Getting a taste for a new place
My recent trip to South Africa for the International Farm Management Congress was an incredible experience. South Africa is as it calls itself, a world within a country.
The diversity in geography, culture, religion and economics was an education for me. I met a number of people who have an optimistic outlook for the future of their country.
I opted to take a three-day pre-conference tour from Durban north to the Drakensburg Mountains and through Kwazulunatal, and also a post-conference agricultural tour south from Port Elizabeth to Capetown. We visited many farms and met many people. The South Africans were intent on us experiencing true Afrikaner hospitality, and we did. This included traditional African foods, as well as enjoying some of the same foods that we use prepared in different ways.
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On special occasions at our home, we have a sweet potato dish topped with marshmallows that we enjoy. On a farm in Heidelberg in the Western Cape region, the following sweet potato dish was one we had for lunch at the home of Jack and Christal Human. Although I couldn’t speak Afrikaans to her, she was able to write the recipe for me in English.
Orange sweet potatoes
2.2 pounds sweet 1 kg
potatoes with peel,
washed
4 tablespoons 60 mL
butter
11Ú2 tablespoons 22 mL
custard (I used corn
starch)
1Ú2 cup brown 125 mL
sugar
1 cup orange 250 mL
juice
2 teaspoons 10 mL
lemon essence or
orange liqueur
1 teaspoon grated 5 mL
orange peel
1Ú2 teaspoon salt 2 mL
Boil potatoes with skin until soft and then slice. Place in bowl that has been lined with butter. Melt butter. Mix custard, sugar and butter using a wooden spoon. Add orange juice and cook/ boil until smooth and shiny. Add the liqueur, orange peel and salt. Pour the sauce over the potatoes, and bake at 350 F (180 C) for 30 minutes.
This was an extraordinary dish and almost all of the visitors went back for seconds. The rest of the buffet included a tossed salad (with cucumbers, tomatoes, bananas, apples, and feta cheese), a green bean/onion dish, scalloped potatoes with shredded cheddar cheese and bacon on top), boiled wheat, rice, and sliced pork and ostrich. Dessert, a hot steamed pudding served on a hot custard and topped with ice cream, was scrumptious.
Another traditional dish that we enjoyed was bobotie, which was cooked in a large cast iron pot on a tripod over hot coals or wood. It would be a great dish to cook while camping or at the cabin.
Bobotie
2 pounds minced 1 kg
beef or mutton
1 medium onion 1
21Ú2 teaspoons 12 1/2 mL
chutney
1 slice white bread 1
2 teaspoons butter 10 mL
3 eggs 3
2 tablespoons lemon 25 mL
juice
2 teaspoons curry 10 mL
powder
1 teaspoon 5 mL
turmeric
2 teaspoons salt 10 mL
4 teaspoons sugar 20 mL
Soak bread in 1Ú2 cup (125 mL) milk. Squeeze to remove the milk and mix the bread with the minced beef. Mix in onion, chutney, lemon juice, curry, turmeric, salt and sugar. Melt the butter and brown the minced meat. Beat eggs and the rest of the milk and pour over the meat. Bake at 350 F (180 C) for 50 minutes.
Boboties are a little like our stew, and vary from recipe to recipe. I substituted some of the ingredients and it still turned out well in the oven. Another variation of the bobotie for entertaining comes from M. Olivier, from Uitenhage.
Economical bobotie
1 pound green 500 g
beans
2 lb. cooked 1 kg
ground meat
4 slices crustless 100 g
white bread, soaked
in11Ú4 cups milk 300 mL
2 large eggs 2
1 teaspoon sugar 5 mL
21Ú2 teaspoons 12 mL
masala curry
21Ú2 tablespoons 38 mL
apricot jam
2 teaspoons salt 10 mL
1Ú8 teaspoon pepper 0.5 mL
2 tablespoons grated 25 mL
lemon peel
1Ú2 cup seedless 125 mL
raisins
1Ú4 cup fruit chutney 50 mL
Cook the beans until soft. Drain and mash. Add the beans to the meat. Squeeze the milk from the bread and pour into a cup. Add one egg to the milk. Beat the other egg and add to the meat mixture. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well. Spoon into a greased oven-proof dish. Beat the egg and milk together and pour over the meat mixture. Bake for 35 minutes at 350 F (180 C) until set and light brown. Serve with yellow rice with raisins.
The IFMA conference was held in Durban, and many of the people were Islamic, so we enjoyed a variety of curried foods. At the Indian market in Durban, I purchased Delhi Delight masala curry (a reddish-orange, hairy curry) to try some South African recipes at home. Some suggested tips to use curry are:
- Add a pinch of curry to a cream or white sauce to perk it up.
- Try adding one tablespoon (15 mL) curry to your favorite scone, crumpet or pancake recipe for a new savory sensation.
- Add two teaspoons (10 mL) curry to pastry when making meat pies.
- Season your favorite soup with curry.
- Curry flavored sausage rolls make a nice change.
Curried meat balls
1.8 pounds 800 g
ground meat
1Ú2 onion, grated 1Ú2
2 eggs, beaten 2
1Ú2 cup soft 125 mL
bread crumbs
5 teaspoons flour 25 mL
11Ú4 teaspoons salt 8 mL
1 cup baby 250 mL
carrots
1 tin (14 ounces) 398 mL
pineapple pieces
4 bananas, sliced 4
Sauce:
1 large onion, 1
chopped and fried
salt and pepper
5 teaspoons 25 mL
apricot jam
1 teaspoon 5 mL
turmeric
3Ú8 cup vinegar 63 mL
21Ú2 teaspoons sugar 12.5 mL
11Ú2 teaspoons curry 7 mL
21Ú2 teaspoons flour 12.5 mL
21Ú2 cups carrot water 600 mL
Put the first six ingredients into a bowl and blend well. Shape 12 meatballs and arrange fairly far apart in a shallow dish. Boil the carrots until slightly crisp. Drain and keep the water. Arrange the carrots, pineapple and bananas amongst the meat balls.
Put all the sauce ingredients into a saucepan. Add the carrot water and vinegar. Stir while cooking until sauce thickens. Pour the sauce onto the meatballs and bake at 350 F (180 C) until brown. Serve on rice.
Another African experience was the traditional barbecue or as they call it, braai. Curry is often one of the ingredients for cooking a braai. This recipe is a marinade for barbecuing meat.
Braai delight
6 thick (2 cm) slices 6
blade of beef
2 teaspoons 10 mL
masala curry
1 tablespoon 15 mL
soy sauce
Paint the meat with soy sauce and sprinkle all over with curry, cover and refrigerate for a few hours or overnight. Cook on braai (barbecue), five minutes each side, salt and serve.
We enjoyed an abundance of fresh fruits and yogurt every morning for breakfast, along with a complete hot breakfast. Because of the abundance of fruit, we tried many different recipes. This banana salad is suggested as a wonderful addition at a braai. I made it for my family in a much smaller quantity.
Banana salad
12 bananas, peeled, 12
sliced 1 cm thick
juice of one lemon
1 cup mayonnaise 250 mL
1Ú3 cup apricot jam 75 mL
2 teaspoons curry 10 mL
Slice bananas and toss them in the lemon juice. Mix the mayonnaise, jam and curry together and spoon over the bananas.
