A Cape Dutch South African meal: I need some help

[Darienne]

Thanks JohnT.  Looks delicious.  Can you please tell me the approximate capacity of a 'large Dariole mould'?  Thanks.

 

Sorry, I can't tell you how the post links work.  Still haven't figure it out myself.

Edited March 22, 2015 by Darienne (log)

[JohnT]

Thanks JohnT.  Looks delicious.  Can you please tell me the approximate capacity of a 'large Dariole mould'?  Thanks.

 

Sorry, I can't tell you how the post links work.  Still haven't figure it out myself.

The ones I use have a capacity of 155ml. They are 5.5cm high and a top diameter of 7cm. Basically, they resemble a smallish old fashioned teacup. I use them for making individual desserts for catering and restaurants. However, you could use a smallish (15cm) ring mould to make one pudding and cut it to serve or even use a ceramic bowl with about a 15cm diameter. You would have to adjust your baking time using a larger mould or bowl - just use the toothpick test.

Remember to remove the pudding from the mould before pouring the sauce over it, or else you will have a sticky blob stuck to the mould. John.

[Anna N]

Bless my soul. Look what I found at my local Longos today!

[Darienne]

Well, well.  Thank you Anna.  If we get up to Markham again, our nearest Longo, I'll get some.  In the meantime, we have a local store, the Firehouse Gourmet, which stocks hot stuff and I'll call them when they open. 

 

Nope, they don't.

Edited March 27, 2015 by Darienne (log)

[Darienne]

Well, the meal has now been moved up to Saturday.  My friend is a PSW and must work this Sunday and Monday.  People needing care do not take weekends off.

 

Made a test meal today:

 

- chutney: JohnT's Quick Apricot Chutney

- rice: Boschendal's Yellow Rice (recipe sent by ElsieD)

- Bobotie mostly (but only mostly) from Epicurious's recipe taken from Lannice Snyman. Rainbow Cuisine: A Culinary Journey Through South Africa, halved.  With additions from an SBS recipe.  Meat fried according to JohnT (Ed's choice to fry or not to fry) and then the entirety cooked according to JohnT's directions. 

- not made: stewed dried apricots called for by Boschendale.

 

Mistakes:  didn't realize that it is supposed to be thicker than I made it.  It did come nicely out in pieces, like Lasagna.  I had thought it was going to be more like a loose 'spoon-it-over-the-rice' dish.  I should have googled Bobotie and looked at the photos.  A deeper dish would also have meant the topping would be thicker.  Next time.

 

Dessert is still a toss-up between Melk Tert and Malva Pudding...or both. 

 

I LOVED the Bobotie on rice with chutney.  Loved it!  The spicing is wonderful. I did add from the other recipe: coriander, cumin, ginger and allspice and some hot chile.  ...I was very prudent in my additions...  I am not known for my prudent cooking nature.

 

DH's response was much more guarded.  He really wasn't sure how much he liked it.  First he decided he would have preferred it more like a loose dish.  Then he decided it should be cooked in a meat loaf type pan.   So in a much deeper pan it will be next.  All in all, he was not thrilled.  Not at all.

 

Oh well, you win some and you lose some.  And, besides I adored it.  :wub:  Thanks all, again.

 

Oops.  Forgot the photo.  Not elegant, I'm afraid.

 

Edited March 31, 2015 by Darienne (log)

[Darienne]

And, furthermore, DH suggested that I cover the pan next time...one of my four recipes does...as he found it a bit too dry.  I didn't.  Yes, he is a cook too.  In fact, he taught me how to cook when we first got married. 

Edited March 31, 2015 by Darienne (log)

[Darienne]

Quick question:  do you serve Malva pudding hot, cold or at room temperature?  Unfortunately I need the answer in 4 hours.  Oh well...I guess I'll heat it up again.

 

We really like the pudding and tried it hot with vanilla ice cream.

 

Made the Bobotie again, this time with no topping.  I'll add it today when I do the second part of the cooking.  Made two containers and one is in the freezer.  Stewed apricots are done.  All is in readiness.

 

Thanks again for all the help.

[JohnT]

I normally serve it warm with a bit of the sauce also warmed. Some folk serve it warm with custard and others with a small scoop of vanilla ice cream. John

[Darienne]

Thanks John.  I warmed up the pudding in the oven during lunch and served it with ice cream.  Wonderful.

 

The entire meal was, if I may say so, and who, indeed, can stop me?, was a brilliant success.  My friend, Annette, said that they had had some memorable meals at our place, but this topped them all.  So glad.

 

I am delighted to add some new items to my repertoire and shall serve this one to guests again.  Thanks again to all who helped. 

[Susanwusan]

On 3/19/2015 at 6:04 PM, Darienne said:

The daughter, a fellow dog lover, has picked Melk Tert for dessert, but I am still nowhere on the mains.  I have found several recipes for Bobotie which sounds like a possibility.  I've made it before but decades ago.  On rice I guess?

 

Have you got the melk tert recipe?

[Darienne]

Yes, thank you I do have a couple of versions of the dessert.  (I've never made it though...)

 

In fact, Annette, the daughter, has  gifted me with Magdaleen van Wyk, Cooking the South African Way, 1986.  I've made Bobotie and Blatjang and the Malva Pudding a number of times since for Canadian friends and they are always well received.

 

The  South African father, Karl Van Der Fliegen,  for whom this meal was originally designed in 2015 has by now passed away at 101 years.  The irony of my attempt to give him a 'familiar' meal was that he had never eaten South African food at all.  His wife was English and was, according to Annette, a terrible cook who stuck closely to that reputation that the English have of being terrible cooks.  She never once made any South African foods. 

Edited November 27, 2022 by Darienne (log)

[Darienne]

Strangely enough, Malva Pudding is not included in my South African cookbook and yet according to Google: Malva pudding. Possibly the most iconic South African dessert.

[JohnT]

Do you want a crusted one or crestless? The crustless is, for me, easier to make.

 

JohnT

[Susanwusan]

The crustless one then!

[Susanwusan]

I don't know what's in the book, but perhaps malva pudding is seen to be too common or plain compared to the other recipes?

[JohnT]

MELKTERT - CRUSTLESS - SJA de Villiers

Makes 2 x 20cm tarts or 1 x 24cm tart

(I use 20cm thick aluminium tart pans with a 5cm height - a 3cm height also works)

 

Ingredients:

40g butter, melted

3 eggs, separated

225g sugar

140g cake flour (AP flour)

5ml baking powder

1ml salt

5ml vanilla extract

1 litre milk

cinnamon sugar, for sprinkling

 

Method:

Preheat a convection oven to 160°C.

Separate the eggs and beat the whites to stiff peaks.

Beat the melted butter, egg yolks and the sugar thoroughly.

Sift the cake flour, baking powder and salt together and fold into the egg mixture, adding the milk slowly.

Stir in the essence and mix well.

 

For large pie dishes:

Fold the stiffly beaten egg whites into the mixture and pour into 2 greased 20cm pie dishes and sprinkle with the cinnamon sugar.

Immediately place in the oven and bake for 20 minutes at 160°C before turning down the temperature by 30°C to 130°C. Continue baking a further 20 minutes until set. Remove from oven and let cool on a rack.

 

Notes:

The milk and eggs need to be at room temperature.

Let the tart cool completely in the pie dish and then flip it upside-down onto a large plate and then a second flip onto a serving plate.

 

[Susanwusan]

Thank you.

[Susanwusan]

A colleague lent me her book from South Africa that she's had for ages - it looks to be by some sort of Women's Institute equivalent. This is the recipe I tried, mainly because it is cooked on stovetop and used to fill a cooked pastry case and left to cool.

Boil 4 cups milk with 1 tablespoon marge.  Separately, mix to a smooth paste, 2.5 tablespoons flour, 2.5 tablespoons cornflour, 1 cup sugar, 2 eggs and some vanilla essence.  Add this paste to the boiling milk and keep stirring until thick.  Pour into pastry shells and sprinkle with cinnamon.

That particular recipe was contributed by someone in Vanderbijlpark.

[JohnT]

At the end of the day, that recipe will do but can be a bit lumpy if not stirred well with a whisk. You also need a pie / tart shell. Did it work for you?

[Susanwusan]

Yes it did, and I'd made the pastry already.  Next time I make one I'll use the baked filling version.