Red Ajah: Cultural Exchange Week; Cultural Corner 5: South Africa

[Marta Sedai]

Hello everyone, and welcome to our Culture Exchange Week!

 

We will start today, on Monday the 10th, and end this wonderful Event on Sunday the 16th!

We will have a couple of Cultural Corners (a.k.a. threads) for each country we will talk about, and each will be fun to read and post in!

 

We will also have a quiz starting on Friday so you can all see what you have learned so far about WONDERFUL cultures we will represent!

 

So, lets start!!!

 

Cultural Corner 5

 

South Africa

by Tynaal Consen

 

South Africa is an extremely diverse country. We have the deserts of the Kgalagadi to the lush green forests of Tsitsikamma to the unspoilt beaches of the Wild Coast to the vibrant nightlife of Cape Town - we really do have it all.

There are so many things you can experience in South Africa. One moment you will be exploring the origins of man and the next you’ll be cage-diving with Great White Sharks and then you’ll find yourself in a lively township shebeen drinking traditional beer.

 

There is an amazing South African market of music... Bands that go well with the international flow and artists that have their own individual South African flavour. One very prominant music type is Kwaito.

 

The past of the South African people is filled with separation and struggle for unit. A South African knows the spirit of welcoming others and so we understand the value of a warm welcome to our Rainbow Nation– in 11 official languages. They are: isiZulu, isiXhosa, Afrikaans, Sepedi, Setswana, English, Sesotho, Xitsonga, Siswati, Tshivenda and isiNdebele

The country lies on the southern end of the African continent and is divided into 9 Provinces. We have three capitals:  Pretoria (Administrative), Cape Town (Legislative) and Bloemfontein (Judicial).

 

 

The main South African Sports are Rugby, Cricket and of course Football. No South African can enjoy an afternoon of sport without  Boerewors (“Farmers sausage”, so a sausage dish) ,  mieliepap (a porridge made out of maize meal) and sous (sauce, usually tomato) and for dessert some melktert (custard tart) and as a snack in between lots of Biltong! (which is like beef jerky/ cured meat).

 

Recipe for Pap:

4 generous portions

 

Ingredients

 

• 2½ cups (600 ml) boiling water

• 1 teaspoon (5 ml) salt

• 2½ cups (400 gram) Maize Meal

• A knob of butter

 

Method

 

1. Pour boiling water and salt into a pot with a thick base and a lid. Bring to boil.

2. Add the maize meal to the boiling water.

3. Close the lid, without stirring.

4. Reduce heat. Simmer gently for 5 minutes.

5. Taste the mix – that is the raw taste (dumbbass you don’t eat it raw)

6. Remove lid and stir well with a wooden spoon or a large kitchen fork.

7. Replace lid, reduce heat and steam for about half an hour, but be careful not to burn it.

8. Fluff with a fork or wooden spoon a few times during cooking.

9. Enjoy with homemade tomato sauce as side dish.

 

Recipe for Melktert:

 

INGREDIENTS:

 

Sweet Shortcrust Pastry

125g Butter

100g Castor Sugar

Pinch of Salt

205g Cake Flour

5ml Ground Mixed Spice

2 Egg Yolks

30ml Ice-cold Water

 

Custard Filling

1.125 Litres Milk

50g Butter

2-3 Pieces Stick Cinnamon

200g Castor Sugar

40g Cake Flour

35g Corn Flour

Pinch of Salt

3 Eggs

5ml Vanilla Essence

Ground Cinnamon for Sprinkling

 

DIRECTIONS :

 

Pastry

 

The pastry can be made by hand or in a food processor.

1. Cream together the Butter, Sugar and Salt and then rub or pulse in the Flour, Mixed Spice and Egg Yolks. Add the Ice-Cold Water and process to form a firm dough, taking care not to overwork the pastry.

2. Roll the pastry into a large, fat sausage. Wrap snugly in cling film and rest in the refrigerator for at least an hour.

3. Grease a 30cm metal tart mould.

4. Slice the pastry into thin slivers approximately 3-5mm thick and line the tart mould. Simply press them together, level out and then tidy up the sides by pushing with your thumb. Alternative, roll out the pastry on a lightly-floured surface and transfer gently to the tart mould.  Prick all over with a fork.

5. Freeze for at least an hour before baking.

6. Preheat the over to 200˚C. Bake the pastry shell direct from the freezer until crisp and golden - about 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool before filling.

 

The Custard Filling

 

1. Pour the milk into a large glass bowl suitable for microwave oven. Add the butter and stick cinnamon and bring to the boil.

2. Whisk together the castor sugar, Cake Flour, Corn Flour, Salt and 3 whole Eggs.

3. Pour this mixture gradually into the hot milk mixture while whisking continuously. I know this should be done the other way around, but I have found that by whisking vigorously you can prevent clumps from forming. Also, the secret is to have really hot milk to start off with so that the mixture starts to thicken almost immediately.

4. Microwave on high for 3 to 4 1 minute intervals. Whisk after each interval until the mixture is cooked.

5. Remove the stick cinnamon and add the vanilla essence. Mix well.

6. Pour the hot mixture into the pastry shell. Sprinkle liberally with ground cinnamon and allow to cool completely before serving.

 

 

Our Flag:

 

 

Symbolism:  The Y stands for the "convergence of diverse elements within South African society, taking the road ahead in unity"; black, yellow, and green are found on the flag of the African National Congress, while red, white, and blue are the colours in the flags of the Netherlands and the UK, whose settlers ruled South Africa during the colonial era.

 

 

[Millon]

Oh it is over!! I love pastry and I luurve custard! Man this cultural exchange week is makin me HUNGRY!! lol

[Bela_theDo]

South Africa seems so exotic.I would like to have a visit there,too...

 

Ok,I think this week,my Mum's gonna be so frustrated at me as I will try to make these dishes,and probably cant prepare them  :P

[Marta Sedai]

Ty, would you be a dear and give us some pictures, so when I do try to make it (and I will), I have an idea how it is supposed to look like...

[Tynaal Consen]

Oh sure thing!!!

 

These are stolen from google, but yes it's what they should look like :)

 

 

Melktert

 

I can't really find a good image of pap..

 

But it looks very like this, just without the yellow bits:

 

 

 

[Bela_theDo]

Wow...They look delish!

 

I need to try them out  :D

[Karasayl]

Mmm....all this food looks delicious. Say Tyn, isn't South Africa hosting the upcomming World Cup? Seeing as I'm a soccer fan...what are some traditional beer brand found in South Africa? :)

[Millon]

Ya know? I just got done eating and now I'm hungry all over again! Dang pictures lookin all yummy

[Tynaal Consen]

Yes! We are indeed hosting it :)

 

I HAVE TICKETS!!! ;D

 

The beers we have here are Black Label ( which I don't like :x) and Castle Lager!! (<3), we have the good old sorghum beer ( which in my opinion tastes ugh :P )

 

And those are the only one's I can think of, off the top of my head ;)

[Millon]

I LOVE CASTLE LAGER!!! There is a bar around the corner from my work that features over 150 imported beers! They have this BOOK of all the beers available. It's huge! That's some good stuff right there haha

[Elgee]

Carling Black Label too  :P

 

FYI i think the beer we get in south africa sucks ... lol ... unless you get home made beer at a shebeen (50% chance of getting alcohol poisoning), your only option is mass produced stuff. Non of the small labels you get in, for instance, Belgium and Germany.

 

BUT! We have incredibly good wine  ;D

 

 

[Millon]

I love wine! Do you have many wineries near you? I like a medium Red, a littel bit more on the dry side witha little sweet. What do you like?

[Elgee]

I live a few kilometres from some of the best wine country in the world  ;D

 

Just discovered the most divine Pinotage the other day. Unfortunately it's an Odd Bins (meaning there was a bit left over from some famous label, which they packaged under the Odd Bins label), so I don't know which label it actually is! grrr

 

Anyhoo ... I promised my Koeksister I'd post a koeksister recipe here, so here goes:

 

 

Koeksister/Koeksuster/Cakesister

 

A South African dessert often sold at flea markets and church fundraiser's, Wikipedia's definition: a syrup-coated doughnut in a twisted or braided shape (like a plait). They are prepared by deep-frying dough in oil then dipping the fried dough into cold sugar syrup.

 

Dough Ingredients

    * 2 Cups cake flour

    * 1/2 tsp. salt

    * 2 tbsp. baking powder

    * 4 tbsp. of butter

    * 1 egg

    * 1/2 cup of water

    * Oil for frying

 

Syrup Ingredients:

    * 1 kg of sugar

    * 1 and 1/2 cups of water

    * 1/2 tsp. ground ginger

    * 2 cinnamon sticks

    * Juice of one lemon

 

Method

 

Syrup – Important:

Do this the night before as you want the syrup super cold

  1. Dissolve sugar in water

  2. Add spices and lemon juice and bring to a boil

  3. You can mix in a teaspoon or two of cream of tarter in place of the lemon juice

  4. Put the syrup in your fridge over night to cool

 

Dough

  1. Sift flour salt & baking powder

  2. Rub in butter and mix until pliable

  3. Mix with egg and water, adding the water a little at a time, kneed well. Don't be stressed if the dough gets very sticky and clumps just continue to work the dough and it will ball up nicely, of cause if you are not doing this by hand you’re going to eat yuppie sisters

  4. Leave the dough to rest at room temperature for 2 to 3 hours under the inverted  mixing bowl

 

Koeksisters time

  1. Roll out the dough to about 5 mm thick

  2. Cut into strips 5 cm long 2 cm wide

  3. Cut each strip into 3 strip but not through the top, now plait the dough and pinch it at the end

  4. plait the sister Deep fry the dough until golden brown - remove and drain quickly as you are going to dip the hot Koeksisters into your cold syrup

  5. Keeping syrup colds and the Koeksisters hot when dipping is key to get the right amount to syrup drawn into the Koeksisters to get that sweat pop that all sane South Africans love and crave

  6. A good trick to  Keeping the syrup Cold 5 to place the syrup bowl into a container of iced water

  7. Now munch!

 

 

 

[Karasayl]

*drools* OMG that looks fantastic...*stomach growls*

[Millon]

oh sweet Jebus, Marion Joseph!!! That looks so gooooood *wipes chin, realizes it isn't working and just puts a cup under his chin* I MUST try this.

 

 

 

uhhhh, can you possibly tell me what 1 kg. of sugar relates to in lb.s? hehehe DON"T JUDGE ME!!

[Marta Sedai]

That is similar to Tulumba, which we love here in Serbia, but me thinks it originates from Turkey....

 

 

*goes to ask Bels*

[Bela_theDo]

Tulumba,yep,we like it a lot here,too...I am an exception though,too sweet for my taste  :D

[Marta Sedai]

Oh, really? Well, I always prefer chocolate, but Tulumba is really nice!

[Millon]

That talumba looks like it would be good with a little choco drizzle.

[Amadine]

oh sweet Jebus, Marion Joseph!!! That looks so gooooood *wipes chin, realizes it isn't working and just puts a cup under his chin* I MUST try this.

 

 

 

uhhhh, can you possibly tell me what 1 kg. of sugar relates to in lb.s? hehehe DON"T JUDGE ME!!

 

Millon..... 1 kg = 2.2lb *thud*

[Karasayl]

Aww...poor Millon, hes one of we yanks who can't grasp the metric system....then again, I was wondering the conversion as well... ::)