Tag: Southern African
South African Milk Tart
South African Milk Tart
The basic concept of the milk tart was introduced to South Africa in the 1600s by Dutch settlers. The custard-like dessert is sort of a variation of their mattentart, which is similar to cheesecake, with South Africans adding cinnamon to the batter. Sometimes the milk tart is baked in a pastry pie crust, and sometimes it’s just the custard. This particular recipe is crustless, even though it does develop a crust on the bottom. This dairy bomb of deliciousness can be served either hot or cold. Both ways are good in their own ways.
Equipment
- electric beater
- pie pan
Ingredients
- 3 tbsp butter melted
- 1 cup sugar
- 3 large eggs yolks and whites separated
- 1 cup flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 4 cups whole milk
- 1 tbsp cinnamon sugar 3/4 tsp sugar + 1/4 tsp cinnamon
Instructions
- Mix together the butter and sugar.
- Mix in the egg yolk. Then sift in the flour, baking powder, and salt.
- Whisk in the vanilla and milk.
- In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until they peak with an electric beater.
- Whisk in the beaten egg whites to the the batter.
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Grease a deep 9” pie plate. Pour in the batter.
- Dust the top with cinnamon sugar.
- Bake for 25 minutes. Then reduce the heat to 325 degrees and bake for another 25 minutes.
Prego Rolls
Prego Rolls
What a lot of people don’t realize is that South Africa was discovered by a Portuguese explorer in 1488, heavily influencing the country’s cuisine. The Portuguese introduced prego rolls (amongst many other things) to South Africa, becoming a staple at the dinner table. The rolls only have a couple of ingredients and are fairly easy to make if you have the patience to allow dough to rise. Prego rolls are good on their own with butter, but even better as a prego sandwich.
Equipment
- standing mixer with dough hook attachment
Ingredients
- 2 1/4 cup warm water
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1 1/2 tbsp vegetable oil
- 2 tsp active dry yeast
- 1 tsp sugar
- 4 1/4 cups bread flour plus more
- 1 1/2 tsp salt
Instructions
- Add the warm water, yeast, sugar, oil, and salt to the bowl of a standing mixer on low speed. Mix for 2 minutes. Pour in the milk.
- Slowly incorporate the flour into the bowl until a ball forms. Knead in the mixer on medium low speed for 5 minutes.
- Take the dough off the hook. Cover with a towel and let rise for 45 minutes.
- Lightly flour a clean surface. Roll the dough out into one long cylindrical shape. Cut that in half. Then cut 6 equal pieces out of each cylinder, for a total of 12 pieces.
- Roll each piece into a ball and cut an X into the top.
- Place each dough roll on a baking sheet. Cover with plastic wrap and allow the rolls to rise for 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place the baking sheet on the center rack.
- Bake for 12 minutes until golden brown.
Boerewors
Boerewors
Boerewors is a popular South African sausage. The sausage is made up of 2/3 beef, 1/3 pork; with coriander, salt, black pepper, nutmeg, allspice, cloves, and malt vinegar, with gives the sausage a particular taste that is specific to South Africa. The malt vinegar also acts as a preservative. The sausage is typically grilled in an untwisted single coil link. But you can definitely twist it into links and eat it on a bun. If you don’t have a grill, you can pan fry the sausage, or even broil it.
Equipment
- grinder
- sausage stuffer
Ingredients
- 3 lbs beef chuck
- 1 1/2 lbs pork shoulder
- 2 tbsp ground coriander seeds
- 1 tsp allspice
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp ground cloves
- 1/3 cup malt vinegar
- hog casings
Instructions
- Mix all of the spices together.
- Grind the chuck and pork shoulder on a medium grind plate 1 time through. Mix in all of the spices and the malt vinegar.
- Let rest for an hour before stuffing to let the ingredients meld.
- Pipe the sausage through a sausage stuffer. I like to use the KitchenAde grinder and sausage stuffer attachments when it’s time to work the beef hammers.
- You can leave the sausage untwisted in a single coil, or you can twist them into 6” links. Let rest for a good 4 hours before cooking.
- Heat up a sauté pan with a tbsp of olive oil over medium high heat. Add in the sausages.
- Sauté for 12-14 minutes, flipping every few minutes to cook evenly.
