Cape Malay and other stories

Cape Malay and other local South African dishes 

Cape Towns Cape Malay people are mostly of Javanese decent.

The Dutch East India Company transported them as slaves to the cape colony, upon arrival at the cape they spoke mainly Malay, hence the name Cape Malay.

The founders of this community not only were the first to bring Islam to South Africa but also grounded the community's culture and traditions this impact is still felt to this day.

Bokaap the colourful Cape Malay district in Cape Town

Adaptations of traditional foods evolved into bredie, bobotie, sosaties and koeksisters, spicy curries, sambals & pickled fish are staples in many modern South African homes these dishes are characterized by the use of spices such as nutmeg, allspice, chili peppers and turmeric. This cross over style owes much to the traditional cookery that the slaves brought with them from Bengal, Java and other Dutch East Indian ports of call as it does to the European styles of cookery imported by settlers. Many other dishes came to the South Africa with the thousands of Indian laborers brought to South Africa in the nineteenth century. Indians bought with them their culture and introduced many dishes including sweets, chutneys, fried snacks such as samosa and other savory foods. 

For many South Africans meat is the center of any meal, the common Southern African barbecue or “braai” crosses both cultural and social norms. The “braai” normally consists of grilled meat, vegetables, salads and maize in different forms, other popular foods in modern South Africa are chicken, biltong, limes, garlic, ginger, chili, tomatoes, onions, spices, pumpkin, sweet corn, rice and beans, A typical meal in a South African family household could be fluffy maize meal porridge called "pap," often served with stewed meat or gravy.

Bobotie

The name comes from the Indonesian word 'Bobotok'. It is a light textured curry flavoured meat loaf smothered in a golden savoury egg topping.

Serve with flavoured rice, sambals, chutney or blatjang and salad.

Ingredients

Stale white bread (remove the crusts), chopped onion, ground cloves, crushed garlic, curry powder, turmeric, beef mince, lemon juice, raisins

Topping

Egg (lightly beaten), milk

Bay or lemon leaves for garnishing

Method

Preheat oven to 160ºC. Soak bread in water for 10 minutes, squeeze out excess water and crumble. In a large frying pan, heat oil and braise onion until golden (about 7 minutes). Add the ground cloves, garlic, salt, curry powder and turmeric and simmer for 5 minutes.

Break the 2 eggs into a large bowl and beat lightly. Mix in the mince. Add the onion mixture from the frying pan to the mince as well as the hot water, lemon juice, crumbled bread and sugar, mix to combine well. Spoon the mixture into a well-greased oven proof dish and bake for 40 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from the oven.

Topping:

Combine the egg and beat well. Pour over the bobotie. Arrange bay leaves or lemon leaves as garnish. Return to oven and bake at 180ºC for 5-10 minutes or until topping is set.

Regarding the topping, the thicker the topping mixture the better. So instead of milk mixed with eggs, buttermilk and/or yogurt with eggs can be used as an alternative

Boeber

Boeber is a traditional Cape Malay sweet milk drink and is served at the end of a Muslim meal, feast or celebration, it is made with vermicelli, sago, sugar, and flavored with cardamom, stick cinnamon or rose water.

Simmer until the sago and vermicelli are cooked the boeber is served in small cups.

Boeber

Pickled fish

Hake, couta or other firm fleshed white fish are suitable for pickling,

Pickle – vinegar, sugar lemon leaves “shredded” bay leaves, turmeric, sliced onions, cook up the pickle mix and let stand until cold, pan fry fish with or with out coating, pour over the pickle and let stand over night.

Pickled fish 

Biltong

Dried meat; biltong is made from beef or antelope meat.

Boerewors

Traditional farmers sausages, 100% beef heavily flavored with coriander seeds, and other spices including cloves, nutmeg black pepper, all spice, thyme and a shot of red wine vinegar, boerewors are available in different flavors and sizes, a thick Boerewors should be 23-30 mm thick. A long boerewors is grilled in a grill clamp and cut into lengths when served.

Boerewors is an iconic part of the South African Braai.

Borewors from the Braai

KameelDorig “camel thorn acacia tree wood” is excellent wood for a Braai or BBq, the camel thorn wood gives a very hot coal that burns for a long time.

Chakalaka

A spicy South African vegetable relish.

Chutney is a thick sweet & savory accompaniment, fruit is often one of the main ingredients, chutney leans more to the Indian influence 

Blatjang is an apricot and raisins sauce it is often served with samosas, blatjang is a little more Asian with a Javanese heritage, blatjang is an iconic Cape Malay accompaniment.

Monkey Gland

Koeksisters

Koeksisters come in two forms and are a sweet delicacy. Afrikaans koeksisters are twisted pastries, deep-fried and heavily sweetened.

Koeksisters found at the Cape are sweet and cinnamon flavored they’re shaped like large eggs and deep-fried, like donuts then they’re then dipped in simmering sugar syrup “50-50” lifted out, drained and lightly dusted with desiccated coconut

Cape Koeksisters 

Curry puffs with dips and sauces

Deep fried and served with chutney, monkey gland, beetroot chutney. Exotic tastes own habanero sauce or jalapeno pickle

Dips and sauces

Exotic taste’s own mango pickle, vegetable pickle, lemon pickle or chili pickle 

Malva pudding

A sweet spongy apricot flavored pudding reputedly of Dutch origin for me it’s a steamed jam sponge with custard of English decent.

Malva pudding is a quiet frequent dessert on restaurant menus along with toffee and caramel puddings.

Mielie meal

“ground corn flour from white maize” one of the staple foods, often used in baking but predominantly cooked into pap “a consistency close to polenta” , phutu “a dry crumble”, slap pap “ soft porridge” or gruel.

Miellepap

White corn “pap” add white corn flour to boiling water stir in with a fork over low temperature, Add the polenta meal to water simmer for 15 minutes allow to stand, keep hot, the pap should be a thick crumbly polenta consistency, a dry texture able to hold a sauce.

Pap- traditionally eaten with your hands at a braai

Pap can also be made using stock instead or water, it can be served with a sauce or gravy such as tomato and onion gravy or Chakalaka. Pap is often served at a braai with a savory sauce or as starch accompaniment to a meat stew.

Samosa, deep fried savory filled Indian pastries

Samosa filling is as varied as your imagination, remembering of course not to cross to many cultural food boundaries. Some South African options could be bobotie, curried potato and peas, served with chutney, monkey gland, beetroot chutney.

The Snook samosas are served with “Exotic tastes” own habanero sauce or jalapeno pickle

These are filled with Smoked snook “a local fish, known internationally as "couta” 

Smoked snook cleaned and deboned, mixed with diced feta cheese and watercress rolled in samosa dough, deep fried, not only simple and fantastic, but with a flair for new combinations.

Potiekos

Potiekos a traditional Afrikaans stew made with meat and vegetables and cooked over coals in a three legged cast iron pot, the stew takes it’s name from the cast iron pot.

Grilled fish

Even if South Africa may be considered a meat country it’s surrounded by water teaming with fish such as the firm white-fleshed, kingklip, Patagonian tooth fish, cob, cabeljou, hake.

Often these fish are grilled as a alternative dish on

the braai, baste with a mix of browned butter, garlic and apricot jam, to give it an authentic flavor, grill as normal and serve with lemon and mashed sweet potatoes.

Isaks grilled fish steaks 

Sweet potatoes
Sweet potatoes “white” cut into chunks, are added to a caramelized sugar, simmer under a lid with zest of lemon and grated ginger, mash, season.

sweet potato mash fantastic served with grilled fish.

Sosaties

BBq skewers for the braai, meat poultry seafood vegetables, prepare as you prefer marinate a hour before cooking

Sosaties marinade, prepare a stone fruit based sweet and sour marinade cook and mix allow to cool before using.

Tip for a better result marinate the pre cut sosaties ingredients before preparing the skewers

Baste with extra marinade during the grilling process.

Vetkoek

“fat cakes” deep-fried dough balls, Make them in portion roll size.

They can be eaten just as they are or with butter and jam or cheese they can also be filled with savoury or curried mince, or anything else you think would taste wonderful.

fat cakes great with a braai

Roosterbrood

Grilled bread, cut into portions and grill the portioned dough directly on the grill grate, turn as needed both sides and edges

great straight from the grill

Beef Tripe Stew with White Beans and Tomato Sauce, serve with Pap

traditional Tripe Stew

Beef Tripe – 500g                                                        Turmeric powder – 20g

Onion – 100g                                                               Garlic – 20g

Olive oil – 150ml                                                          Carrot – 100g

Celery – 80g                                                                                       Leek – 60g

Black pepper – 10g                                                     Bay leaf – 1g

Thyme – 5g                                                                  Salt – 10g

Garam masala – 10g

White bean and tomato sauce – 250g

Clean the tripe with salt and turmeric. Add to cold water and bring to boil
Remove boiling water and wash again in cold water
Fry the tripe in a pan with olive oil until golden, then add the onion and garlic and fry for 8 minutes
When the onion is brown, add the carrot, celery, leek and herbs
Add the remaining ingredients and slow braise the tripe for 1 ½  to 2 hours

White Bean Sauce

White beans – 250g                                                    Onions – 200g

Garlic – 40g                                                                  Tomato – 20g

Tomato paste – 20g                                                     Rosemary – 8g

Thyme – 10g                                                                Parsley – 15g

Oregano – 3g

Salt & Pepper – 2g                                                       Olive oil – 100ml

Pinch of sugar                                                              Water – 100ml

Bring the beans to boil and cook for 45 minutes. Do NOT discard the liquid
Fry the onion, add garlic, thyme, rosemary and cook for 4-5 minutes
Add sugar, tomato paste and fresh tomatoes cook for 10 – 15 minutes
Add the cooked beans with the liquid with oregano, parsley, salt and pepper
Cook for 30 – 40 minutes until the beans are soft

Once the tripe is cooked, mix with the white bean and tomato sauce.

Exotic Tastes own butter chicken

This convenience product a simple to use cook in sauce is authentic tasting and shows the depth of the cross-cuisine and culture that is a daily part of the South African kitchen.

1kg sliced chicken, breast or leg

2 onions sliced

200ml cream

1*200ml packet “exotic taste” butter chicken – cook in sauce

Sauté onions and sliced chicken, add cook in butter chicken sauce simmer until the chicken is cooked through and the sauce has reached the right consistency. Serve with basmati rice flavored with turmeric and sultanas, atjar garnish with coriander.

Serve the butter chicken with rot, naan or pratha bread