Traditional Easter Fare

It is that time of year again. Easter. For some reason Easter is celebrated in South Africa almost like Thanksgiving in The United States; Lots of family gatherings and lots of food.

Perhaps it has much to do with being the end of the harvest season. Us city- and seaward oriented folks tend to get somewhat dislodged from Mother Earth and the seasons. But the religious festivals help to keep us in line with the seasons.

For one, I know this festival is very close to the first equinox of the year which falls on 21-22 March. That is when the sun crosses the equator on its way to the northern hemisphere for their summer. It is also the first star gate of the year for some religions.

But here it is Easter. Time for wonderful celebrations and always accompanied with good food and wine. The Cape is no exception and Mother Nature played along very nicely this year and provided lots of good fishing recently. This played magnificently into the tradition to have pickled fish and bread for a picnic lunch in the balmy autumn weather here in the Cape Town area.

I am not a fisherman, so I went to the local fish market by the jetty and bought a fish. Pickled fish appears to be like South African potjiekos, a very personal dish with jealously guarded recipes.

Luckily for us, not all recipes are so closely guarded and we have the famous Cass Abrahams, who published her recipe for pickled fish. This one is special also because it is one of the very traditional Cape Malay dishes, steeped in history.

For me, this was the perfect opportunity to test the Cape Malay style spiciness. The spice mix is simple, the preparation easy and the waiting time forever. I did not even bother doing an internet search, as I had a proper reference handy right on my bookshelf: Cass Abrahams cooks Cape Malay, by Cass Abrahams. The book is available from Amazon books. This recipe is adapted from this book.


This dish is normally made using cheap fish.  The book calls for snoek, which in other parts of the world is called queen mackerel.  However, any fish will do. Especially game fish as they have firmer flesh. The recipe may be made by frying the salted fish in butter or in a light batter. It does not make a difference. I opted for the plain frying in light oil as per the recipe. The dish also calls for vinegar, for which I used apple cider vinegar. This gave a very fruity taste to the dish and I had to add a little regular vinegar to get the acidity levels up. The sugar is added to your own taste, so take care. It is easy to have too much sugar. You can always add some later when the dish has cured for a day or two.

The solid ingredients need to be submerged in the pickle. If not, add a little vinegar and turn the whole lot around. This will get the bottom pieces to the top and allow the top ones some better soaking and curing. Be careful not to break the pieces of fish, else you end up with flaked fish in brine.


Very important: The skin needs to be taken off game fish. The brine or pickle will not penetrate the skin and thus leave your fish not cured and tasting bland. I tend to always skin the fish. You may do this by soaking the cuts in boiling water for a minute or so. The skin will then come off easily. The size of the cuts does not matter. However, I like to have all the cuts with at least one dimension under my control. This means I cut all the pieces to the same thickness, which, in my case, is about 20mm or ¾ inch. This will ensure a similar curing time for all the cuts. Over-curing does not matter, but under-curing does. And make sure the onions are properly cooked, otherwise you end up with very crunchy bits! The onions may be fried in butter before adding to the pickle, if one so prefers.

So here goes.

Ingredients

1 kg game fish. I used yellowtail
2 large onions, sliced into rings
5 thumbs garlic, mashed
250 ml vinegar
125 ml water
10 ml coriander powder
10 ml cumin powder (jeera)
15 ml masala
5 ml turmeric
2 bay leaves
4 pimentos
4 cloves
1 ml peppercorns
Sugar to taste. I used brown sugar

Process

Salt the fish and fry until done. I did mine in batches. Keep these to the side and keep the frying oil. Add the fluids and the dry ingredients, except the sugar, to a saucepan and set to boil. Turn the heat down and simmer for a few minutes until the onions are translucent but still firm. Add sugar to taste.

Pour the hot sauce over the fish and ensure that every piece is properly coated with the pickle. Allow to cool and set into the refrigerator for three to four days. This will allow the flavours to develop and help the fish and onions to cure. Turn the lot every day to get the pickle soaking in properly.

Simple.

This dish goes well with an artisan loaf of bread, real butter and an off-dry white wine.

Bon appetit!



Authored by Johan Zietsman

Last updated on 2015-03-29

Winter Weather Food: Traditional Groenboontjie Bredie

Perhaps better described as green bean stew for my friends overseas. But something is lost in the translation, methinks. The Afrikaans language just has that extra ring to it.

Most of us grew up with some version of this dish. Cubed meat, some tomatoes and green beans. It is one of those dishes that warms the cockles of your heart on a cold, stormy Cape winter day. The sauce part of it should be quite thick, otherwise you end up with a modified soup. Not what I would recommend.

But that is my idea of what the dish should be like. Slowly simmered, the meat will fall to pieces. And the flavors will be enhanced by the caramelized onion and meat bits on the bottom of the saucepan.


In my younger days these traditional stewed dishes used to be made from meat that was quite fatty. I like the fat, but tend to trim it to some reasonable level. You don't want the fat to set in a half inch thick layer on top. I also  like to add the odd marrow bone. I rather like the flavors so imparted.

Both beef and mutton will do for this dish. You don't need the most expensive cuts as you will be cooking the meat for a long time anyway, until it goes soft like marrow. By this time the sauce should be quite nice and thick too.

Just what you want on a cold winter's evening.

Green beans may not be in season. You may substitute with any other green hard vegetables. I just closed my eyes and bought beans at an exorbitant price. I also added a can of sugar beans that I washed before adding them. The sauce is thick enough. You can also add some mushrooms towards the end. My missus put her foot down on this one, so I bowed to her tastes for this one.

Mushrooms go well with a chicken version, along with broccoli and cauliflower.

I prefer to use the whole peeled canned tomatoes as opposed to the chopped tomatoes. The whole peeled ones cook to a thick sauce, while the chopped version doesn't. The whole peeled tomatoes give a thick and creamy consistency to the sauce.


Add a little sugar if the sauce seems too tangy. It may be the tomatoes coming through too strongly. And add some good quality beef stock. Beef tends to be on the dry side. The stock will help to make the sauce creamier.

This dish is the simplicity itself in terms of ingredients. The process is not intricate either. There is only a sequence of adding ingredients. That's it. Done and dusted.

This dish goes well with rice. Any rice. Use Basmati rice on a special occasion. The dish will go  well with couscous too.

Here goes.

Ingredients

500 g mutton or stewing beef, medium fat, cubed
400 g green beans cut French style
1 can (400 g) whole peeled tomatoes
1 sachet tomato puree or -paste
1 can sugar beans, drained and washed
2 medium potatoes
1 medium onion
1 small hot chili
1-2 cloves garlic, mashed
some butter for frying
some oil for frying
some soy sauce
some water
1 cup beef stock. I used 2 generous teaspoons of stock powder
salt and pepper to taste
some origanum for garnish

Process

Heat the butter in the saucepan. Add the onions and fry until translucent to golden brown. Add the garlic and chili and fry for fifteen seconds. Add the meat and a dollop of oil. This will prevent the butter from overheating.

Fry the meat until brown, then add a dollop of soy sauce. This provides flavour and some salt. Add the can of tomatoes and the tomato paste. Stir well and reduce the heat to minimum. The dish must now simmer until the meat is tender. Add some water if required.

When the meat is tender, add the potatoes. I cut them quite thin, then they cook quickly. Add the beans when the potatoes start to get soft. The beans are already cooked, so they only need to warm up and absorb some flavour. You may add mushrooms at this stage if you so choose.

Add the origanum, salt and pepper to taste. Douse the flame and allow the dish to repose. The meat should be quite tender now, falling to pieces.

Meanwhile cook the rice.

Then dish up.

Bon appetit!


Authored by Johan Zietsman

Last updated on 2014-05-27

Day 36: Boerewors And Mash In The Rain

Today dawned with some sun. It woke me from my slumbers after my twelve to three watch. Then the sun promptly disappeared for the rest of the day.

Typical warm front weather, with lots of drizzling rain. The visibility is not too bad, about two miles I would say. But the rain is enough to have the saloon door closed against the driven splatter, making the atmosphere inside quite stuffy.

It also makes for quite close personal spaces, as everybody now has to sit either in the saloon or in their cabins. Cabins get stuffy too, so the conversation is somewhat subdued as well. The conversation is halting, stuttering, stumbling along. It feels almost like the weather has cast a wet blanket on everything, including the intrepid crew aboard our little vessel in this huge ocean.



Not being able to see far also has a side effect of dampening the conversation.

Needless to say, there is no chance of a sun shot today, as the sun is hidden behind the clouds. This makes for some interesting navigation practice for me, as there are now several factors to keep track of. We have now turned away from the South American cast and are making way towards the famous island of Barbados. The wind is fickle and we are losing the current as well.

With no sun I am now facing the challenge of determining a position by dead reckoning over a 48 hour period, complete with a guesstimate (fancy word for wild arse guess) of the change in the current and our effective distance and course made good. Hopefully the weather will clear sufficiently by tomorrow to allow a sun sight.

Today is my turn at the galley again. Our provisions are running low and the fresh vegetables are beginning to go off, so my choice was in this direction. Boerewors, mash, gravy, gem squash with butter and some sweet corn. Traditional South African fare.


The boerewors is done with a bit of a twist. This traditional South African sausage is fried in light butter until almost done, then simmered for a minute or two in some soy sauce garnish. The soy sauce adds a little flavour to the wors.

The gravy is then made by frying chopped onions in the pan fats, adding some water and perhaps a little stock for a creaminess. The sauce can be further thickened by mixing in a spoonful of the mash.

The gem squash is steamed along with the potatoes as they boil. This saves on dirty pots and pans. When done, the pips are removed and the flesh scooped out straight on to the dinner plate. Our sugar is running low, so there is only butter in the squash, with the sweet corn accompaniment bringing sufficient sweetness to the dish.

Voila! A traditional dinner.


Ingredients

400 g boerewors

6 medium potatoes, peeled

4 gem squashes

2 onions chopped

1 can sweetcorn

dot butter for every gem squash

dollop butter for frying

Some milk for the mash

salt to taste for the mash

Vegetable stock to taste for the gravy

3-4 tablespoons soy sauce

water

　

Process

Fry the boerewors in a little butter. When almost done, add the soy sauce and simmer for two to three minutes. Remove the wors from the pan and keep warm. Add the chopped onions to the fluids in the pan and fry until the onions are translucent. Add some water for more gravy. Add to this some vegetable stock for flavour, if you so wish. Simmer the gravy until it all has cooked through, then add some mashed potato to thicken the gravy. Add the boerewors back to repose in the gravy.

The potatoes are peeled, then sliced reasonably thin. Not cubed. The thickest dimension should be no more than 10mm/ just a tad under half an inch. Thin vegetables cook faster. Add the halved gem squashes to the potato pot to steam. They will cook faster than the potatoes anyway, since they are less dense than the potatoes.

When done, remove the squashes from the pot and scoop out the flesh from the skins. Add a dollop of butter for some creaminess.

When the potatoes are done, pour off the water, then mash them in the pot. Add some salt to taste and some milk for creaminess.

Then dish up. As simple as that.


Bon appetit!

　

　

Authored by Johan Zietsman

Last updated on 2013-10-30