African recipes
Tripe and Tomato Sauce
1.5 tripe, pre-cooked
and cubed
5ml (1tsp) salt
15ml (1T) lemon juice
Tomato sauce:
60ml (4T) oil
1 onion, finely chopped
2 carrots, diced
2 stalks celery, finely
chopped
1 x 115g can tomato paste
1 x 410g can chopped
tomatoes
250ml (1 cup) dry wine
30ml (2T) sugar
Wash and rinse tripe
thoroughly. Place in cold water, add salt and
lemon juice. Bring to
boil and simmer gently for 2 hours or until tender.
To make sauce:
Heat oil and add remaining
ingredients and simmer for
15 minutes. Drain tripe
and add to tomato sauce.
Cook for a further 20
minutes.
Serve hot with samp or
maize rice.
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Ulusu Lwenkomo (Stewed
Ox Tripe)
Ingredients
1 kg stomach (ulusu)
1 kg intestines (amathumbu)
salt and pepper to taste
Clean stomach and intestines
thoroughly and rinse under cold running water. Place in saucepan and cover with salted water. Bring to the boil and simmer
gently for three hours or until very soft.
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Imbuya Omelette
3 large eggs
125ml (1/2) cooked imbuya
(morogo) or spinach
125ml (1/2 cup cooked
mielies (off cob) or canned whole kernel corn
4 chopped mint leaves
Salt and pepper to taste
30ml (2T) atchar
45ml (3T) chopped spring
onions
Beat eggs together with
imbuya, half the mielies, chopped mint, salt
and pepper. Heat oil
in non-stick frying pan. Pour egg mixture into pan and slide from side to side until pan is completely covered. Cook until
bottom is set, lifting sides so that raw mixture runs nderneath.
Cook until base is brown,
then remove from pan by carefully sliding
omlette onto warm serving
dish.
While hot, spoon remaining
mielies, atchar and spring onions onto
half of omelette and
fold other filling.
Serve immediately (Serves
4)
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Umngqusho (Samp and Beans)
1 kg samp and bean mix,
rinsed and soaked overnight
salt
Onion Mixture
2 onions, sliced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
(optional)
2 ml whole cloves
5 ml allspice
oil
2 ml nutmeg
black pepper
50 ml butter (optional)
Pour off the water after
soaking and place the samp and bean mix in a large saucepan. Cover with water and simmer slowly until the samp and beans are
nearly soft and most of the water has evaporated. (Add extra water if necessary.) Season well with salt. In the meantime sauté
the onion and garlic in a little oil until soft. Add the cloves and allspice. Add the onion mixture and continue to simmer
until the samp mix is completely soft.
Season with nutmeg and
black pepper and extra salt to taste if necessary. Stir in the butter. Serve hot with meat and gravy if desired. Serves 10-12.
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Isophu (Bean and Corn
Soup)
500 ml sugar beans
500 ml fresh corn off
the cob
10 ml salt
1 l water
Bring water to the boil,
add sugar beans, corn and salt. Reduce heat and simmer gently for two hours, adding water when necessary. Cook until beans
and corn are soft.
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African Spinach
2 bunches spinach
250 ml water
2 ml salt
50 g peanuts
Clean the spinach in
cold water. Remove the stalks and discard. Chop the leaves. Bring the water to the boil in a saucepan, add the chopped leaves.
Cook until wilted.
Meanwhile roast the peanuts
in a frying pan then add the salt.
Add the peanuts to the
cooked spinach and simmer until well blended. Serve with mealie pap.
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Beef Stew
30 ml oil
500 g beef, cubed
6 tomatoes, grated
250 ml coconut, milk
chopped dhania
chillies, chopped
salt to taste
Heat oil and brown the
beef. Add remaining ingredients and simmer gently until meat is cooked - about 45 minutes.
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Inyama Yenkukhu (Chicken
Casserole)
1 whole chicken (umleqwa
- chicken slaughtered at home)
60 ml oil
4 medium onions, chopped
2 large tomatoes, chopped
salt and pepper to taste
75 ml flour
Cut chicken into pieces.
Heat oil and fry until golden brown. Add onions and cook for five minutes. Add tomatoes and seasoning, simmer gently for 45
minutes or until cooked through. Thicken casserole with flour mixed with a bit of cold water.
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Inyama Yegusha (Mutton
Casserole)
60 ml oil
1 kg mutton, cut into
pieces
4 medium onions, chopped
500 g carrots, sliced
2 large tomatoes, chopped
salt and pepper to taste
125 ml flour
Heat oil and brown meat.
Add onions, carrots, tomatoes and seasoning. Simmer gently for 45 minutes or until meat is cooked and tender. Mix flour with
a little water to form a paste and add to casserole. Continue to simmer until thick.
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Masonja
While on holiday recently
I came across the following recipe. The main ingredient is Mopane worms, a delicacy amongst the some of the African tribes.
Ingredients
2 kilograms dried mopane
worms
1 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons cooking
oil
1 onion
1 tomato, peeled and
cut in small pieces
1 tablespoon peri-peri
sauce
Soak the dried mopaneworms
in warm salt water till swollen. Drain.
Now boil the worms in
a little fresh water and drain again. Now fry the worms in some oil in a saucepan. Add the onion, tomato and peri-peri sauce
and simmer till the tomato is cooked. The dish is especially tasty if served with hot mealie porridge.
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Ujeqe lwe mpama (Steamed
Dumplings)
125ml (1/2 cup) mealie
meal
500ml (2 cups) flour
125ml (1/2 cup) sugar
pinch salt
10ml (2t) baking powder
450ml cold water
Steam mealie meal in
a little water and stir with a fork till it forms crumbs.
Mix all ingredients together
to form a firm but pliable dough.
Use a 3 legged cast iron
pot placed in a hole on a coal stove, or a thick bottomed aluminium pot with water to cover only the bottom of the pot. Put
a plate upside down on the bottom of the pot, or criss-cross the bottom with strips of wood.
Bring the water to boil.
Take enough dough to fill your hand and paste it against the side of the pot until all the dough is used.
Cook for about 30 minutes.
Serve with milk or meat, even with tea.
- the plate or strips
of wood will prevent the dough from falling into the water if it slips off the side. The dough will fall off if the pot is
greasy.-
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Stewed Cane Rat
Skin and eviscerate the
rat and split it lengthwise.
Fry until brown in a
mixture of butter and peanut oil.
Cover with water, add
tomatoes or tomato puree, chillies and salt
to taste.
Simmer the rat until
tender.
Serve with rice.
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Fish Parcels
Banana leaves
4 x 180g fillet of fish
2 measures of dry sherry
1 small chilli, finely
chopped
small bunch of coriander, finely chopped
8 thin slivers of ginger
4 tablespoons olive oil
Juice of 3 limes
Salt and pepper to season
marinade fresh fillets
with the above ingredients. Wrap each fillet individually in a banana leaf and secure with a skewer. bake parcels over hot
coals, turning once.
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Sour Porridge (Imbila)
500 ml mealie meal
250 ml sorghum
1 l water
Soak mielie meal and
sorghum in water overnight. Cook as porridge, cool and allow to rest for four hours, so that the fermentation process can
take place. Add sugar to taste before drinking.
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Maize with mixed vegetables
(Umfino)
1 medium cabbage, shredded
1 bunch spinach, shredded
1 bunch turnips, peeled
and diced
1 bunch spring onions,
chopped
250 ml mealie rice
375 ml mealie meal
500 ml water
125 g margarine
salt and pepper to taste
Wash and rinse vegetables.
In a large saucepan bring water to the boil, add all vegetables, toss with a fork to mix and allow to simmer for 10 minutes.
Add mealie rice, mix through and then stir in mealie meal. Use a wooden spoon to mix the ingredients to a pulp. Cook over
low heat for 25 minutes, stirring occasionally.
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Ntomo Krakro (Sweet Potato
Fritters)
This should be great
as a potjie side dish!
4 sweet potatoes
2 large eggs
1 tablesp. flour
2 tablesp. butter or
fat
1/4 teasp. salt
Water (or milk if preferred)
Bread crumbs for coating
Oil for frying
Peel, boil, and mash
sweet potatoes.
Beat eggs and add rest
of ingredients.
Add enough liquid to
mix into a fairly soft dough.
Make into flat cakes.
Coat with beaten eggs and breadcrumbs.
Fry in hot fat until
golden brown.
Drain well and serve
hot with meat or fish stew.
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Isidudu (pumpkin pap)
with curried cabbage and liver
Isidudu
750 ml cooked pumpkin
1 litre water
625 ml maize meal
60 ml sugar
5 ml salt
Curried cabbage and liver:
45 ml oil
500 g lamb's liver
1 large onion, chopped
750 ml cabbage, finely
chopped
3 potatoes, peeled, diced
and boiled
3 garlic cloves, crushed
15 ml curry powder
15 ml ground paprika
salt to taste
To make isidudu (pumpkin
pap): boil water, then add sugar, salt and pumpkin, stirring to mix.
Add maize meal and mix
well. Leave to simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Heat oil and gently fry
liver until well cooked. Remove and keep warm.
Add onion, cabbage, potatoes,
garlic, curry, paprika and salt and sauté until soft.
To serve, spoon curried
cabbage over isidudu and top with liver.
Variation:
Isidudu can also be enjoyed
with warm milk, inkomazi or by adding margarine or butter and a little sugar.
potjiekos recipes
Lamb Neck and Cabbage
Potjie
This requires some explanation
first, a few years ago the "Potjie" craze took over in South Africa as an alternative to the
traditional BBQ. A "Potjie" is a 3 legged round bottomed cast iron pot where you put your ingredients in, and it simmers merrily
over coals while everyone sits around it chatting away. and sipping you know what.. It's much more sociable than a BBQ where
the men usually gather round the fire and the women are usually busy in the kitchen, but don't get me wrong, this is strictly
a male domain and the women are only required to do the side dishes. Everyone usually has his own "secret" ingredients and
"Potjie" competitions are very popular at fairs. I am not sure if you can buy "Potjies" outside of South Africa, but any large pot with a thick base and a lid should do.....
INGREDIENTS
2 tbs cooking oil
2 large onions, chopped
14 lamb neck chops
250g bacon, diced
16 small potatoes, peeled
and quartered
1 small cabbage, cut
in 8 pieces
dash of lemon juice with
500ml water
dash of mixed herbs
salt and black pepper
to taste
METHOD
1. Heat the oil in a
medium-size potjie, then fry the onions, bacon and lamb chops for about ˝ hour, stirring from time to time. Cover with lid
and leave to cook for about 45 minutes.
2. Open pot, stir, then
add layer of potatoes, finishing off with the cabbage. Add the water/lemon juice mixture, herbs and spices. (Don't stir yet)
3. Cover with lid and
cook for about another 2 hours slowly over medium coals ; check if there's enough water after a while, and add more if necessary.
4. Stir through ; the meat should fall off the bones.
5. Serve with brown rice
and sweet mashed cinnamon pumpkin.
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Oxtail Potjie - probably
the tastiest potjie recipe
INGREDIENTS
500g Oxtails cut 2 inches
thick pieces
10 slices Bacon cut in
1 inch pieces
˝ cup Flour seasoned
with salt and pepper
1 litre beef stock
1 can tomato paste
1 Bay leaf
6 black peppercorns
1 bouquet garni
6 large leeks, chopped
coarsely
2 large onions, chopped
coarsely
6 large carrots, chopped
coarsely
20 button mushrooms
1 cup red wine
˝ cup sherry
˝ cup cream
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons crushed
garlic
METHOD
1. Dry oxtails with paper
towel.
2. Put seasoned flour
in a Ziplock bag, then add the Oxtail and shake to coat with flour.
3. Heat butter and olive
oil and sauté bacon pieces.
4. Remove bacon and brown
Oxtail in resulting fat, remove and drain.
5. Finely dice 4 of the
carrots. Coarsely chop the onions and the leeks.
6. Add the finely diced
carrots, leeks, onions and sauté until softened
7. Add Oxtail, bacon,
bouquet garni, bay leaf, peppercorns, garlic, tomato sauce, red wine, sherry.
8. Bring slowly to a
boil and cook slowly for 3 - 4 hours.
9. 1 hour before serving
cut the remaining carrots into 1 inch pieces, add them and mushrooms and continue cooking slowly.
10. Just prior to serving,
add cream and stir in.
11. If you want to thicken
the sauce mix some cornstarch with the cream before adding.
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All-In-One Pot
INGREDIENTS
750g bolo or boneless
chuck of beef
1 pig's trotter
30ml cooking oil
2 onions, sliced
10ml salt
freshly ground black
pepper to taste
200g uncooked pearl wheat
4 tomatoes, peeled and
coarsely chopped
250ml dry white wine
250ml meat stock
2 leeks, sliced
5 baby marrows, sliced
METHOD
Cut the bolo or chuck
into cubes and saw the trotter into portions. Heat the cooking oil in a potjie and brown the meat. Add the onion and fry until
it is translucent. Season with salt and pepper and add the pearl wheat and tomatoes. Heat the wine and meat stock together
in a small pan over the fire, then pour the liquid into the potjie and cover with the lid. Let the meat simmer over low coals
for 3-4 hours, until it is tender. Layer the leeks and baby marrows on top and simmer for another 20 minutes.
Serves 6-8
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Paella Potjie
60 ml cooking oil
3 red sweet peppers (seeded
and cut in strips) or a 400g tin pimento
1 large onion, chopped
500 g pork, cubed
5 chicken thighs, halved
1 litre boiling water
5 ml saffron
4 bay leaves
2 chicken stock cubes
1 kg kingklip fillets,
cut in strips
400 g frozen prawns
500 g uncooked rice
salt and pepper to taste
250 g frozen green peas
juice of 1 lemon
Heat the oil in the pot.
Lightly brown the pepper, onion, pork and chicken. Cover and simmer slowly for an hour or until the meat is nearly done.
Add the saffron, bay
leaves and chicken stock cubes to the boiling water and set aside.
Place the fish and prawns
on top of the meat, followed by the rice and peas. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Add the saffron water little by little
as the rice boils dry. Simmer the potjie gently until the rice and peas are done and all the liquid has nearly boiled away.
Paella should be loose and the rice should not be soggy.
Add the lemon juice just
before serving and stir well.
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Curry Neck of Mutton
Potjie
30 ml cooking oil
salt and pepper to taste
1.5 kg neck of mutton,
cut into slices
3 medium onions, chopped
250 ml water
500 g whole baby carrots,
peeled
500 g whole baby potatoes,
peeled
20 ml sugar
10 ml mild curry powder
5 ml turmeric
125 ml milk
Heat the oil in the pot.
Season the meat with salt and pepper and brown a few pieces at a time. Remove and set aside. Fry the onions until tender.
Return the meat to the pot. Cover the meat with water, replace lid and simmer for 1 hour.
Add the carrots and potatoes
and simmer for approximately 30 minutes.
Mix the sugar, curry
powder andturmeric with the milk and add. Simmer for another 15 minutes and gently stir through once. Add more water if the
potjie becomes too dry and simmer for another 15 minutes.
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Chicken Potjie
45 ml cooking oil
1 kg chicken thighs
10 ml salt
4 bay leaves
pinch dried thyme
4 black pepper corns
pinch ground allspice
45 ml chutney
500 ml carrots, peeled
and sliced
6 large potatoes, peeled
and sliced
500 g whole button mushrooms
125 ml boiling water
1 chicken stock cube
Heat the oil in the pot.
Sprinkle the thighs with salt and fry the chicken, a few pieces at a time, until golden brown. Add the herbs, spices and chutney.
Arrange the carrots, potatoes and mushrooms in layers on top of the chicken. Dissolve the stock cube in the water and add
it to the potjie. Replace the lid and simmer for approximately 1 hour and 20 minutes. Add water if the potjie becomes too
dry.
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Dambie ( the Tswana name
for "dumplings")
To cover a saucy meat
stew or potjiekos:
2 cups bread flour
1 tsp instant dry yeast
1 tsp salt
2 tsp sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 cups lukewarm water
Sift the dry ingredients
together into a deep bowl. Add the egg and lukewarm water and mix well for about 5 minutes, till it forms a very soft , sticky
dough, rather approaching a thick batter. Alternatively you can whip it up using a food processor.
Let dough rise for 2
hours covered. Scoop the frothy, soft dough onto the stew and quickly stroke it to spread evenly on top.
Shut the lid and do not
lift till ready, about 30 minutes, or else it may implode into a chewy mess. Then insert a skewer into the dumpling, if it
comes out clean it is cooked.
Enjoy!
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Beef and Beer Potjie
15 ml cake flour
5 ml paprika
1 kg beef fillet, cubed
15 ml butter
15 ml cooking oil
2 medium onions, thinly
sliced
15 ml white sugar
8 green beans, sliced
4 carrots, peeled and
thinly sliced
1 clove garlic, finely
chopped
5 ml mixed dried herbs
or marjoram
375 ml beer
250 ml beef stock
1 packet tomato soup
powder
1 bay leaf
15 ml vinegar
10 ml cornflour
salt and pepper to taste
Combine the paprika and
flour and place in a plastic bag. Add the meat cubes and shake well to coat the meat. Melt the butter and oil in the pot and
brown the meat over medium hot coals. Remove and set aside. Fry the onions and sugar, stirring now and then until the onions
are tender. Add the beans, carrots and garlic and simmer for 5 minutes.
Return the meat to the
pot and stir in the herbs, beer, stock, soup powder and bay leaf. replace the lid and simmer till the meat is tender, approx
45 minutes to 1 hour. Stir occasionally, using a wooden spoon.
Mix the vinegar and cornflour
and stir in. Simmer until the gravy has thickened and season with sdalt and pepper.
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Hot Mutton Curry Potjie
This is for people like
me who like their curry hot, if you prefer it a bit weaker, reduce the curry powder to 15 ml.
2 kg mutton chops
salt and pepper to taste
45 ml cooking oil
2 large onions, coarsely
chopped
250 g rindless breakfast
bacon, chopped
3 large potatoes, peeled
and cubed
250 ml uncooked rice
250 ml dried apricots,
soaked in water for 1 hour and drained
250 ml water
1 tin (410 g) mealie
kernels, drained
1 tin, (410 g) peas,
drained
250 ml chutney
20 ml strong curry powder
5 ml turmeric
3 ml coriander
3 ml ground nutmeg
Heat the oil in the pot.
Season the meat with salt and pepper and in the open pot brown a few pieces at a time on both sides. Remove the meat and set
aside. Fry the onions until tender. Return the meat to the pot with the onions. Arrange the bacon, potatoes, rice and apricots
in layers on top of the meat. Add the water. Cover and simmer for 1 hour. Add more water if the potjie boils dry.
Add the mealies and peas.
Mix the chutney, curry,
turmeric, coriander and nutmeg well. Add the mixture to the potjie. Cover and simmer for 30 to 45 minutes.
Serve with sliced banana,
finely chopped onion and tomato and finely grated coconut.
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Ostrich Potjie
Use a #3 potjie.
30 ml cooking oil
1.5 kg ostrich neck slices
4 leeks, sliced
2 fat cloves garlic,
crushed
5 ml dried or 1 sprig
fresh rosemary
250 g brown mushrooms,
sliced
30 ml boiled green peppercorns,
bruised
75 ml brandy
50 ml dry sherry
375 ml dry red wine or
1/2 red wine 1/2 chicken stock
30 ml lemon juice
15 fresh pickling onions,
peeled
10 small whole carrots
8 small, peeled potatoes
or unpeeled new potatoes scrubbed clean
1 x 300 g packet creamed
spinach and mushrooms, thawed. (Can be replaced with 250 g cooked, chopped and flavoured spinach mixed with 125 ml sour cream.
Flavour the spinach with some of the folowing: bacon, ham, cheese, nutmeg and lemon juice)
15 ml cake flour
a little milk
pinch nutmeg
salt to taste
Heat the oil in the pot
and brown the meat a little at a time. Remove and set aside. Fry the leeks, garlic, rosemary, mushrooms and peppercorns in
the same pot. Return the meat to the pot. Heat the brandy slightly, pour over the meat, and ignite. Add the heated sherry,
red wine and lemon juice once the flames have died down. Cover with the lid, reduce the heat and simmer for 2 1/2 hours or
till the meat is almost tender.
Layer the vegetables,
except the spinach, on top of the meat, cover, and simmer for a further 45 to 50 minutes. Mix the spinach mixture with a paste
of cake flour and milk and spoon carefully over the food in the pot. Season with nutmeg and salt, cover and simmer for a further
15 minutes.
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Venison Potjie (Wildspotjie)
125 ml sunflower oil
4 medium carrots, sliced
2 medium onions, sliced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
10 ml chopped fresh thyme
1 kg venison, cubed
250 g rindless bacon,
chopped
500 ml port or dry red
wine
6 medium potatoes, sliced
Heat the oil in a pot
and sauté the carrots, onions and garlic for about 5 minutes. Add the thyme, meat, bacon and port and simmer, covered, for
3 hours. Add the potatoes and simmer for a further 30 to 45 minutes.
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Bully beef and cabbage
potjie
20 ml oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 baby cabbages, finely
chopped
salt and black pepper
to taste
600 g bully beef, cut
into small cubes
250 g shell noodles,
cooked and drained
Heat the oil in a hot,
flat, cast-iron pot and sauté the onion until glossy. Add the cabbage and sauce until the cabbage softens. Season to taste
and add the bully beef cubes. Use a fork to mash a few of the cubes. Stir and heat over low heat until warmed through. Add
the noodles, simmer until warm and serve. Serves 4.
