South African Recipes: For Chicken, Meat, Bredie, Borewors, Babotie ...

Traditional South African recipes for bredie, biltong, borewors, chicken, sosaties, babotie and many others.

Whether you are still back in the home country, or have moved away to far flung places around the world, one still remembers good old South African cooking taken from recipes that have been passed down from generation to generation.

This page is for those of you who enjoy recipes from South Africa and are good for both novice and accomplished cooks. Some will take some time to prepare, and others can be thrown together at the very last minute. There is something here for everyone. Enjoy traditional cooking that is sure to stir up nostalgia of farmhouse kitchens of the past.

SOUTH AFRICAN RECIPES: BREDIES

Bredies are classic South African recipes! Enjoy!

Tomato Bredie Recipe:

2 lbs best end neck of mutton

3 tablespoons butter or dripping

2 medium onions

6-8 ripe tomatoes

a small piece of red chilli

2 teaspoons sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

Method:

Cut up the meat into small pieces. Heat the butter or the dripping and fry the sliced onions until golden brown. Remove the onions. Add the cut pieces of meat to the pan in small batches and fry for a few minutes.

Pour most of the fat away from teh pan, and then add the sliced tomatoes and add the onions back into the pan too. Add the finely shredded chilli, sugar, salt and pepper. Cover the pan and simmer for 2 1/2 hours or until meat is tender. No additional liquid is usually required and stir often to prevent burning. Add a little hot water if too dry.

Bean Bredie Recipe:

Prepare exactly the same as for Tomato Bredie but substitute green beans for tomatoes. All 1/2 lb stringed beans cut into 1 inch pieces and add 3/4 cup hot water after browning the meat.

Cabbage Bredie Recipe:

Follow the recipe for "Tomato Bredie", but substitute finely shredded cabbage for the tomatoes. Add 1/2 cup hot water.

SOUTH AFRICAN RECIPES: CHICKEN

Gesmoorde Hoender Recipe(Stewed Chicken)

1 x 3 lb chicken

seasoned flour (2 tablespoons flour, 1 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper)

4 tablespoons butter

2 large onions, peeled and sliced

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1/2 teaspoon ground mace or ground nutmeg

1 green chilli

Method:

Divide the chicken into neat joints and dip into the seasoned flour. Fry lightly in the butter, them remove to a warm dish and keep hot.

Fry the onion until golden brown. Remove chicken pieces from the warming dish and place in a large pot. Cover with the onions, add salt, pepper, and ground mace or nutmeg.

Pour over 1 cup ;of warm water, cover and simmer gently for about an hour, or until chicken is tender.

Stir in the shredded green chilli just before serving. Remove the chicken to a hot serving plate, and thicken the gravy with 1 tablespoon of flour mixed smoothly with a little cold water. Add to gravy and heat gently.

Old Fashioned Dutch Chicken Pie Recipe

1 x 3 lb chicken

1 medium onion

1/2 cup white wine

1 blade mace

salt and pepper

12 peppercorns

6 allspices

2 tablespoons butter

1 tablespoon fine sago

1 egg yolk

juice of 1 lemon

1/4 lb ham, cooked and sliced

2 hard boiled eggs

1 tablespoon flour

1 quantity of puff pastry

Method:

Joint the chicken and cut into pieces. Place the pieces in a large pot wiht the peeled whole onion, and cold water to almost cover. Add the white wine and spices tied loosely in a muslin bag.

Cook gently for about an hour, or until chicken is tender. Stir in 1 tablespoon of butter carefully and sprinkle in the fine sago. Cook again - stirring occasionally until the sago is clear. Make sure that at this stage you watch the chicken as the sago can burn very quickly if you do not stir it enough.

Beat the egg yolk and add the lemon juice a little at a time, beating well after each addition.

Stir in a little of the hot chicken gravy into the egg and lemon mixture. Pour the whole lot back into the pot, stirring gently until the gravy thickens. Remove and allow to cool. Remove the bag of spices.

Arrange the chicken pieces in a pie dish, with layers of ham and sliced hard-boiled egg.

Cream 1 tablespoon flour with with the remainder of butter, and form into small balls. Put these between the layers of chicken and ham and pour over the gravy. Place a pie funnel in the center to prevent the pastry from collapsing.

Roll out the pastry to about 1/3 inch thick and moisten the edges of the pie dish with some water. Make a hole in the center of the pastry for the pie funnel. Put the pastry cover on the pie, pressing around the edges. Decorate with a small plait of pastry around the edges and some pastry leaves for decoration if you wish. Moisten the back of the pastry before attaching. Finish with an egg wash over the pastry.

Bake in a hot oven at 450° F for about 30 minutes. Reduce to 350° F after the pastry is nicely browned. Remove before it gets too dark.

SOUTH AFRICAN RECIPES: MEAT

These South African recipes are mainly made from minced beef or lamb.

Frikkadel Recipe

1 thick slice bread

2 lb mince, lamb or beef

1 medium onion

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1 tablespoon parsley, chopped

1 egg

2 tablespoons butter

Method:

Pour hot water over the slice of bread and soak it for a minute. Squeeze the liquid from the bread and add it to the minced meat, together with the finely chopped onion, salt, pepper, chopped parsley and beaten egg. Mix well and form into little cakes about 2-3 inches across.

Place in a well oiled pan, and fry over a medium heat making sure that the frikkadels are well-cooked right the way through.

Once cooked, remove pan from stove, add 1 tablespoon of flour, and some salt and pepper to taste. Make a gravy from either water that vegetables have been pre-boiled in, or use hot water from the kettle. If the gravy is not brown enough, add a little bisto mixed with some cold water first. Add to pan and heat gently to thicken.

Place frikkadels in a serving dish, cover with the gravy. Serve with mashed potatoes and vegetables of your choice.

Sosaties Recipe (Sosaties are Dutch Kebabs)

2 lb fatty leg of lamb

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

2 medium onions, chopped

dripping

1 tablespoon curry powder

1 tablespoon sugar

2 cups vinegar

1 tablespoon fruit chutney

1 cup cold water

6 lemon leaves, coarsely chopped

Method:

Cut up the meat into 1 inch squares. Season with salt and pepper and thread onto wooden skewers. When threading alternate with meat and slices of fat. This keeps the meat moist and adds to the flavour.

Prepare the marinade as follows: Slice and chop the onions and brown them in a pan with 2-3 tablespoons of dripping. Add the curry powder and stir. Make sure that you don't burn the curry powder at this stage.

Add the sugar, salt, pepper, vinegar, fruit chutney, water and lemon leaves. Stir well.

Put the skewered meat in a deep bowl and pour over the marinade. Leave in the fridge overnight or longer to allow the flavours to develop. Turn the meat over from time to time, making sure that all the meat has been well marinaded.

Remove the meat from the marinade, drain. Grill over a hot fire on the braai (BBQ) or under a grill for 10-15 minutes. While the sosaties are cooking, heat the marinade, strain and serve as a gravy.

We hope that you enjoy trying out our traditional South African recipes on this page. If you are looking for more South African recipes follow the links below. We will also be updating these pages from time to time, so check back later to make sure that you don't miss out on these wonderful recipes of times past.