On the 27th of April, it’s Freedom Day in South Africa, marking the years since our country’s first democratic elections in 1994. One of the many things that make South Africa stand out from other countries, is our rich and exciting, somewhat exotic – monkey gland sauce, anyone? – cuisine.
Below are five recipes perfect for this time of the year, since they’re about as comfort food as you can get!
Vetkoek
Vetkoek is about as Afrikaans South African as food gets. There’s no end to options for fillings, but our favourites include jam, mince or cheese.
Fried bread, essentially, these can be made ahead of time, then fried before eating, but they’re delicious cold the next day too.
Bobotie
This Bobotie recipe is quite popular among readers, and even non-South Africans will often ask for the recipe. This one is quite mild as I feed two little girls, but you can add spices to it if you like.
It’s another great make ahead recipe as you can freeze it at a point, then defrost, add the topping and bake when you’re ready.
It’s good stuff, filling and oh so comforting. It was also recently featured in The 4 Blades Magazine, where it received rave reviews.
Peppermint Crisp Tart
Peppermint Crisp Tart is a uniquely South African dish since the only place you can buy Peppermint Crisp is in South Africa, or a South African shop or on Amazon. Since Peppermint Crisp is a Nestle product, however, we don’t buy it anymore, but there are perfectly suitable substitutions, and anyone who tastes our Peppermint Crisp tart comes back for more.
This recipe caused a bit of a fuss recently, and it turns out there are as many opinions on how it’s ‘supposed’ to be made as there are people making it. I think that’s a sign of a truly adaptable, traditional family recipe.
Anyway, take a dish of this to a Freedom Day braai (bbq) and no one’s going to be arguing semantics – they’ll be too busy licking their fingers, I promise.
Onion Soup
Whether this recipe is traditionally South African, or traditionally my mothers, I can’t say. It was scribbled in her recipe book, and was always used as the base for her Vranameer Chicken (recipe below), and as such forms a part of my South African food history.
This Onion Soup is actually called a Brown Onion Soup, but she had it written down as French Onion Soup. It’s not really a French Onion Soup though, as there’s no bread or cheese involved.
It’s just a cheap, tasty, budget soup.
Vranameer Chicken
And finally, a recipe that tweaks my heart a little, as it’s the one my mother is most known for – Vranameer Chicken. That translates to ‘ask for more’ chicken, because everyone comes back for seconds.
The recipe is still on my original blog, I haven’t put it on here yet. It’s still good though.