SOUTH AFRICAN TRADITIONAL RECIPES - Click Here

Traditional South African food is a diverse mix of Indigenous African, Dutch, Malay, Indian, and British flavors. Key staples include the social grill called a braai, spiced minced-meat bakes like bobotie, and corn porridge called pap.

Pap: A thick, stiff porridge made from ground maize meal, eaten with hands or shaped into balls.

Umngqusho: A Xhosa dish of tender sugar beans and samp (cracked corn kernels).

Chakalaka: A spicy, vegetable relish of tomatoes, onions, carrots, and peppers often served cold

Braai: A social gathering centered around cooking meats over wood or charcoal fires.

Boerewors: A heavily spiced, coiled beef and pork sausage cooked at a braai.

Biltong: Thin strips of meat cured in vinegar and spices, then air-dried.

Bunny Chow: A hollowed-out loaf of white bread filled with hot, aromatic curry.

Vetkoek: Deep-fried golden dough balls stuffed with savoury mince or jam.

AND MUCH MUCH MORE!!!

To host a proper traditional South African braai, master the fire using dense hardwood, appoint a single braai master, and serve iconic sides like braaibroodjies.

The Fire (The Heart of the Braai)

• Use dense African hardwoods like Kameeldoring, Sekelbos, or Rooikrans for hot, long-lasting coals.
• Build your wood in a stacked tower like a chimney to optimize airflow. Optional, Build a hot, long-lasting bed of coals. Stack your wood in a chimney or tower formation to maximise airflow and create a strong, even fire. A useful tip is to place a layer of charcoal at the bottom before stacking the wood on top. As the wood burns, it ignites the charcoal while also producing its own glowing coals, giving you a hotter fire and a larger, longer-lasting bed of coals—perfect for a traditional South African braai.
• Wait 45 to 60 minutes until the wood burns down to glowing red coals with a light ash coating; never cook over open flames.

Rules and Etiquette

• One Braai Master: The host or designated person manages the grid and the tongs. Guests must never interfere or give unsolicited advice from the sidelines.
• Define the Format: Clarify early if it is a Bring 'n Braai (guests bring their own meat and drinks) or if you are catering fully.
• Snacks First: Keep guests happy with biltong, droëwors, or chips while waiting for the coals to form.
• Gas is never used at all.

MAKE YOUR OWN BILTONG

Making your own biltong requires curing beef with vinegar and spices, then air-drying it. The essential ingredients are beef silverside or topside, coarse salt, and freshly ground coriander.

Ingredients and Equipment

• Meat: 2 kg to 2.5 kg of beef silverside or topside, cut into strips about 2.5 cm thick with the grain.
• Vinegar: Malt vinegar or brown vinegar (about 1 cup).
• Spice Mix:
• 2 tablespoons coarse sea salt
• 2 tablespoons whole coriander seeds (toasted and coarsely ground)
• 1 tablespoon coarse black pepper
• Optional: 1 teaspoon brown sugar or Worcestershire sauce
• Equipment: Biltong box (drying cabinet) with a small fan and light bulb, plus meat hooks or clean paper clips.

Step-by-Step Instructions

• Prep the meat: Slice the beef into 2.5 cm thick strips following the direction of the muscle grain.
• Toast and grind: Toast the coriander seeds in a dry pan until fragrant, then crush them coarsely. Mix with salt and pepper.
• Vinegar wash: Dip or splash the meat strips with vinegar (and Worcestershire sauce if using) so all surfaces are wet.
• Spice the meat: Rub the spice and salt mixture evenly into every piece of meat.
• Cure: Place the meat in a covered dish or sealed bag in the refrigerator for 12 to 24 hours to cure and absorb flavors.
• Hang to dry: Push a biltong hook or bent paper clip through the thick end of each strip. Hang them inside your biltong box with the fan running.
• Monitor and finish: Let dry for 4 to 7 days depending on your preferred moisture level (squeeze gently; it should feel firm on the outside with a slight give inside for a "wet" style). Slice thinly against the grain to serve.
• There are lots of YouTube videos on how to make biltong as well.

Make Bobotie: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nEMLgtRnwsg

Make Braai Broodjies: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQlnMQB78gw

Make Boerewors: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9revO4eJsk

Make Pap:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwXXwaEDqcE

Make Milktert: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COv8rbHUXUA

Make Koeksisters: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9v-hmn-f2PU

Make BunnyChow: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nyaWt4Vo3L4

Make Malva Pudding: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7l7TiDmVNhw

Make Rusks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JvIqNk1eFXg

Make Droëwors: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hytn-6sTQc

Make Frikkadels: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eoAV_bs1QJ8

Make Samosa's: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3bLgKyF_Ho

Make Roosterkoek: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRPLyHLcHw8

Make Vetkoek: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--Ue8xSXSvA

Make Biltong: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvcrp_2lInU

Make your own South Africas iconic Tempo Chocolate Bar

Recreating the discontinued South African Cadbury's Tempo chocolate bar at home requires assembling its three iconic layers: a shortcake biscuit base, a layer of caramel, and a milk chocolate coating. You will need shortcake biscuit buttons, homemade or store-bought caramel/toffee, and quality milk chocolate.

Ingredients

• 200 g good-quality milk chocolate (divided)
• 1 cup shortcake biscuit bits or small round biscuit buttons
• 2 tablespoons heavy whipping cream (for binding the base)
• 1 cup soft caramel or thick toffee sauce
• Small rectangular silicone bar molds or a small lined tin

Step-by-Step Instructions

1. Prepare the Shell and Base Layer

• Melt 2/3 of your milk chocolate gently in a microwave-safe bowl in 30-second bursts, stirring until smooth.
• Brush an even, thin layer of the melted chocolate into the bottom of your molds and place them in the freezer for 5 minutes to set.
• Warm the heavy cream and a small spoonful of melted chocolate together to create a light ganache mixture.
• Mix your shortcake biscuit bits into this soft mixture until well-combined.
• Press the biscuit mixture evenly over the set chocolate layer in the molds and freeze for 10 minutes until firm. Unmold into neat batons if using a loaf tin.

2. Add the Caramel Layer

• Slather a generous layer of your thick, room-temperature caramel directly on top of the firm biscuit layer.
• Place the bars back in the fridge for 15 minutes so the caramel firms up and becomes easy to handle.

3. Enrobe in Chocolate

• Melt the remaining milk chocolate using short microwave bursts until completely fluid and smooth.
• Dip each baton caramel-side down into the melted milk chocolate to completely seal the caramel and biscuit layers.
• Invert the bars and place them onto a tray lined with baking paper or clingfilm.
• Allow the chocolate to set completely at a cool room temperature or in the fridge for 15 minutes before serving.

Option 2 (https://steemit.com/food/@whattheduck/copycat-recipes-cadbury-s-tempo)

(Yields enough for 6 regular bars, or 12 mini bars, with cookie dough and caramel sauce to spare for later nibbles)

Shortbread mini-buttons:

• 100 Grams Confectioners Sugar (You can use castor, but my stand mixer broke and I don't think my arms would survive creaming granules!)
• 200 Grams Salted Butter (You can use unsalted, but I love me some salt)
• 200 Grams All Purpose Flour
• 100 Grams Corn Starch
• 1 Tsp Vanilla Extract (Optional)

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180C or 365 F.
2. Cream butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. (Add Vanilla if using at this point)
3. Sift in flour and corn starch and fold in with a spoon until juuust combined (you want little bits of butter mixture to stay untouched)
4. Wrap in clingfilm and refrigerate for at least an hour, but preferably overnight.
5. Dust your counter with a little flour and roll out to 1/2 cm or 1/5 Inch thickness and punch into tiny buttons. I used the small end of a round piping nozzle, but a straw and skewer to pop them out would work too- as long as it's cold it will hold its shape pretty much exactly.
6. Bake for 4-6 minutes, checking regularly after the 4 minute mark. Remove as soon as they're just starting to turn golden around the edges. (These little dudes burn super quickly. Watch them like a hawk!)

Caramel

• (60 ml) water
• 1 cup natural brown sugar
• 1/4 cup (80 ml) heavy whipping cream
• 3 tablespoons salted butter, (If using unsalted, adjust salt to taste)
• 1 Tsp Vanilla Extract.

Method:

• Add water, sugar, butter and salt to heavy based saucepan, slightly bigger than you think you need (it just helps prevent * the sugar from catching and a bigger pot helps prevent boiling over.)
• Gently bring to a boil over medium heat until sugar turns a warm amber- about 12 minutes.
• Remove from heat and gently stir in cream and vanilla
• If too runny, return to the heat for a few more minutes until a little dropped into a bowl of cold water turns into a soft little ball you can squash with your fingers. (We encourage a taste test at this point, it's already on your finger.)
• Remove from heat and leave to cool.

Ganache:

• 100 grams cadbury milk chocolate
• 100 grams high quality milk baking chocolate (can substitute for cadbury, but the baking chocolate helps harden the texture)
• 80 ml heavy whipping cream

Method:

1. Break chocolate into a microwave safe bowl, add cream and nuke over medium heat in 30 second bursts until chocolate just begins to melt.
2. Remove from nuker and allow to stand for a minute before stirring until smooth.

To Coat: (only do this bit after all the other components are assembled and set)

• 150 grams cadbury milk chocolate (for authenticity. Any milk chocolate will do for a dupe !)
• 50 Grams high-quality milk baking chocolate (helps the setting process if your tempering skills are as bad as mine!)

Method

1. Break 3/4 of the chocolate into small chunks in a microwave safe bowl and nuke in 30 second bursts until starting to melt.
2. Stir until smooth before adding remaining chocolate and stirring until completely melted.

To Assemble:

1. Line your mold (I don't have chocolate bar molds, so opted for a small bread tin) with cling film, or use silicone molds (I have one ice tray, they result in cute little tempo bites).
2. Brush the bottom of the mold with an even layer of coating chocolate and allow to set.
3. 3.Mix 1 cup of biscuit buttons with your ganache mixture and spread evenly into mold.
4. Place in freezer for 10 minutes until firm to the touch.
5. Unmold and cut into batons (about the width of any regular candybar)
6. Top each bar with a slathering of warm-but not hot- caramel and allow to cool completely
7. Dip each bar caramel-side down in chocolate, invert and allow to set on a tray lined with clingfilm.
8. Once set, store in an airtight container for approximately 2 hours before your human comes home and eats them all.