mmasibidi Setaka. My granny used to cook pap and sepaile (spinach), pap and mohodu (tripe), and samp and beans. The aroma of the food was amazing and the mohodu would be soft and tender. She also used to make dumplings and we would eat them with bean soup or mutton or beef stew.
Spicy tribe with maize-meal dumplings
Serves 6 EASY 2 hrs 15 mins + 1 hr 30 mins, to rest
The flavour combinations
Dumplings
310g bread flour, sifted + extra, if needed
10g dried yeast
50ml brown sugar
250g maize meal
100ml boiling water
150ml warm water
2 eggs, lightly beaten
100g butter, softened
Tripe
2 onions, finely chopped
45ml (3 tbsp) olive or avocado oil
2 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
500g tripe, cut into chunks
30ml (2 tbsp) curry powder
1L beef stock
3 red chillies, sliced
3 spring onions, thinly sliced
How to do it
1. For the dumplings, mix together the flour, yeast and sugar. Mix the maize meal with the boiling water and let it soak for 5 minutes. Add the maize meal, warm water and eggs to the flour mixture and mix into a soft dough, adding a little more flour, if needed. Knead, about 10 minutes, cover and set aside until double in size, 1 hour. Knead the butter into the dough, shape the dough into small balls and set aside to rest. 20 minutes.
2. For the tripe, fry the onions in a little oil in a pot over medium heat, 10 minutes. Add the garlic and fry for a further 5 minutes. Add the tripe and curry powder and cook, while stirring, 10 minutes. Add the stock, cover and simmer until tender, 1 hour, adding some water if needed.
3. While the tripe is cooking, the dumplings can be added. Place the risen balls on top of the tripe and steam until cooked through, 10 – 15 minutes.
4. Remove the tripe from the sauce, add the chillies and reduce the sauce until thick, 35 minutes. Place the tripe back in the pot and stir in the spring onions. Serve with the dumplings.
IsiXhosa – Bongiwe Tshibaya. My great grandmother was very traditional and used to cook isidudu (mealie-meal porridge), isonka sombhako (baked bread), samp and beans, as well as umvubo, which is crumbly mealie pap. Amarhewu (a drink made with maize meal) was also a staple. I remember granny telling me about imvemve, or aloe sap, which was believed to gather energy when young girls went to fetch water from the river. Ithsongwe is also a forgotten flavour – dry-roasted com cobs ground into a fine powder. People would eat this when they commuted by foot to distant relatives.
Aloe cocktail jellies with a twist of champagne and ithsongwe soil
Makes 6 desserts EASY 30 mins
The flavour combinations
10g gelatine leaves
500ml (2 cups) aloe juice
500ml (2 cups) champagne, MCC or good sparkling wine
100ml boiled water
200g blueberries, pulped
3 drops blue food colouring
Ithsongwe Soil
2 corn on the cob/mealies, kernels removed
edible aloe flowers, to garnish
How to do it
1. Soak the gelatine leaves in the aloe juice and champagne, MCC or sparkling wine, 5 minutes. Remove the leaves and squeeze out any excess liquid. Place the just-boiled water in a bowl and stir in the soaked gelatine leaves until melted. Allow to cool slightly, 5 minutes, before mixing in the blueberries, aloe juice and champagne. Add the food colouring to the mixture and pour into tall cocktail glasses. Cover with cling film and refrigerate until set, about 2 hours.
2. For the ithsongwe soil, dry roast the corn kernels in a pan over low to medium heat until cooked and golden brown, 15 minutes. Blitz the roasted corn in a blender until it reaches a fine sandy texture. Serve on the set jellies and garnish with aloe flowers.
English – Taryn Das Neves. My gran on my mother’s side was a Taylor and my gran on my dad’s side was a Campbell, so British food has always been a part of my heritage. My gran used to make the best scones – especially cheese scones, which she would always serve warm with soft butter and grated cheese.
Raspberry, hazelnut and chocolate scones
Makes 12 large scones EASY 40 mins
The flavour combinations
500g cake flour, sifted + extra, to dust
80g castor sugar
30ml (2 tbsp) baking powder
pinch salt
120g butter, cubed
2 eggs
350ml buttermilk
100g hazelnuts, roughly chopped
120g fresh raspberries
80g dark chocolate, chopped
50g white chocolate, chopped
1 beaten egg, to brush
50g melted white chocolate, to garnish
handful fresh raspberries, to garnish
150ml freshly whipped cream, to serve
How to do it
1. Preheat the oven to 180°C. Sift the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt into a large bowl then rub in the butter, using your fingers, until the mixture resembles fine crumbs. In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs and buttermilk together and add to the flour mixture. Do not overmix.
2. Dust a work surface with flour. Cut the scone mixture in half and spread the two halves over the surface. Roll into two 20cm rounds. Top the one half with hazelnuts, raspberries, dark chocolate and white chocolate, leaving a small border. Brush the edges with egg, place one round on top of the other and seal by pressing down the edges. Score diamond shapes with a pizza cutter or sharp knife on the top layer and brush with egg. Place on a baking tray and bake until golden brown, about 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and place on a cooling rack.
3. Use a cookie cutter or sharp knife to cut triangles, drizzle the scones with melted white chocolate and scatter over raspberries. Serve with whipped cream.
Cook’s Tip
If you have a nut allergy, simply omit the hazelnuts from this recipe.
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