Africa at Table: A Savory Experience

My first memorable dinner on my trip to South Africa in November of 2015 was of warthog, delectable slabs of crisply browned meat cut from the rib cage of the wild, tusk-bearing pig that is native to the country. Setting was a courtyard surrounded by a stockade of saplings, their tips pointed to protect us from residents of the wilderness – the flat grasslands called the veldt in the Victoria Falls National Park which surrounded our elegant Zimbabwe resort called The Elephant Camp.

The exotic barbecue dinner was lit by a combination of lanterns and the fires roasting the warthog and other meats suspended over the flames. After learning that elephants and other less friendly wild animals were probably lurking just down a slope below the inn, located a half-hour from Victoria Falls, we warded off our unease with superb South African wine.

That dinner was the start of three weeks of exotic food and wine experiences. Warthog aside, my prevailing memory of the food around the Cape of Good Hope is of many spices, delicately flavouring every course.

Through the centuries, South Africa has been fertile. Think of the superb fruit we enjoy from that country many months of the year – citrus fruit (red grapefruit in particular), apples (the best Granny Smiths), and grapes (succulent black Barlinkas).

About 1651 the Dutch, always gifted gardeners, began to farm on the cape, initially to supply their ships, later deciding to settle and build permanent communities. Travellers can still spot Dutch architecture in various communities. Boer, as the people of the region came to be known, is Dutch for farmer.

To work the land, they imported slaves from the Orient, in particular Java, Sumatra and other East Indies. The descendants of these peoples came to be called Cape Malays.
Then came French Huguenots, Protestants stripped of their rights by Louis XIV. These French fled persecution in France, beginning in 1685. They started vineyards, initiating production of the exceptional South African wines we enjoy today.

Other culinary influences can be traced to the French, British and Germans, all as a result of interest in colonizing and profiting from this fertile, resource-rich land. One of our more surprising lunch menus was in an oasis in the desert of Namibia – devilled eggs and fresh fruit.
When the British came and set up sugar plantations in the 19th century, they imported thousands of Indian workers, with the result that curries became popular. Oriental fruit began to appear in chutneys, pickles and fruit salads. Vegetables such as eggplant, pumpkin, cabbage, beans and corn became familiar.

The best meal we had in South Africa was a Cape Malay dinner in a small and elegant hotel called Ellerman House in the Bantry Bay suburb of Cape Town. Spices such as curry powder and turmeric were gently used to flavour many of the dishes, including a big meat pie called bobotie (see recipe). We learned this pie is a basic in every South African household, comparable in our families to shepherd’s pie but with a more delicate flavour. It’s a casserole of meat and fruit with a curry flavour, enriched with a custard topping. The gentle combination of spices in the bobotie and the setting at the Ellerman House upgraded this dish into the gastronomic class as we dined in what felt like a private mansion, every wall displaying contemporary South African paintings.

Our hosts for this memorable dinner were former Montrealers Paul and Mary Lamontagne, who have lived in the beautiful coastal city of Cape Town for more than a decade. They also put us on to another fine meal, in the Signal restaurant in the elegant Cape Grace Hotel. There, in a glass-walled room overlooking dozens of moored yachts and smaller craft, I remember a brochette of grilled antelope, or springbok, a sweet and tender meat. One of my travel companions, Mark Russell, considered his corn soup, decorated with popcorn around the rim of the bowl, a work of art.

Cape Town was also the scene of one of our most appreciated meals, at Cape Town Fish Market on a terrace near the ferry dock. We had taken a ferry to Robben Island in Table Bay near Cape Town, then boarded a bus, and then walked dusty distances to visit the prison where Nelson Mandela had been incarcerated. We peered into the tiny cell occupied by the South African anti-apartheid revolutionary and learned about the leadership he displayed with fellow inmates from a guide who had once been a prisoner. Tired, but inspired by our island visit, I cannot remember grilled shrimp and white wine ever tasting so good.

Mary Lamontagne, who published a cookbook in 2013 that includes a number of African recipes, explained that our Ellerman House dinner represented Cape Malay cuisine at its best. Mary trained at the Ritz Escoffier Culinary School in Paris and worked as a food consultant in African hotels and bush camps before writing Eats: Enjoy All The Seconds (Advantage/Whitecap, 2013). Her 135 recipes, generous with vegetables and fruits, emphasize efficient use of ingredients so as to avoid waste. Mary’s eggplant curry from her cookbook (see recipe below) is a fine example.

She also shared her version of a popular South African dessert, the British-influenced Malva pudding (see recipe), which she serves with ice cream or orange-flavoured crème anglaise.

Dining in Durban, a large coastal city on the Indian Ocean, at the home of British expatriates Lionel and Sheila Astill, our international food experiences continued with Sheila’s spiced shrimp soup made with coconut milk and a British plum pie (see recipe). Lunch with the Astills at Durban’s Oyster Box Hotel turned out to be a challenge: how to choose from a lavish buffet made up of dozens of different curries.

Here are some of my favourite recipes from my African travels:

BOBOTIE
Serves 6 to 8

This minced meat pie has the status in South Africa that moussaka has in Greece, goulash in Hungary, and shish kabobs in Turkey. Made with beef or lamb, flavoured with garlic, curry powder and turmeric, it develops a deep brown crust thanks to the egg custard that is poured over top and then baked. This version comes from Ellerman House in Cape Town.

• 2 tablespoons (30 mL) vegetable oil
• 2 onions, chopped (2 cups/500 mL)
• 2 pounds (1 kg) lean ground beef
• 1 thick slice white bread
• 1 cup (250 mL) milk
• 1 tablespoon (15 mL) curry powder*
• 1 tablespoon (15 mL) granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons (10 mL) salt
• ½ teaspoon (2 mL) freshly ground pepper
• ¾ teaspoon (4 mL) turmeric
• 1-1/2 tablespoons (22 mL) vinegar
• ½ cup (125 mL) seedless raisins
• 2 tablespoons (30 mL) chutney
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 medium eggs
• Flaked almonds (optional)
• Hot steamed rice
• Chutney

Heat oil in medium-sized heavy frying pan over medium heat and cook onions until transparent, about 10 minutes. Add ground beef, breaking it up as it cooks, until lightly browned, about 10 minutes.

Soak bread in ½ cup (125 mL) of the milk. Squeeze out excess milk and return it to the 1 cup (250 mL) measure. Mash soaked bread with a fork and stir it into the meat mixture.
Stir in curry powder, sugar, salt, pepper, turmeric, vinegar, raisins and chutney until blended. Transfer mixture to a greased baking dish (11 by 7 inches/2 L, or 9-inch square/2.5 L), gently patting mixture so it is evenly distributed. Arrange bay leaves and almonds on top.
Bake for 25-30 minutes in oven preheated to 350 degrees F (180 C).

Beat eggs with milk. Remove pan from oven and pour egg mixture over all. Return to oven to finish baking for another 25 minutes.

Serve hot with steamed rice and chutney. Or serve cold with a salad.

EGGPLANT CURRY

Serves 4

Mary Lamontagne created this vegetable curry after visiting Zanzibar and its spice markets. It’s one of a number of African recipes in her cookbook called Eats: 135 Colourful Recipes to Savour & Save (Advantage/Whitecap, 2013). She and her husband have travelled widely in Africa, enjoying the favourite dishes of its different lands. Her time spent working in game lodges in South Africa, where fresh food was often delivered only weekly, taught her careful use of all ingredients. Eggplants, she notes in her book, should have a shiny skin and green stem. The skin, when pressed gently, should spring back. The vegetable lasts a week in the refrigerator. It may be sliced, salted, seared briefly and then frozen in containers to use later in cooked dishes. Or, the slices may be breaded, fried, and frozen to reheat later.

• 2 medium or 4 small eggplants
• 1 tablespoon (15 mL) salt
• 4 tablespoons (60 mL) olive oil
• 1/2 medium onion, minced (1/2 cup/125 mL)
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon (15 mL) minced, fresh gingerroot
• 1 teaspoon (5 mL) curry powder*
• 1 can (14 ounces/398 mL) whole tomatoes with juice, or 1-1/2 cups (375 mL) whole,
• cooked tomatoes**
• ¾ cup (175 mL) coconut milk
• Sea salt and freshly ground pepper
• ¼ cup (60 mL) shredded coconut, toasted
• 1 tablespoon (15 mL) chopped fresh coriander
• Hot basmati rice

*Mary recommends making your own curry power by combining 1 tablespoon (15 mL) each ground cumin and coriander with 1 teaspoon (5 mL) chili powder and ¼ teaspoon (1 mL) turmeric.
**Or use 2 cups (500 mL) cherry tomatoes, halved, coated with olive oil, sprinkled with chopped garlic and sea salt, and roasted at 400 degrees F (200 C) until softened, 15 to 20 minutes.

Slice eggplants in 1-inch (2.5 cm) thick slices and sprinkle with salt. Arrange on baking sheet and let stand for 30 minutes while liquid drains off.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 C). Use paper towels to absorb moisture from eggplant slices. Return eggplant to baking sheet, brush with 2 tablespoons (30 mL) of the oil and bake until cooked through and lightly browned, 15 to 20 minutes.

Heat remaining 2 tablespoons (30 mL) of the oil in a large, heavy frying pan and cook onions until soft, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and ginger and continue cooking for a few minutes. Add curry powder and cook until aromatic, 3 to 5 minutes.

Add eggplant and tomatoes and cook until well combined and heated through. Pour in coconut milk and cook a few more minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Just before serving, sprinkle with toasted coconut and coriander. Serve hot with basmati rice.

MALVA PUDDING

Serves 8

This traditional South African dessert has Cape Dutch origins. A spongy, caramelized pudding, it spells comfort food to South African families. Mary Lamontagne, a former Montrealer now living in Cape Town, likes to serve it with a cream sauce such as the classic crème anglaise, or vanilla ice cream.

• 4 teaspoons (20 mL) butter
• 3 teaspoons (15 mL) apricot jam
• 1 egg
• 1 cup (250 mL) light brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon (5 mL) white vinegar
• 1 cup (250 mL) all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon (5 mL) baking soda
• 1 cup (250 mL) milk

Sauce:

• ¾ cup (175 mL) cream
• ¼ cup (60 mL) butter
• 1 teaspoon (5 mL) vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon (5 mL) orange zest (grated peel)

Combine butter and jam in a microwavable cup and melt in the microwave. In a small bowl, use a hand mixer to beat the egg with the sugar until mixture is light in colour.
Beat in vinegar and then the butter-jam mixture, making sure ingredients are well combined.
In another bowl, combine flour and baking soda and mix into egg mixture with a fork. Then mix in milk.
Pour batter into a greased 8-inch (20 cm) square baking pan. Bake in oven preheated to 350 degrees F (180 C) for 45 minutes or until firm and lightly browned on top.

Sauce: Heat cream, butter, vanilla and orange zest in a saucepan until blended. Remove pudding from oven and use a skewer to make holes all over the top. While pudding is still hot, pour sauce over it, tilting it if necessary to make sure sauce sinks into the pudding.
Serve warm or at room temperature.

PLUM PIE

Serves 6

Sheila Astill served us this delectable dessert when we dined with her and her husband, British-born businessman Lionel Astill, at their house in a suburb of Durban, South Africa.

• 2 to 2-1/2 pounds (1 L to 1.2 L/ /about 10) plums (Victoria, Damson, etc.)
• 2/3 cup (175 mL) granulated sugar
• 1 to 2 tablespoons (15 to 30 mL) water
• Pastry for a 2-crust, 9-inch (23 cm) pie
• 1 egg, beaten
• Extra sugar

Cut plums in half and pit them. Put plums in a medium saucepan with the 2/3 cup (175 mL) sugar and a little water and cook over low heat, stirring often, until just al dente. Let cool.
Cut pastry into two pieces, one-third and two-thirds. Roll out the smaller piece between two pieces of plastic wrap to cover a 9-inch (23 cm) pie plate. Trim pastry; you may tuck the surplus underneath along the rim of the pan to give the pie a thicker edge. Surplus pieces of pastry may be cut into decorative trimmings for the pie.
Lift cooled plums with a slotted spoon into pastry-lined pan. Moisten edge of pastry so the top crust will stick.
Roll out the larger piece of dough between two pieces of plastic wrap and cover the pie, crimping edges to seal. Cut slits in top crust. Use any leftover dough trimmings to decorate the pie, moistening them so they will stick to the pastry.

Brush pie with beaten egg.

With oven rack in middle of oven, preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 C). Bake pie in the preheated oven for about 45 minutes. Remove from oven and, when still warm, sprinkle pie with more sugar.

Serve hot or at room temperature. Juice from plums may be simmered to thicken it and served with the pie.