Test your family’s palate with these exciting South African dishes

POLOKWANE – Get ready to spice up your festive cooking with a culinary tour of South Africa’s many cuisines.

Surprise your guests with a flavourful meal from a different culture altogether from your own.

Try Thopi, Koeksisters, and Hyderabadi chicken biryani – three delicious dishes that blend tradition with flavor.

1. For breakfast, swap your usual meal for ‘Thopi” (TshiVenda) or “Kgodu”(SePedi).

This green squash porridge is often eaten in the morning and it cooks for about 45 minutes.

Otherwise, you can portion the carbohydrate with a side if made to be hard to a consistency similar to pap, as lunch or supper.

Ingredients
600g Green Squash which can be substituted with pumpkin
1 Cup Maize Meal
Half a cup of white or caramel sugar for a caramel flavour
Half of a teaspoon of cinnamon powder for sprinkling (optional)

Directions
Peel off the skin and the inside must be yellow.
Remove all the seeds and cut into 2cm cubes.
Place a large pot on the stove and add the water (ensure the water is cold so that the squash will cook thoroughly).
Add in the squash and a pinch of salt.
Leave it to boil (You can add a bit of water if it is cooking too dry).
Once the squash is soft you can mash it making sure there are no lumps.
Once mashed, add maize meal and fold it in using a wooden spoon.
Let it cook for a few minutes until soft and keep stirring to prevent it from burning.
Fold in the sugar.
If it is too stiff, you can add in a little bit of water to give it a porridge consistency.

2. Try Koeksisters for dessert.

An Afrikaans sweet tooth delicacy you can fry and even store in the fridge.

Ingredients:

– One cup of cake flour
– One tablespoon of baking powde
– A ¼ teaspoon of salt
– Two tablespoons of cold unsalted butter, cut into chunks
– A ½ cup of milk
– Two cups of oil, or as needed

Directions

– Sift flour, baking powder, and salt into in a bowl.
– Add butter and rub with your fingertips until the mixture has a cornmeal texture.
– Add milk and stir until a smooth dough forms.
– Wrap dough in plastic wrap and let rest for at least 2 hours.
– Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and roll into a 13×35.5cm rectangle about 0.6cm thick.
– Cut into 28 1.3cm wide strips. Twist two strips together and pinch the ends to seal.
– Repeat with remaining strips. Cover with a clean cloth and let rest for 15 minutes.
– Heat two inches oil in a deep fryer or large saucepan to 175 degree Celsius.
– Set a wire rack over a baking sheet. Pour some of the cold syrup into a bowl; return remaining syrup to the refrigerator.
– Fry three koeksisters in hot oil until fragrant and golden brown, 2 to 5 minutes.
– Remove with a slotted spoon and immediately immerse in cold syrup for 10 seconds. Transfer to the wire rack to cool. Repeat to fry and dip remaining koeksisters, replenishing cold syrup as necessary.

3. Hyderabadi chicken biryani is the arguably the most delicious and aromatic Indian dish, with juicy chicken in layers of fluffy rice, fragrant spices and fried onions.

It has the perfect balance of flavors, so you get to experience and enjoy every ingredient.

Method:
– Clean 1kg of meat.
– In a pan, add meat, salt, ginger garlic paste, red chilli powder, green chilli paste, sauteed brown onions, cardamom powder, cinnamon, cumin seeds, cloves, mace, mint leaves and lemon juice. Mix all of these ingredients thoroughly together.
– Add curd, clarified butter, semi-cooked rice, saffron, water and oil. Mix it well.
– Now apply sticky dough on the sides of the pan.
– Cover it with a lid and cook for about 25 minutes.
– Hyderabadi biryani is ready to eat. Garnish it with boiled eggs, sliced carrots, cucumbers and serve hot.