SA reads discussion

Our country is diverse, we have incredible food from a variety of cultures

I love Spur - proudly South African franchise restaurant with an American Old West theme!
Why?

And here I was thinking melktert, koeksusters and bredie!

And bobotie, and stews, and braai vleis, braai broodjies

Waterblommetjies!

I lived in KZN for 42 years and returned to Northern Ireland in 2004. I don't know whether I am Irish South African or South African Irish but one thing I do know........ I love both! What do I miss...... Gem squash most of all, although I am currently growing some. Koeksusters.... Unfortunately I am not a baker! Peppermint crisp. I am able to get mealie meal which I love. I miss the 'light' wines like Nederberg Lyric. I miss Country Life magazine, (i think that is what it was called) and Stoep Chatter in Garden and Home???? More than anything I miss the night sky. I think I am going to love this group!

Hi Irene, welcome. I recently found instant koeksusters at Checkers. Will give them a bash. Country Life still exists as does Nederburg lyric.

Love Nederburg Lyric!

Also see my post under "SA food" explaining some true afrikaans titles for south African foods.

Vet koeksusters- a kind off fried bread roll cut in half and filled with curry
Bunny chow- hollowed- out bread filled with chips and curry
Gatsby- long chip roll with other fillings

Ouma rusks
Rooibos tea
Chakalaka
Pap en sous

My mom likes vanilla rooibos tea--never knew it was South African! Neat!

Home grown!
Now she must try rusks with it, they're biscuits made for dunking, very dry otherwise

Cool! :-) Sounds kind of like biscotti or scones.

Kinda like biscotti
More solid

We have restaurants for all kinds of cuisines, albeit Americanized. I've never seen an English restaurant though. Too bland, perhaps? (though I do like Yorkshire pudding) And, no South African restaurants. I've never even thought of South African food. I have no idea what most of the items listed above could be, nor how to pronounce them.

Melktert- milk tart
It's sort of like a custard tart, but lighter, in pastry, with cinnamon
Koeksusters- would translate into cake sisters, it's like doughnut pastry twisted up, deep fried and drenched in syrup.
Bredie- stew, but the stock is like rich veggie based with spices
Bobotie- curried cottage pie (I think)
Braai- what we call barbecue
Vleis- meat
Broodjies- bread rolls
I cannot translate waterblommeties
Rooibos tea- made of a different plant

Everything is very rich and delicious and likely not good for you

Sounds like a lot of American food! Haha!

We've got a lot of exposure to American food!

Cecily wrote: "I love Spur - proudly South African franchise restaurant with an American Old West theme!
Why?"

can't answer for the American Old West theme, but yes, I agree Spur is wonderful. First time was in SA and then I was thrilled to find one in Windhoek Namibia on a trip earlier this year.

Bobotie doesnt have a potato layer on top. Instead it has a cooked egg-&-milk layer. And absolutely no cheese. So doubt it can be called cottage pie.

Do we have samoosa yet? Same sort of curried mince used in bobotie used as filling for a triangular shaped pastry deep fried in oil. Its a traditional cape malay food.

Also rooties: something like a filled pancake/tortilla. Filled with anything really. Usually with curry flavour.

Thanks Adele, bobotie wasn't a feature in my house. There's a meat dish everyone has forgotten. The non- carnivore remembers it well. My cat loves it. Starts with B...ong?
Then there's poitjie kos (food in a pot). Made outdoors in a cast iron pot over a fire, sort of a wild stew, there are no rules...

Vicky, is melkkos sago pudding?

Sue, my husband has made it a life time challenge to eat at every Spur he finds. It's what my siblings who have emigrated miss the most.

Melkkos is either bits of flour and water rubbings (frummels in afrikaans) or a thin kind of pasta (vermicelli) cooked in a thin custard with cinnamon

It takes ages but its WORTH IT!

all this food talk makes me hungry to try some!

It's hard to get a feeling for food digitally.

And masterchef! My mouth waters

I love melktart, rooibos, appletizer and bobotie! Also biltong and all the sweets. Yum:)

Rowena wrote: "I love melktart, rooibos, appletizer and bobotie! Also biltong and all the sweets. Yum:)"

At one point, cadbury's chocolates did limited edition Proudly South African Centers. So slabs of chocolate with creamy centers of melktert, peppermint fridge tart, koeksusters or neopolitan ice cream. Was so good!

Masterchef SA started for its third season and Thursday nights make me hungry. Any favorites so far? Last week's mystery box with all our SA faves looked awesome.
Have we ever mentioned how awesome rusks are?

The house cleaner lady and the train driving assistant. Sorry, i am so bad with names... They're my favourites!

Siphokazi and Roxy.

Yes, them. How about you Lisa? Any favourites?

The same actually. I think most people can't resist cheering for an underdog. My dad is coming to visit in September and wants to 'go visit' the kitchen... He will have himself appointed as unofficial taste tester far to quickly...