4 Unique South African Recipes to Try this Heritage Day
This Heritage Day (September 24), why not take a break from the braai and whip up some tasty South African treats? Of course, many of these easy recipes we’ve rounded will make for a brilliant addition to any braai as well. Heritage Day offers the perfect excuse to channel your South African roots with treats that friends and family are guaranteed to enjoy, so let’s get cooking.
Here are our picks for 3 must-try South African recipes this Heritage Day.
For these must-try dishes, chef lecturers and alumni from Capsicum Culinary Studio, one of the largest chef schools in South Africa, share some of their most-loved South African recipes.
Lerato’s Steamed Bread
Springs resident, Lerato Panyane lectures at Capsicum’s Boksburg campus and says she will be celebrating her Basotho culture this Heritage Day with a lamb stew and steamed bread to mop of the juices. Here she shares her recipe for Steamed Bread.
Ingredients
480g cake flour
240g mealie meal
10ml salt
10ml sugar
10g dry yeast
750ml lukewarm water
Method
Place all the dry ingredients into a large bowl. Add the lukewarm water and mix to a soft dough. Remove from the bowl and knead until the dough is smooth and elastic then form into a ball, cover with greased plastic wrap and leave to rest for 10 minutes. Knock the dough down, form again into a ball and place in a greased dish. Knot a cloth around the bowl and place it into a pot of boiling water. Place the lid on the pot and boil gently for one hour. Poke a knife or skewer into the middle to see if it’s cooked, then serve and enjoy with any meat or poultry stew.
Milktart Jaffles
Senior lecturer at Capsicum’s Pretoria campus, Charne Wylie says for her Heritage Day means “Celebrating our one-of-a-kind nation, getting all South Africans together no matter what their race, gender or culture, and enjoying some great food. This year it’s going to be even better as we’ll also be cheering on the Springboks as they take on Argentina.” Here she shares her recipe for Milktart Jaffles.
Ingredients
2 slices of white bread, buttered
milk tart filling of your choice (cooled)
2 eggs
½ cup sugar
500ml milk
2 tbs butter
30ml corn flour
20ml flour
salt
1 tsp vanilla essence
½ cup castor sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
Method
Heat the milk in a saucepan. Mix the rest of the ingredients together (except the castor sugar and cinnamon) and whisk in with the milk. Whisk on medium heat to achieve a thick consistency. Be careful not to burn the mixture. Set aside to cool. Heat the jaffle iron on a gas burner (you can use your gas stove or gas braai for the job!) and spray both sides with non-stick spray. Arrange one slice of bread (with butter on the outside) on a flat surface and spoon on some of the milk tart mix. Cover with the other slice of bread (again, with butter on the outside) and place in the jaffle iron. Close and cut off excess crusts. Cook each side on gas flame to get even grid marks. Mix the castor sugar and cinnamon, then roll jaffle in the mix while still hot.
Cape Malay Koeksisters
Chef Marlon De Freitas from the Cape Town campus says: “Heritage Day celebrates our culture as a rainbow nation, and it’s important that we embrace our history. Food plays a huge role in this as it showcases the many different cultures we have in South Africa which in turn illustrates how so many families have a unique way of preparing and cooking dishes. Ultimately though it still all comes down to the tastes and flavours we know and love. De Freitas shares two classic Cape dishes below.
Ingredients
4 cups cake flour
2 cups self-raising flour
⅓ cup sugar
2.5ml salt
10g instant yeast
10ml fine cardamom
10ml fine ginger
10ml fine cinnamon
10ml aniseed
1 large egg
15ml oil
30ml butter
1½ cups hot water
1½ cups milk
Oil for deep frying
Desiccated coconut for sprinkling
For the Syrup
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
1 cinnamon stick
2 cardamon pods
Method
Mix flour with spices, sugar, yeast and salt. Melt butter in hot water and mix milk. To the dry ingredients add the egg, oil and milk-water mixture. Mix thoroughly to form a soft smooth dough. Leave to rise for about 1-2 hours in a warm place. Once risen, moisten hands with oil and roll dough into a sausage shape and cut into 2cm slices. Set aside to rise again.
Lightly stretch slices to form an oval shape and deep fry in medium hot oil until golden brown. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on a paper towel.
For the syrup – place all the ingredients in a large saucepan and bring to a slow boil, stirring to ensure sugar does not burn. Stir until the sugar syrup becomes slightly sticky. Boil the koeksisters in it for 1-2 minutes, then remove with a slotted spoon. Sprinkle with desiccated coconut and serve hot.
Cape Bobotie
Ingredients
1 large onion, finely diced
2 cloves garlic minced
⅔ cup raisins
3 tablespoons apricot jam
2 slices white bread, crusts removed
½ cup full cream milk
2 tablespoons flaked almonds
2 tablespoons cooking oil
1 tablespoon turmeric
1 teaspoon ground cumin
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 teaspoons curry powder mild
1 teaspoon dried oregano and basil mix
pepper to taste
salt to taste
For the egg custard
3 eggs
½ teaspoon turmeric
½ teaspoon ground cumin
salt to taste
Method
Preheat the oven to 185°C. Take 2 bowls. Soak the crustless slices of bread in the milk. Soak the raisins in water. Set both bowls aside. In a large pan or skillet, heat cooking oil and sauté the onions over medium heat for 5 minutes until translucent. Add all the spices, minced garlic and ground beef while stirring regularly to break down into small grains. Cook for about 10 minutes until brown. Add the apricot jam and mix well. Meanwhile, squeeze the milk out of the bread with your hands, but preserve the milk in a separate bowl to use for the egg topping. Drain the water from the raisins. Add the raisins, bread and almond flakes to the mixture and stir well together. Cook for another 5 minutes on medium heat. Transfer the mixture to an oven dish. Use the back of a spoon to press the beef mixture down and flatten well to make the top smooth. The egg topping needs to stay on top and not disappear into the meat. In a mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, turmeric, cumin, salt and the milk that was used to soak the bread. Pour the egg mixture over the meat, arrange the bay leaves on top. Put in the oven and bake for 20 minutes until the egg custard is set.
Serve immediately with yellow rice and tomato salad.