KitchenCOZA - a webshow about the culinary world of South Africa!

update (06 Oct 2015): Pick n Pay has uploaded the first episode of the second season of KitchenCoZA. Farm-styled Pumpkin Fritters! Yum!

One of the largest supermarket chains in South Africa, Pick n Pay, has started a web cooking show about traditional South African dishes on YouTube in May 2015. The show, hosted by Lentswe Benghu (Africa on a Plate!) and his colleagues Sue Ann and Alet (Tiaan in season two), features typical recipes such as Oxtail Potjie, Chakalaka, Koeksisters, Chicken Biryani and many more. Watching the episodes you get step-by-step instructions on how to cook the particular dishes as well as a link to the full recipe and a list of all ingredients. Some of the ingredients might not be available at stores outside South Africa, but I am sure that - with some imagination and improvisation - you can easily replace most of the spice mixes, ready mades and Pick n Pay-labelled products. If not, feel free to ask and we try to find it out for you!

Recipes from Southern Africa: Durban Chicken Curry

It's been a while since we last featured a recipe on our blog. Reason enough to dig into the world of local food from South Africa again and present you a recipe for a traditional Durban Chicken Curry. Kudos Claire Winstanley and the Expresso breakfast show!



Ingredients:

• 900g Free Range Chicken Drumsticks and Thighs
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• ½ teaspoon dried chilli
• 4 curry leaves
• 1 teaspoon fennel seeds
• 2 tablespoons Medium Curry Powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1 teaspoon fresh ginger, finely chopped
• 3 cups Organic chicken stock
• 6 tomatoes, diced
• 4 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 12 baby potatoes, peeled and halved
• Fresh coriander leaves, for serving

For more info about the Durban Curry, such as cooking instructions and the ingredients for the cucumber salad, click here!

Lonely Planet: The World's Best Spicy Food (book)

It seems that most travellers love spicy food. Not necessarily hot food, but definitely all sorts of spicy dishes. Thats at least the impression I got while travelling Europe, Africa and Australia over the last 10-15 years. The people of Lonely Planet must have had the same feeling and recently published "The World's Best Spicy Food", the follow up title to 2012's "The World’s Best Street Food".
I was a little hungry and thinking about dinner the other day when I first stumbled on Lonely Planet's new book. I flipped through the pages on shop.lonelyplanet.com and had to immediately buy it. What a great book! More than 100 spicy recipes from around the world, including mouthwatering recipes for Bunny Chow (South Africa), Piri-Piri Chicken from Mozambique, Sambaro from Tanzania and Doro Wat from Ethiopia! But it is not only about the recipes. You also get to learn where all the dishes come from, what they taste like and where you can ususally find them. If you or someone you know loves travelling, eating and cooking, Lonely Planet's "The World's Best Spicy Food" is definitely a must-buy! Enjoy!

The World's Best Spicy Food is available on shop.lonelyplanet.com

Video: The top 5 burger joints in South Africa

Everyone loves burgers, right? A very good reason for the Expresso Show, a daily breakfast show on SABC 3 in South Africa, to named the Top 5 burger joints in the country. According to the show the following five are South Africa's best:

• The Royale Eatery in Cape Town
• The Gourmet Garage in Johannesburg
• The Burger Bistro in Pretoria
• The Freedom Cafe in Durban
• The Dog's Bollocks in Cape Town

In the second half of the video clip, Zola, one of the show's cooks, cooks the so-called Expresso Breakfast Burger. Not bad aswell! Enjoy!

Video: The Durban Curry

On his hunt for the world's best curries, the Urban Rajah recently visited Durban to find out more about the curries of South Africa. At the famous Oyster Box Hotel, he spoke with executive chef Kevin Joseph about the three main curry dishes in South Africa, the three key ingredients in South African curries, asked him what a bunny chow acutally is. Enjoy and get hungry! Kudos Urban Rajah!

Southern African recipes: A traditional Bobotie (Cape Town)

If there is a typical Capetonian dish, it is the Bobotie. A Bobotie consists of spiced minced meat, chutney, raisins and is baked with an egg-based topping. The dish was introduced to Cape Town and South Africa by colonists from the Dutch East India Company, who learned to love it while staying in Batavia (Jakarta). It was later, at least since the late 17th century, adopted by the Cape Malay community of Cape Town and is until today one of South Africa's most favourite local dishes. Enjoy! Kudos Jodi-Ann Pearton and Darling Lama Productions!

Ingredients:

• 3 slices white bread
• 600ml milk
• 2 chopped onions
• 1 grated apple
• 60g butter
• 30g curry powder
• 900g cooked mince (lamb or beef)
• 30g chutney
• 30g chopped almonds
• 65g raisins
• 30ml vinegar
• salt & pepper
• 4 eggs
• 3 bay leaves

"Africa on a Plate" - a webseries about the culinary world of South Africa

We just updated the "Africa on a Plate" playlist. "Africa on a Plate", produded by Green Zebra Productions & Jurgens van Wyk, is a web series that follows Lentswe Bhengu, a young hip chef around Cape Town and South Africa, discovering new and interesting dishes. The show is a regular feature on mweb.co.za. Enjoy!



Episode 01 [Video 02.03]: Tokai EarthFair Food Market
Episode 02 [Video 04.05]: Madame Zingara's "The Sidewalk Cafe"
Episode 03 [Video 06.07]: Vergelegen Wine Estate
Episode 04 [Video 08.09]: Josephine's Cookhouse
Episode 05 [Video 10.11]: Madame Zingara's "Cafe Paradiso" 
Episode 06 [Video 12.13]: Camphors Restaurant @ Vergelegen Wine Estate
Episode 07 [Video 14.15]: The Creamery
Episode 08 [Video 16.17]: Market day at The Biscuit Mill
Episode 09 [Video 18.19]: Madame Zingara's "Don Pedro's" NEW
Episode 10 [Video 20.21]: Savoy Cabbage NEW
tbc.

South Africa: Four new episodes of "Africa on a plate"

update (04 March 2013): I had a chat with the dudes from "Africa on a plate" over the weekend. Their show will get hosted on mweb.co.za from the 11 March 2013 and another 12 episodes are in the making! Awesome!

Do you remember the webseries "Africa on a plate" with host/chef Lentswe Bhengu? Well, Lentswe and team are back with a couple of new episodes. I just stumpled on a trailer for season one (!?!?), as well as about four new episodes. It also seems that "Africa on a plate" will soon be a regular web show on mweb.co.za. Anyway, enjoy the four new episodes filmed at the Tokai EarthFair Food Market, at Madame Zingara's "The Sidewalk Cafe", at the Vergelegen Wine Estate and at Josephine's Cookhouse. We will keep you posted as soon as we know a little more about the future plans of the webseries "exploring the wild & real culinary world of Africa".

Africa on a plate (webseries): Two new episodes available

A while back we introduced you to the webshow "Africa on a plate", in which chef Lentswe Bhengu, a young and hip chef from South Africa, is exploring the wild & real culinary world of Africa. After a break of a couple of month, the makers of the series have uploaded two new episodes. Watch it now and get to learn how traditional African beer is brewed and what a Christmas chicken Cape Town style is like.

Episode 1: Pan-fried Yellowtail or "Grilled fish in Houtbay"
Episode 2: Curry in Cape Town
Episode 3: How to cook a sheep's head or "Smileys in Langa"
Episode 4: How to brew African beer - NEW
Episode 5: Cape Town Christmas chicken - NEW

btw - Africa on a Plate is a brand new startup asking for funds on their Indiegogo site. You can also follow them on Facebook and Twitter. Good luck guys!

Southern African recipes: Tomato bredie (South Africa)

It has been a while since we posted the last recipe from Southern Africa on the blog, but now I found one that I needed to post about and that you need to check out. In the video recipe, Gabi Le Roux, a South African music producer and avid home cook, explains how to make one of my favourite South African comfort dishes - the tomato breedie. A tomato breedie is a meat dish that can be made with lamb or mutton, or, like in the video, with chicken.



Remember to cook the bredie, which is an old Cape name for a dish of meat and vegetables stewed together, slowly for at least 2.5 hrs. The flavour will also improve if made a day in advance. Serve it with rice. Kudos @ Gabi Le Roux for the video and recipe!

Ingredients:

• 1kg assorted pieces of chicken (skin on)
• 3 large potatoes
• 6 tomatoes
• 4 cloves of garlic
• 2 (large) onions
• 1/2 tsp paprika
• 1/2 tsp chilli flakes (to your taste)
• freshly ground pepper
• salt
• mixed (italian) herbs
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 chicken stock gel pot
• 1 tbs butter
• tomato paste
• 2 tbs cooking oil
• 1.5 cups of water

New web series "Africa on a Plate" explores the wild & real culinary world of Africa

I just stumbled on a great brand new web series named a Africa on a Plate in which Lentswe Bhengu, a young, hip chef from South Africa, is exploring the wild & real culinary world of Africa.
In the first episode, host Lentswe Bhengu shows us how they cook sheep heads, also known as "smileys", in South Africa. In the second episode, he introduces us to one of South Africa's unique Indian Curries and in episode three he shows us his version of a pan fried Yellowtail. We are going to keep the playlist updated! Kudos Lentswe! We love the videos!

Episode 1 - How to cook a Sheep's head
Episode 2 - Curry in Cape Town
Episode 3 - Pan fried Yellowtail

update (06 Dec 2012): The guys of "Africa on a plate" removed some of the videos, uploaded them again in a different order and produced two new episodes!

Episode 1: Pan-fried Yellowtail or "Grilled fish in Houtbay"
Episode 2: Curry in Cape Town
Episode 3: How to cook a sheep's head or "Smileys in Langa"
Episode 4: How to brew African beer - NEW
Episode 5: Cape Town Christmas chicken - NEW

btw - Africa on a Plate is a brand new startup asking for funds on their Indiegogo site. You can also follow them on Facebook and Twitter. Good luck guys!

Supermarket prices in South Africa

The most social and important place in a hostel or self-catering lodge, except for the bar of course, is the communal kitchen. It is the place where everyone meets, where you can cook your meals or wait for the leftovers.

Anyway, cooking and eating are simply essential and we therefore made a (price)list of the items that we think are in the average groceries basket of travellers. It hopefully helps planning your holidays in South Africa.
Safe travels! [exchange rates in the daily news]

• bread - from R5/loaf
• butter spread- from R19/250gr
• eggs (large) - from R12/6ea free range 
• fruit jam - from R6/225gr
• peanut butter - from R14/410gr
• baked beans - from R5/can
• bacon - from R25/250gr
• milk - from R10/1l
• muesli - from R22/750gr
• yoghurt - from R5/175gr
• cheese - from R25/300gr
• fruits - price depending on season... relatively cheap
• bottled water (still) - from R4/500ml
• coke - from R8.50/500ml
• juice - from R14/1l
• biscuits - from R5/packing
• pasta - from R6.50/500gr
• pasta sauce - from R15/200ml
• instant soup - from R3/portion (Cup-a-Soup)
• steak - from R45/kg (rump etc.)
• chakalaka - from R10/can
• chutney - from R13/bottle
• chili sauce - from R10/bottle
• potato chips - from R3.50/30gr
• bovril - from R19/125gr
• marmite - from R19/125gr
• beer - from R7/330ml 
• cider - from R8/330ml
• wine - from R15/bottle R53/3l box (babalas guaranteed)

South Africa's Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan tabled the 2012/2013 budget on 22 Feb 2012 and had bad news for drinkers and smokers! So-called "sin taxes" on alcohol and tobacco are going up by between 6% and 20% (Spirits 750ml + 20%, beer & cider 340ml + 10%, wine 1l + 8%, tobacco pack + 5%-8%)
The prices in the list above are the old, but current, prices. (23 Feb 2012).

The list above is probably missing some items. Let us know what you think is missing & we will add it asap!

South Africa country guide >>

accommodation & tour booking >>

flights to Southern Africa >>

rental cars in Southern Africa >>

Southern African recipes: Monkey Gland Sauce

If there is one typical South African sauce it is "Monkey Gland Sauce". Monkey Gland? Well, no monkeys are harmed to make the sauce and there is, of course, no gland (or anything coming close to it) used to make the sweet and sour sauce that tastes so awesomely good with steak or even on a burger...

The origins of the sauce and why it is called "Monkey Gland" are not really known. I have heard loads of stories over the years - this one (slightly different here and there) was the most told:
Back in the early 1950’s some French Chefs worked at the Carlton Hotel in Johannesburg and wanted to please their rich, white (and mostly Afrikaaner) customers with what could be named sophisticated continental cuisine. The Chefs were doing their best, tried almost every recipe, but the only dish their customers really enjoyed was Steak & sauce. So the Chefs started cooking steak dishes with haute cuisine sauces, but it didn’t work aswell. At one point, and probably out of pure frustration, the Chefs decided to throw every commercial sauce they could lay their hands on in one pot and serve it to their guests. The result was the concoction of what we now know as Monkey Gland Sauce. This sweet and sour sauce struck a chord with the Afrikaner clientele as it reflected the taste of their other traditional dishes and became a true hit.

There are probably thousands of different ways to make "Monkey Gland Sauce" - the ones I know of are:

Durban Style (got the recipe from a butcher in Durban some years ago)
Ingredients:
• 30ml Sunflower Oil
• 1 Onion, finely chopped
• 150ml Tomato Sauce
• 30ml Soy Sauce
• 100ml White Vinegar
• 2ml Mustard Powder
• 10ml Brown Sugar
• Salt
• Pepper
Method:
Sauté the onions in the oil until the onions are translucent. Add the remaining
ingredients and simmer over medium heat for at least 5 minutes. Serve hot.

Spicy Style
Ingredients:
• 2 Onions, finely chopped
• 3 Cloves Garlic, crushed
• 50ml Sunflower Oil
• 2 Tablespoons of crushed ginger
• 200gr tinned Tomatoes
• 125ml Chutney
• 10ml Soy Sauce
• 25ml Mustard
• 25ml Worcester Sauce
• 50ml Tomato Sauce
• 75ml Port Wine
• 100ml Vegetable Stock
• 30ml Red Wine/Vinegar
• 1 Tablespoon Tabasco
• ½ Cup of Brown Sugar
• Salt
• Pepper
Method:
Sauté the onions, ginger and garlic in the oil until the onions are translucent. Add the
remaining ingredients and simmer over medium heat for 5 minutes. Serve hot.

The indi traveller's shopping basket in South Africa...

One of the first questions that comes to your mind when planning your travels is:

How much money will I need?

plane tickets? check!
accommodation? sort of... check!
tours, safaris? sort of... check!
rental car, bus, train etc? sort of... check!
restaurants, snacks? well, once in a while... check!

But what about the every day costs?

bread, pasta, bottled water, cigs, beer, wine ... well, check the list:

• bread - R6-R8/loaf
• butter - from R15/250gr
• eggs - from R8/6ea free range
• fruit jam - from R8/450gr
• baked beans - from R5/can
• bacon - from R16/250gr
• milk - from R10/1l
• muesli - from R20/500gr
• yoghurt - from R4/150ml
• cheese - from R25/250gr
• fruits - price depending on season... relatively cheap
• bottled water (still) - from R3/500ml
• coke - from R7.50/500ml
• juice - from R13/1l
• biscuits - from R5/packing
• pasta - from R10/500gr
• pasta sauce - from R15/400gr
• instant soup - from R3/portion
• steak - from R50/kg (rump etc.)
• chakalaka - from R10/can
• chutney - from R15/bottle
• chili sauce - from R10/bottle
• potato chips - from R8/125gr
• cigs - from R20/20 pack
• beer - from R5/340ml bottle
• cider - from R6.50/340 bottle
• wine - from R15/bottle R50/3l box (babalas guaranteed)

The list is probably missing some stuff. Let me know what you think is missing & I will add it.

South Africa country guide >>
accommodation & tour booking >>
flights to Southern Africa >>
rental cars in Southern Africa >>