Recipe Ideas - South African Cusine

Tomatoe, Onion and Garlic sauce

A great sauce with many uses. Traditionally used when serving Braai Pap (stiff porridge) or for putting over your baked potatoes.

Ingredients

  • 2 large tomatoes
  • 2 large onions
  • Several cloves of garlic
  • Salt and pepper
  • Olive oil
  • Butter
  • Chicken stock (2 cups)
  • Cornflower

Peel the tomatoes, onion and garlic. Finely chop the tomatoes and onions (keep separate) and crush or chop the garlic cloves.

Saute the onions and garlic in a mix of olive oil and butter until soft, then add the tomatoes and simmer for about 10 minutes adding salt and pepper to taste. Add the chicken stock, stir and simmer on low heat in a closed pan or pot for 30 minutes.

At this point you can add cornflower to thicken the sauce and simmer for another 10 minutes  --  ready to serve.

For a variation, add a few teaspoons of mild curry powder.

Braai Pap or Stuiver Pap (Afrikaans names) or also known as Putu (Zulu name)

This may sound strange to all of you, not knowing that “porridge” comes in many forms, not just Oats for your morning breakfast.

A staple for the majority of indigenous South African people and enjoyed at a “Braai” (BBQ) for those of us who grew up with this great tradition.

Braai Pap, also known as Stuiver Pap (Stiff Porridge) is made from a coarsely milled white maize meal. It is available in New Zealand from Several sources, Safari Meats in Christchurch, Beef on the Beach in Auckland and the South African Shop in Tauranga. There are bound to other shops specialising in South African fare where it would be available. If all else fails you can use regular maize meal but it does not have the same courser texture or taste.

Traditionally Stuiver Pap is eaten by hand by making it into a ball and dipping it in one of the sauces we conjure up (more on that later). For those of you who find that eating it by hand not to their liking, simply put a serving on your plate a ladle the sauce over it. Use a fork – if you must !!

Ingredients for 4 to 6 servings.

  • 330 grams Braai Pap (about 2 cups)
  • 1 litre of water (about 4 cups)
  • 1 teaspoon of salt

Bring the water to the boils in a cast iron or heavy based pot. Add the braai pap and salt and stir thoroughly with a wooed spoon then caver with the lid. Reduce the heat and simmer for 4o minutes, stirring occasionally. Make sure the heat is low enough so that the pap does not burn. After the 40 minutes add about another half cup of cold water, stir and leave to simmer, with the lid on, for another 30 minutes.
The pap should be fairly stiff when you are finished with the cooking.

The stuiver pap has a nutty taste to it, and is a great way to add variety to your Braai (BBQ)

ENJOY