On Heritage day, 24 September, take the opportunity to prepare a menu of South Africa’s favourite traditional dishes. Our selection of recipes include Siba’s recipe for a spicy corn rub (perfect for any braai), Reuben’s peri-peri chicken wings, ideal to serve with his chopped salad with Ideal milk vinaigrette, and two classic sweet treats – malva pudding (Hope Malau’s recipe), and milk tart from Bo-Kaap Kitchen.

peri-peri skewered chicken wings | Braai Reuben on Fire

“The king of the braai, chicken wings are a go-to dish that you need to know how to cook to perfection with minimum fuss and stress, whether you are camping in the pondoks or chilling on your balcony in the middle of a city. Buffalo wings, American-style, are actually only part of a chicken wing. They chop off the smaller end piece and use the “thigh” section of the wing, and while Americans like BBQ, chilli and Caribbean-style jerk seasoning, I love our own Southern African peri-peri influences. All the countries with Portuguese backgrounds offer it up in some way, from Angola to Mozambique and São Tomé. When I worked at Chamonix, I had the opportunity to go to São Tomé’s Bom Bom Island off the Ivory Coast. There, we had a wet, scorching hot chilli sauce called malangeta – the kind of stuff that leaves you with teary eyes and a numb tongue.

I love a hot sauce with chicken wings. A bland chicken wing just feels like a complete disservice to the bird. Make those wings flap with some fire.” – Reuben Riffel

serves 4

Ingredients

8 chicken wings • 2 pinches salt • 2 pinches black pepper • 1 tsp thyme • 1 tbsp olive oil • 8 bamboo skewers, soaked in water

For the peri-peri sauce
1 onion, sliced • 15 red chillis, chopped and deseeded • 4 red peppers • 100ml red wine vinegar • 30g smoked paprika

For the fragrant salad
½ cup fresh basil • ¼ cup fresh mint • ½ cup fresh coriander • 1 spring onion, thinly sliced • 3 radishes, thinly shaved • ½ red onion, thinly sliced • 1 lime, cut into wedges

Method

1. To make the peri-peri sauce, sweat the onion, chilli and red peppers over medium heat for 10 to 15 minutes. Deglaze with the red wine vinegar. Add the smoked paprika. Simmer for 20 minutes, then blend until smooth.
2. Marinate the chicken wings in salt, pepper, thyme and olive oil for at least two hours or overnight. To skewer the chicken wings, insert the skewer from the thigh side and skewer until straight.
3. Cook the chicken wings on a grid over medium-high heat. Baste with peri-peri sauce every minute or two. Cook for about 10 to 12 minutes. Remove from the heat and leave to rest.
4. Spread the chicken wings on a platter. Mix together the salad ingredients and place next to the chicken wings. Serve with the lime wedges.

spicy corn rub | by Siba Mtongana, The Great South African Cookbook

Store the spice mix in a sterilised jar – just make sure the jar is completely dry before putting it in. To use as a meat rub, add a little olive oil to make it easier to brush over the meat before braaiing.

serves 6

Ingredients

6 fresh corn cobs • 30 ml butter, to serve •  Spice mix • 30 ml smoked salt (you’ll find it at good delis) • 15 ml cayenne pepper • 30 ml dried chilli flakes • 30 ml dried mixed herbs • 30 ml smoked paprika • 2 ml lime zest (optional)

Method

1. Combine the spice mix ingredients and set aside. Prepare medium-hot braai coals.
2. Meanwhile, soak the corn cobs in a bowl of cold water until ready to cook – this will prevent them from burning and popping while braaiing.
3. Braai the corn cobs for 10 minutes or so until cooked, making sure you turn them every few minutes. Once cooked with a bit of charring here and there, remove from the braai grill.
4. To serve, brush with the butter and sprinkle generously with the spice mix.

ideal scenario salad | Braai Reuben on Fire

“I think I was looking for a way to force Ideal milk into this book. I’ll admit: I have a love affair with the stuff. Unlike a lot of people who, when they grow up, try to move away from the things they grew up with, I want to engage with them. I just want to do it in new ways. It’s a kind of gastronomic nostalgia. Ideal milk is one of those flavours from my childhood. It’s brilliant just over canned fruit like peaches in syrup, but surprisingly it has more savoury applications too. My mum loved creamy dressings, which were made by the addition of Crosse & Blackwell mayo. In dressings, Ideal milk plays the same role but has a fuller flavour and tastes better than milk, cream or anything else. I thought that to make a nice dressing with it was genius (if I say so myself). Here it works with a chopped salad, but it could be tossed through a potato or chicken salad, it’s that versatile. If you must, you can use cream, but somewhere there’s a can of Ideal milk that’s waiting for you to experiment.” – Reuben Riffel

serves 6-8

Ingredients

½ celery, finely sliced diagonally • 1 bunch asparagus, finely sliced diagonally • 1 punnet sugar snap peas, finely sliced diagonally • ¼ cucumber, deseeded and finely sliced diagonally • 6 heirloom baby carrots, finely sliced diagonally • 1 red onion, finely sliced • ¼ cup fresh parsley • ¼ cup fresh basil • 2 pinches sea salt • 2 pinches cracked black pepper • 2 tsp extra-virgin olive oil

For the Ideal milk vinaigrette
1 tbsp English mustard • 3 tbsp sugar • 1 tbsp white wine vinegar • ½ cup Ideal milk • 1 pinch salt • ½ cup olive oil

Method

1. To make the vinaigrette, whisk all the ingredients, except the oil, very well, then gradually whisk in the olive oil to create an emulsion. Set aside.
2. When slicing the vegetables and picking the herbs, place them in a bowl of ice water to refresh them. Strain, then take a handful of the mix and place in the middle of a clean dish towel. Grab the edges of the towel together and shake out the excess water. Repeat with the remaining mixture. You could also use a salad spinner.
3. In a large bowl, dress the salad with the Ideal milk vinaigrette. Layer on a serving dish; try to give it some height. Top with sea salt and pepper and drizzle with extra-virgin olive oil.

malva pudding | Johanne 14 by Hope Malau

Spongy, sticky and sweet, malva pudding is a big crowd pleaser in most homes – second only to custard and jelly.

Serves 4–6

Ingredients

220 g (1 cup) caster sugar • 2 eggs • 15 ml (1 tbsp) apricot jam • 175 g (1⅓ cups) cake wheat flour • 2,5 ml (½ tsp) bicarbonate of soda • 1 ml (¼ tsp) salt • 40 g (2½ tbsp) butter • 125 ml (½ cup) milk • 15 ml (1 tbsp) white wine vinegar

Sauce
180 ml (¾ cup) evaporated milk • 125 ml (½ cup) warm water • 200 g (1 cup) sugar • 15 g (1 tbsp) butter • 2,5 ml (½ tsp) vanilla essence

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C and grease a large ovenproof dish.
2. In a large mixing bowl, combine caster sugar, eggs and apricot jam and beat until pale and fluffy.
3. In a second mixing bowl, sift flour, bicarbonate of soda and salt together.
4. In a small pan over low heat, melt butter and stir in milk and vinegar.
5. Add the dry mixture to the sugar-and-egg mixture and stir to combine. Then add the butter-and-milk mixture and whisk to form smooth batter. Pour the batter into the greased dish.
6. Bake for 40 minutes or until sticky brown in colour and an inserted skewer comes out clean.
7. In the meantime, combine evaporated milk, water and sugar in a pan. Bring to a boil and keep stirring until the sugar has dissolved. Add butter and vanilla essence. Pour the hot sauce over the warm pudding as soon as it comes out of the oven.

milk tart | by Hajira Ely, Bo-Kaap Kitchen

Also known by its Afrikaans name, melktert, this sweet, creamy custard pie is a South African classic

Ingredients

Base
¾ cup sugar • 125g Marvello margarine (or butter) • 1 egg • 1 tsp vanilla essence • 2 cups self-raising flour

Filling
1 litre milk • 7 large eggs • 3 tsp custard • ¾ cup sugar • 1 tsp vanilla essence

Method

1. To make the base, cream the sugar and margarine together. Add the egg and vanilla essence, then mix in the flour until a dough forms. Grease a 30 x 15cm baking tray or dish and line with the dough.
2. To make the filling, heat milk to lukewarm temperature, add the rest of the ingredients and mix with an egg beater until smooth. Pour this mixture into the lined tray and bake at 180°C for 45 minutes.

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