FOOD IN THE WESTERN CAPE July 10th, 2013

 

FOOD OF THE WESTERN CAPE

The essence of Western Cape food can be found in the complex, multi-cultural history of the province.   A mixture of Asian, African and European food genres, every dish reflects waves of historical settlement and layers of culinary interaction!

 

CAPE MALAY INFLUENCE:

The strandlopers, back in the 17th century, dined on mussels, abalone, crayfish and seals, on roots and fruits and edible seaweed.  The Khoi, kept sheep and cattle and feasted on kaiings - crisply fried sheep-tail fat mixed with wild cabbage. The San, were hunters who needed neither seafood nor domesticated animals when game was abundant, which it was in the 17th century, even in the Cape.   Their diet consisted of buck or elephant or hippo meat, or “veldkos” which were wild plants that grew in the veld.

With the Settlers came spices... and the emergence of spicy East Bredies and many other popular Cape dishes:

Tomato bredie, normally made with mutton, is cooked for a very long time, and its seasonings include cinnamon, cardamom, ginger and cloves

Waterbloommetjie bredie is made from the  little creamy white flowers of the waterblommetjie plant (water lily).  This delicious stew is usually made with mutton and flavoured with sorrel.

Bobotie could be described as a Malay version of shepherd's pie, with a good deal of the spices  mixed with the mince eg:  cumin, coriander, tumeric, allspice, fruit chutney, almonds and sultanas as well as garlic and peppercorns - plus a masala that includes dried chillies, peppercorns, ground ginger, cloves, cinnamon sticks and cadamom pods, with a savoury egg mixture on top instead of mashed potatoes.

Sosaties (skewered meat) are cubes of meat (mutton, beef or chiken)  marinated with a spicy sauce.  The sauce usually consists of fried onions, chillies, garlic, curry leaves and tamarind juice.  The cubes of meat are then threaded on skewers and either pan-fried or barbequed on the grill.  

The Cape is of course most famous for its’ Cape Malay curries.  More sweet and mild than the Durban curry, they are served with an array of sambals (usually chopped fresh tomatoe + onion) and atjars (chutneys and mango preserves).

 

INDIAN INFLUENCE:

Some two centuries after the first Malay slaves landed in the Cape, a boatload of indentured labourers arrived in Durban to work in the sugar cane fields. Others followed - both Hindu and Muslim, from all over India - and when their 10-year contracts were over, they stayed.

Clearly there was a market here,  merchants arrived from Gujerat and the north to service it and, like the labourers, they stayed.  Indian cookery grew so popular over the decades that followed that Zulus in Natal adopted curries as their own, although they left out the ginger.

The classic Indian Delights cookery book, first published by the Women's Cultural Group in 1961 and since reprinted many times, claims that curry and rice is a national dish, and few would disagree.

The variety of curries, atjars, samoosas, biryanis are a delight to the South African palate, and the growing popularity of tandoori restaurants over the last 20 years has enhanced a popular cuisine.

 

TRADITIONAL SOUTH AFRICAN (AFRIKAANS) INFLUENCE:

South African dried fruit is as famous as its dried meat (biltong), and South African preserves are unbeatable.

Claimed by everyone but probably handed down by the Afrikaners' French forebears, preserves, known as konfyt (jam)- probably from the French confiture - feature jewel-like pieces of watermelon rind, quince or other hard fruit, soaked in lime water, then cooked in sugar syrup and spices, presented in syrup and eaten on their own.  Green fig is one of the best-known and most delicious, steeped in a syrup seasoned with cinnamon and dried ginger.

South African puddings are generally superb, and extremely sweet, and the legacy of all its inhabitants, from English trifle to Afrikaner melktert (milk tart).

So, to some extent, are the foods most commonly attributed to the Afrikaner: based on Dutch cuisine, with contributions from French and German immigrant communities, with a large dollop of Cape Malay, and tempered by decades of trekking.

Potjiekos, for example, says food writer and restaurateur Peter Veldsman (who invented the term), has been part of South African life since the first settlement at the Cape.  "In those days, food was cooked in an open hearth in the kitchen in a black cast-iron pot with legs so that the coals could be scraped under the pot," he notes in Flavours of South Africa.

Later, meat, vegetables and spices piled into a three-legged iron pot and cooked for quite a long time over a fire was the perfect way for trek farmers to keep body and soul together.  When camp was made, game was stewed, or mutton, goat or old oxen; the pot, its contents protected by a heavy layer of fat, was hooked under the wagon when camp was struck, then unhooked at the next stop and put on the fire.

The Afrikaner's traditional way with vegetables and fruit - baked pumpkin sweetened with golden syrup or honey, spiced sun-dried peaches stewed with cinnamon, cloves, allspice and sugar, or baby marrows and braised onions - all brighten a meal.

Boerewors (farmer's sausage) is another standard Afrikaner dish, the legacy of German settlers who, with largely Dutch and French immigrants, formed Afrikaner ancestry. Boerewors is essential at any braai, usually made of beef, pork, coriander and other spices.

Information courtesy of:  www.southafrica.info

 

WEST COAST FOOD

The traditional fisherman’s dishes from the West Coast borrow from the region’s rich culinary heritage. Some of the recipes are very old and were born out of hardship and ingenuity often occasioned by the challenge of the sea. Fortunately these culinary gems have been preserved by mothers and grandmothers hailing from the fishing communities dotted along the coast.  Delectable seafood dishes, mouth watering soups and desserts are just some treats to enjoy on the West Coast of South Africa.

Comforting winter dishes such as rich mussel and haddock soup served with freshly baked bread, milk noodles (melk snysels) and slow cooked, meaty pea soup, are winter favorites.

Bredies (stews) are always popular, as are stuffed cabbage leaves, wild asparagus stew, curried tripe and liver served with a sour sauce and braised onions.

The abundance of shellfish and line fish in the surrounding waters makes for many authentic seafood dishes. West Coast mussel paella, white mussel pie with a potato topping, smoked snoek tart and snoek head curry are but a few of the famous seafood recipes that originated along this coastline.

West Coast people are fond of sweet side dishes served with their meats. Bread and jam with fried fish is typical on the West Coast and so are sweet potatoes – sweetened  with brown sugar or baked in their skins.

Indulgent desserts such as cinnamon dumplings (souskluitjies), warm baked buttermilk pudding and old fashioned festive bread pudding with raisins are all regulars on West Coast tables.

Information courtesy of www.draaihoek.com