Beyond the braai - Tasty Heritage Day recipes

South Africa's diverse culture and national heritage, means that there is always an abundance of flavour to experience. While Heritage Day is colloquially known as Braai Day to many, there are other ways to capture the cultural flair of a traditional dish, especially if the weather isn't playing along.

There is so much more to our food heritage than a few simple slices of steak sizzling on the grill. As such, we've collected three amazing recipes that celebrate a wide array of zesty flavours to go above and beyond the braai.

Classic Cape Malay Bobotie

This flavourful dish with a slight hint of curry and derived from Cape Malay traditional cooking is a simple South African favourite. For those of us pining for a more authentic taste of home, this local recipe is worthy of 2nd or 3rd helpings.

Ingredients:

• 2 sliced onions

• Sunflower oil or butter

• 1 kg minced meat (mutton, beef)

• 1 slice of bread

• Milk (125 ml)

• 2 eggs

• 4 tablespoons (20 ml) medium curry powder

• 4 tablespoons (20 ml) chutney

• 2 tablespoons (10 ml) salt

• ½ tablespoon (2.5 ml) freshly ground black pepper

• 1 tablespoon (5 ml) turmeric

• ½ tablespoon (2.5 ml) ground coriander

• ½ tablespoon (2.5 ml) ground cumin

Cooking instructions:

Start by preheating your oven to 180 ºC.

Using your butter or cooking oil, lightly fry the onions until they start browning. Add your meat into the mix as well. Soak the sliced bread in milk for 5 - 6 minutes, then squeeze out the milk and mash the bread.

Bake for 30 minutes then beat the used milk and eggs together and pour over the half-cooked meat. Bake for a further 30 minutes.

Serve with rice, poppadoms and sambals and enjoy!.

Durban Boerewors Scotch Egg

Blending traditional braai days on Durban's famous open shorelines with a traditional British snack is the versatile Boerie scotch egg. What's truly delightful about this dish is how a classical meal like this can have a bit of local flair. Express your creativity and impress your local and international friends with this delectable meal.

Ingredients:

• 1 kg of tasty thick wors of any kind

• 6 hard-boiled eggs

• 1 handful of chopped thyme

• Panko bread crumbs

• 2 eggs, beaten

• Flour (for dusting)

• vegetable oil - deep frying (750 ml) 

• All Gold tomato sauce (because it tastes real good!), 

• salsa or your favourite curry powder for that Durban taste

Cooking Instructions:

Extract worse meat from casing (or skin), add thyme and then roll into portions of 6 meatballs.

Boil eggs for 5 - 6 minutes and then immediately remove water and extract contents into a bowl of ice-cold water. This is to ensure the cooking process is properly halted. Once the eggs have cooled down, proceed to peel then set aside for later.

Flatten boerewors meatballs using your palm and place the peeled egg in the centre. Using care, manipulate meat around the egg until completely encased in a ball. Dust eggs thoroughly with flour and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Using a saucepan, heat the oil to frying temp (more or less 275 ºC.)

Extract cooled down boerewors balls and dust once more with flour before rolling into the egg mixture and finally into the panko crumbs. Using a slotted spoon, place the balls into the oil and deep fry them two at a time for 3 - 4 minutes.

Once they start to turn a shade of gold, remove them from oil and drain them out using a sheet of roller towel.

Heritage Day Salad

While some meals are perfect examples of a single heritage or culture, we believe that one of the best ways to celebrate a day like Heritage Day is to create a dish that celebrates a whole host of flavours. While a traditional salad is a perfect side for just about any meal, this particular annual salad is the quintessential side for a day of historical pride.

Easy to make and prepare, this delicious salad is perfect for a braai day - OR beyond.

Ingredients:

• 1 butternut - size medium, slice into thin wedges and leave skin and seeds as is

• 1 tablespoon of olive oil (15 ml)

• freshly ground salt and pepper

• 1 Tablespoon coriander seeds (15 ml)

• 100 g goats cheese (Chevin log)

• 100 g biltong, thinly sliced

• 8 green figs, preserved and halved

• 1 small red onion, thinly sliced

• 100 g baby spinach

• 3 tablespoons pumpkin seeds (45 ml)

• 2 tablespoons sunflower seeds (30 ml)

• 3 tablespoons preserved fig syrup (45 ml)

• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil (15 ml)

Cooking Instructions:

Begin by preheating the oven to 200 °C.

Using a baking tray, carefully position the butternut shards, rub with olive oil, and season well. Once prepped, roast in the oven for 40 - 45 minutes until slightly charred. Dice into smaller pieces.

Using a dry frying pan, toast the coriander seeds over medium heat. When done, crush using a pestle and mortar. Coat the chevin cheese with crushed seeds then cut into bite-sized pieces. Carefully arrange butternut, chevin, figs, sliced red onion, and biltong onto the bed of baby spinach. Drizzle over with fig syrup and olive oil then add crushed seeds.

Serve immediately with homemade beer bread and enjoy on its own or alongside one of our other favoured choices.

As simple as that, our three picks for a stunning Heritage Day "beyond the braai" lunch will have your guests coming back for more.

Read our previous article here: https://www.hamiltons.co.za/news/emerging-from-lockdown-cape-town-still-offers-a-renowned-holiday-experience/  

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