July Offerings

Since I have a bit of vacation time, I thought I would share some traditional South African recipes.

Enjoy!

It is always fun to try new things!

Traditional Melktert

Traditional Melktert

A pastry crust with a baked milky custard.

I didn't like it the first time I ate it, but it grew on me.

There are melkterts and then there are melkterts.

This is a very traditional recipe.

Ingredients

Pastry

62.5ml margarine (1/4 cup)

62.5mll sugar (1/4/ cup)

250ml Self raising Flour (1 cup)

Pinch salt

25ml iced water (2 T)

Filling

500ml milk (2 cups)

1 stick cinnamon

25ml butter (2 T)

50ml sugar (4T)

2 Eggs

50 ml Cake Flour (4T)

Instructions

Pastry:

1. Cream the margarine and the sugar together.

2. Work in the flour and salt.

3. Add the water and work to a soft dough.

4. Wrap up and chill until required.

Filling:

1. Scald the milk in a double boiler with the cinnamon stick.

2. Combine the sugar and flour and stir in the hot milk slowly.

3. Return to the heat and cook for 15 minutes with the lid off.

4. Remove from heat and stir in the butter.

5. When cool, add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

6. Line a 22 cm tart plate with the pastry and pour the filling mixture in.

7. Bake at 200 deg C for 20 minutes.

8. Before serving sprinkle the top with powdered cinnamon and castor sugar.

Bobotie

Bobotie

The origins of Bobotie can be traced back to the eastern influence on South African culture. The Cape Malay society are famous for cooking this dish and it is usually served with yellow rice.

Ingredients

1 kg minced beef (some use lamb)

125ml milk

1 thick slice of bread

2 roughly chopped onions butter

Salt

1 tablespoon of curry powder

1 chili, finely chopped (optional and only if you like your food quite hot)

1/2 cup vinegar

1 tablespoon of lemon juice

1 teaspoon of brown sugar

1 tablespoon of chutney

1/2 cup slivered almonds

3 eggs

1 clove of garlic, crushed and finely chopped

6 bay leaves

1 orange, sliced in wheels

1 lemon, sliced in wheels

Oil for cooking

Instructions

Heat the oil in frying pan and add the garlic, onion and curry power. Cook over medium heat for three minutes, then add the minced meat (ground beef). Soak the slice of bread in milk. Fry until the meat is almost done, then using your hands, squeeze the milk from the bread. Retain milk for later. Add the bread, vinegar, lemon juice, sugar and chutney to the mince. Fry for a minute or so and then remove from heat.

Take a pie dish and place three bay leaves, two wheels of orange and two wheels of lemon at the bottom. Now scoop the mince mixture into the dish. Decorate the sides of the dish with the rest of the lemon and orange wheels, wedging them between the mince and the sides of the dish so that only a third protrudes. If you are using almonds, push them into the mince. Beat the eggs and milk, and pour over the meat. Put three bay leaves on top of dish. Place the dish uncovered in the oven and cook for about 30 minutes at 160 deg Celsius.

Serve with a plain green salad.

Make sure you have some chutney near at hand.

Serve piping hot with the yellow rice (recipe follows).

Yellow Rice

Ingredients

2 cups of rice

¾ cup raisins, soaked in water for 20 minutes, then drained

1 teaspoon of turmeric

a dash of salt

2 sticks of cinnamon

Instructions

Place all the ingredients, including the raisins in about 750ml of water, bring to the boil and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes. If there is still excess water in the pot when the rice is tender, pour it out carefully.

Dot the rice with a few blobs of butter and give it a sprinkling of cinnamon sugar.

Chicken Curry Potjie

Chicken Curry Potjie (little pot)

Ingredients

2kg skinless chicken thighs or breasts

3 large grated onions

5 skinless tomatoes

1 large tin tomato paste

4 heaped teaspoons masala

3 bay leaves

2 dessert spoons crushed garlic

1 table spoon coriander

1 teaspoon fennel

2 large sticks cinnamon

2 teaspoons salt

2 teaspoons sugar

1 litre red wine

6 Large potatoes cut in half

Sauté your onions and garlic until soft, then add the spices and let simmer for a couple of minutes. Add tomatoes and tomato paste together with some red wine – simmer for about 5 minutes.

Add chicken pieces and potatoes with a little more wine. Place the lid on your potjie, simmer on a low heat for about 45 minutes, checking the liquid level regularly, adding more red wine when needed. About 15 minutes before you are ready to eat add sugar to taste.

Serve on a bed of rice, cooked together with mustard seeds, turmeric and onion flakes for added flavor.

Potato Leek Soup

Potato Leek Soup

3 tablespoons butter


3 leeks, thinly sliced*


2 medium cloves garlic, peeled, smashed and finely chopped

6 - 8  potatoes, cubed**

3 1/2 cups vegie broth (or enough to barely cover potatoes)

1 cup heavy cream
(I use milk!)

salt to taste
fresh

ground black pepper to taste

 

Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium heat then add garlic and leeks.

Cook, stirring, until garlic and leeks are limp and just slightly brown.

Add cubed potatoes to saucepan and cook them for a few minutes with the leeks.

Then pour in enough chicken broth to cover the potatoes. Continue cooking over medium heat until potatoes are tender.

Using a potato masher, mash and stir potatoes until desired consistency is reached. As you mash the potatoes and the soup thickens, turn down heat and stir frequently with a large spoon to prevent scorching on the bottom. (Today I actually used my blender to get a smooth consistency and then returned soup to heat.)

Add one cup of heavy cream (I use milk!) and salt and black pepper to taste.

Cook 15 minutes more over low heat, stirring frequently, then remove from heat and serve.

Notes:

*Make sure to clean leeks thoroughly and slice only the white and light green part of the leeks.

**You don’t need to peel the potatoes as the peels add to the rustic texture of the soup.

But make sure to scrub them thoroughly and remove any obvious blemishes before slicing. 

CONVERSIONS

Sorry -- my measurements are all over the place.

Here are my approximate conversions:

Oven Temperatures:

350 degrees F = 180 degrees C (really 356 degrees F)

375 degrees F = 190 degrees C (really 374 degrees F)

400 degrees F = 200 degrees C  (really 393 degrees F)

Volume Measurements:

1 cup = 250 ml

1/2 cup = 125 ml

1/4  cup = 62 ml

3/4 cup = 185 ml

1/3 cup = 82 ml

2/3 cup = 165 ml

1 tsp = 5 ml

1/2 tsp= 2 ml

1 tablespoon = 15 ml

McDoodle Muffins

Basic McDonald (“use your imagination” Muffins

2 C flour (500 ml) 1 beaten egg

¼ C sugar (62 ml) 1 C milk

2 ½ teaspoons baking powder (12 ml) ⅓ C oil (83 ml)

1 teaspoon salt (5 ml)

Sift together dry ingredients.  In another bowl beat moist ingredients.  Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients.  Pour moist ingredients all at once into the centre of the dry ones.  

Stir until just moist.  Pour into well greased muffin cups.  Bake at 190∘C for about 20 minutes.  Makes 10-12 muffins.      

Variations:

The FLOUR can be any combination of whole wheat, nutty wheat, bread or cake flour.  I like to add at least ¼ C of pat bran/  you can also add up to ½ C of rolled oats for texture and flavour.  Another interesting ingredient is mealie meal (especially the yellow stone-ground meal!).  the flour portion of the ingredients should equal 2 cups.

 

The SUGAR can be any combination of the following:  regular sugar, castor sugar, brown sugar, honey, molasses, maple syrup.

The MILK ingredient can be make up of one or more of the following:  milk, soured milk, yoghurt, sour cream.  I generally measure a cup of milk and then add 2 Tablespoons of lemon juice and let it sit for a few minutes.  The milk sours and becomes slightly curdled and it takes away the taste that the baking powder can sometimes give the muffins.

For the EGG, if you wish, you can substitute 2 raw egg whites for the one whole egg.

Hint:  with most sweet muffins, adding 5 - 10 ml of vanilla essence enhances the flavour.

Apple-cinnamon: add 1 chopped Granny Smith apple and 2 Tbs cinnamon or mixed spices to dry ingredients.

Cheese:  Eliminate sugar and add 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese.

Three Cheese:  No sugar. Add ½ cup shredded cheddar, ½ cup Parmesan and ½ cup crumbled Feta

Cheese & Ham (bacon): No sugar.  Add 1 cup shredded cheddar and ½ cup cooked crumbled bacon or sliced ham and 1 tsp basil or mixed herbs.

Olive & Feta: No sugar.  Add ½ cup chopped olives (retain a whole olive for the top of each muffin), ½ cup chopped feta cheese and 3 Tbs of fresh chopped basil (or 1 Tbs dried)

Banana-Nut: decrease milk to ½ cup and stir in 1 cup mashed banana and ½ cup chopped nuts (walnuts or pecans)

Oatmeal-Fruit: decrease flour to 1 3/4 cup and add ½ cup oats and ½ cup fruit cake mix

Lemon Poppy Seed: decrease milk to 3/4 cup and after mixing muffins, fold in 1/3 cup lemon juice and 2-3 Tbs of lemon rind and 1/4 cup poppy seeds.

Carrot:  Add 1 cup shredded carrot to moist ingredients and 3 teaspoons of cinnamon to dry ingredients (nuts optional)

Chocolate Chip:  gently stir in 1/2 cup chopped chocolate pieces  into batter.  For Chocolate-Chocolate Chip muffins stir 1/2 cup cocoa powder into dry ingredients.

Cappuccino: Add 1/2 cup cocoa powder and 2 Tbs coffee powder to dry ingredients 

Best muffins of all:  Look in your fridge for leftovers and create a muffin flavour al your own (i.e., pizza muffins, chilli cheese, chocolate chilli, Italian herb, etc)

These muffins will get better and better with time, as you experiment and add the amount of ingredients to your muffins that you enjoy.  Most important:  HAVE FUN!