Rugby and Braai – A typical Saturday in Sunny South Africa

I’ts Saturday afternoon, Autumn is in the air yet we still had a lovely 21 degrees in Sunny South Africa today. We stay in much colder region as our fellow South Africans but it still feels very much like summer in mid day’s.

It’s only the cold breeze early mornings and late afternoon that reminds us that winter is around the corner.

Off course It’s rugby time and rugby time means Braai (BBQ) time. I was not in the mood for making any special salads so we decided plain old traditional “pap and sous” will do the trick.

 Stywe pap Recipe (Stiff porridge Recipe)

Many traditional South African dishes include pap, such as smooth maize meal porridge, pap with a very thick consistency and a more dry crumbly pap.

Making pap is very similar to making polenta, sooner than later you don’t measure the water or the maize meal it comes as second nature, the same goes for the consistency. “Slap pap” (a smooth pap) is traditionally eaten as a breakfast porridge with melted butter with or without milk where as “Stywe pap” (stiff porridge) is mostly eaten with meats, stews and curries.

This dishes are mostly enjoyed by the black population and the Afrikaners, rather than those of English or Asian descent.

This is how to make a stiff porridge to go with your braai (BBQ). By adding less maize meal to the water your porridge will be smoother and by adding more maize meal you will be making “krummel pap” which resembles a crumbly consistency, this version is also very nice.

4 cups of water

1 tsp salt

 3 cups mealie meal (maize meal)

In a pot cook your water until boiling point, add the salt and remove the pot from the hot plate. (This step is important, the porridge will splatter all over the place if you leave it on the hot plate and you will end up burning yourself.)

Add the maize meal little by little to the boiling water mixing it with a whisk or a fork, mixing it well after every addition to ensure no clumps form.

Reduce the heat of your plate to the lowest setting, return your pot to the plate. Cover with a lid and simmer for 30-40 minutes.

For the Tomato and Onion Relish

1 Onion sliced

1 glove of garlic crushed

1 punnet of button mushrooms sliced

4 tomatoes diced

2 tbs Apricot jam

1 tbs Tomato puree

Salt and pepper to taste

Olive Oil for frying

Fry onions and garlic in the olive oil until soft. Add the mushrooms and fry for another 2 minutes. Add the tomatoes stirring the mixture with a wooden spoon until the tomatoes are cooked. Add just enough water to form a sauce, add the apricot jam and tomato puree. Cook for a few minutes on low heat, Season with salt and pepper.

The lamb chops…mmmmm

Eating my Steak from the grid, Juicy and pink just the way I like it!

And this my friends is “Bliksem Wors” (Bliksem sausage)

* Bliksem – strike, hit, punch; also used as an expression of surprise/emphasis (rude). It derives from the Dutch word for “lightning”, and often occurs in conjunction with donner. Used as a curse in Afrikaans: Jou bliksem!’ (You bastard!) *

Why is it called Bliksem wors…..look closely, can you spot the chillies!!! Do I need to say more. In this case the butcher must have been high, the amount of chillies this man have added to this sausage is way beyond enjoyment.

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Tomato and Olive Braai bread

Ok, this will be the last indulgence for the week….

You simply have to” braai” before you go on a diet, and what is a “braai” without the bread?

For the next six weeks I will be dieting like a mad woman, exercising like crazy and cooking much much, much, healthier meals.

Why am I doing this? Well we have a little in-house competition. The person to shed the most kilo’s and centimeters around the waist in the next six weeks win a R 1000.00 to spend as they please….Yeahhhh!  Naturally my husband and son believe that they will be each other’s biggest competition, off course I know better.

Serve 6

1 x loaf of bread (white or brown)

Garlic butter for spreading

3 x tomatoes

Spring onions

100 g pitted Kalamata olives

Salt and Black pepper

4 tbs Chutney

250 g mozzarella cheese

 

Cut your loaf of bread length ways. You will get about 6 slices out of a loaf, we will only be using four. Spread the slices with the garlic butter.

Cut the tomatoes in slices and add to two halves. top with some chopped spring onion, salt and pepper and finish off with the olives.

Top with the mozzarella cheese. Spread the chutney on both sides of the other halves and assemble the sandwich. Place in between your BBQ hand grid and “braai” over hot coals, until bread is toasted and cheese melted.

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“Braai tart” – Polenta, Mushroom and Bacon tart

Like every other Saturday my husband have the urge to “braai”. This ritual starts in Spring and continues well into the winter. Yip that’s my hubby! , facing the icy cold winters of the Highveld armed with his beanie, winter jacket and a scarf and his bottle of mixed spices turning ordinary lamb chops into succulent little dreams.

Unfortunately the side dishes is not his forte’, instead he likes to order me around. His favorite would be “pap tert” (a maize meal tart).

I decided it is about time that we jazz up the old maize tart a bit, you know, making it a bit more sophisticated, so instead of using ordinary maize meal in boring layers I used Polenta instead.

To all the vegetarians out there, feel free to remove the bacon from this recipe, I would’ve but my husband is a carnivore and he tends to get a bit grumpy if there is no extra meat in a savory tart!

 

Serves 8

Polenta crust

Polenta ( about 1 cup cooked in 4 cups of water, should be a spreadable consistancy)

2 tbs garlic butter

salt to taste

Filling

125 g white button mushrooms (1/2 punnet)

125 g Portobello mushrooms (+- 4 large)

1 Onion – sliced

Olive oil for frying

a pinch of dry thyme

100 g bacon bits

2 tbs tomato puree

1/2 tsp of sugar

100 ml milk

1 egg

2 heaped tbs of flour

2 ml salt

1/2 cup mozzarella cheese

1/2 cup Gouda Cheese

Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Rub your pie dish with butter. Cook polenta, stir in the garlic butter and set aside keeping the lid on your pot to keep the polenta warm.

Fry the onions and mushrooms with the thyme in olive oil. Add the bacon bits and fry for another minute. Add the tomato puree and the sugar, fry for another minute.

In a measuring cup add the flour and salt to the milk and mix, add the egg mixing it again.

Use a the back of a metal tablespoon or a spatula to spread an even layer of polenta to the bottom of your pie dish covering the sides as well.

Add the mushroom filling on top of the polenta and pour the milk mixture over it.

Top with the cheese and bake for +- 15 -20 minutes.

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