Comfort food at its tastiest: Huiskos makes winter lekker
Hello everyone
Yoh, winter is here, mense, and although the sun is out this week, I love the rainy days.
It also comes with a great sense of thankfulness, because we so desperately need the rain. We have all been through water shedding, so every time it rains, we Capetonians appreciate it wholeheartedly.
This week we have all our favourite huiskos on the menu. There’s nothing better than a hearty bredie or stew in winter! Its comfort food at its best, featuring veggies with vleis.
Bredies contain all the nutrients and benefits to keep us healthy and strong and keep the nasties at bay.
When I think of huiskos like peas and carrots (worreltjies en ertjies), or snyboentjies and koolkos, it always amazes me how it’s so jam-packed with flavour, although it literally just needs a handful of ingredients and salt and pepper.
When making stews, I always spend extra time braising the meat as it heightens the flavour.
I fry my onions golden brown, then add my meat and give it a slow braise on a low heat, while it sears and browns to perfection.
Once the meat is completely brown, I add in the salt and pepper and a little bit of water.
I braise it for a bit and then I add in my potatoes and other veggies.
This week’s recipes are courtesy from the super talented Salwaa Smith.
She is a South African currently living overseas but if you lus for huiskos and recipes that remind you of home you will find it on her socials.
Visit her Facebook or Instagram pages @ Salwaa’s Cape Malay Cooking and other delights for recipes straight from her kitchen, keeping her Cape Malay Heritage alive.
For more recipes or baking and cooking inspiration, visit my website www.sprinklesandspice.co.za or visit my social media platforms on Tik Tok or Instagram @sprinklesandspicect or Facebook Sprinkles and Spice by Farzana Kumandan.
Love, Your Cooksister
Salwaa's Carrots and Peas Stew
Ingredients
2 Tsp cooking oil
1 large onion, peeled and chopped
500g mutton/ beef or lamb pieces
800g carrots cut into julienne strips
3 potatoes, peeled and cut into quarters
1 tsp garlic paste
1 cup of frozen peas
3 allspices / pimento
3 cloves
1-2 green chillies
Salt to taste
Hot water as needed
Chopped parsley for garnishing
Method
Heat oil in a large saucepan / pot and braise onions until golden brown, 5-10.
Add washed and drained meat and braise until dark brown, 10-15 minutes. The meat should be as brown as you can get it.
Add salt, chillies, allspice, cloves, garlic paste and enough water; simmer until meat is nearly tender, 30 - 40 minutes or longer if using mutton or beef pieces
Add carrots and potatoes and cook until potatoes are nearly soft, adding hot water if necessary.
Add frozen peas and cook for a further 10 minutes or until potatoes are soft.
Garnish with chopped parsley.
Serve with fragrant rice and atchaars.
Salwaa’s Three C’s Bredie Cauliflower, Carrots & Cabbage
Ingredients
1 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 large onion, chopped
700 gram mutton / lamb pieces / beef pieces
1/2 cauliflower florets
3 carrots julienned
1/4 shredded cabbage
2 stick cinnamons
1 teaspoon garlic
salt & pepper to taste
1 teaspoon red chilli flakes optional
1 -2,TBSP sugar optional
Water as needed
Method
Heat oil in a large saucepan and braise onion until golden brown, about 5-10 minutes.
Add meat and garlic.
Braise until dark brown, 10-15 minutes.
Add salt, pepper, dry chillies, stick cinnamon and enough water; simmer until meat is nearly tender, about 40 - 60 minutes, depending on the cut of meat you are using.
Add all the vegetables and simmer until almost soft.
Add potatoes and cook for about 15 minutes.
Add sugar, stirring gently to dissolve.
Serve with rice, achars and sambals
Snyboontjie Bredie (Green Beans Stew)
Ingredients
Vegetable oil
750 grams lamb, mutton or beef pieces
1 onion, chopped
salt to taste
1 tsp chopped garlic or paste
Black pepper to taste
2 – 3 green chillies, chopped optional
1 Tbsp spoon sugar
800 gram green beans, sliced diagonally
3 potatoes, quartered
Method
Wash and drain the meat.
Heat the oil in a large pot and braise the onions until deep golden brown.
Add the meat pieces and garlic paste and cook until nearly tender, about 45 - 60 minutes, depending what meat you are using.
Add drops of water, as necessary.
Add the salt, chillies, black pepper and green beans as well as the potatoes and cook until the potatoes are soft and tender adding water for thinner gravy.
For a nice, flavourful stew, always braise meat till dark, carefully monitoring it so it doesn’t burn.
Serve with white rice, beetroot salad, cucumber sambal or achar.
Salwaa’s Tamatie Kos
Ingredients
600 gram mutton / beef pieces
1 Tbsp cooking oil
500g red ripe tomatoes, washed, chopped or liquidised and 1 tin chopped tomato
3 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 large onion, chopped
1 tsp salt or to taste
2 green chillies, chopped or more
2 tsp tomato paste
3 potatoes, peeled and sliced into quarters
1 - 2 Tbsp sugar or to taste
Method
Heat the oil in a big pot over medium heat.
Sauté the onions in the oil until golden, soft and golden brown.
Add the meat and simmer over medium heat for about 45 minutes, or until the meat and knuckles are soft.
Stir often and add drops of water to prevent the meat sticking to the pan and burning.
Add the chopped / liquidised tomato, tin tomato, garlic, salt, chillies and tomato paste and simmer for a further 15 minutes.
Add the potatoes and cook until the potatoes are soft, about 15 - 20 minutes.
Add the sugar last and cook for a further 15 minutes or so.
Add water to the consistency you like.
Serve warm with steamed / boiled white rice.
Cooks Tip: DO NOT add the sugar until the potatoes are completely soft as the sugar will prevent the potatoes from softening.
Prepare the tomato bredie a day in advance and leave in the refrigerator. Vegetable bredie's flavour enhances if eaten the next day. Reheat and serve with boiled rice.
dailyvoice@inl.co.za
Daily Voice