Local specialities & cullinary terms

© Jennifer SternWhile travelling in South or southern Africa, it's worth trying some local food - either in a traditional restaurant, or cooked yourself over a campfire. Here are some of the more common dishes and ingredients with which you may not be familiar.

Biltong is a national delicacy. Similar to American jerky, but totally different, it is made from spiced slices of meat that are hung up – out of the sun – to dry in the wind. The most common variety is beef, but game biltong is also available. Connoisseurs claim that ostrich and kudu biltong are the best.

Bobotie is a traditional Cape Malay dish consisting of a fruity mince curry which is topped with egg custard and lemon or bay leaves, and baked. Vegetarian versions are available.

Boerewors is essential at a braai. It is a fatty, spicy beef sausage – there are loads of secret recipes all containing quite exotic spices such as coriander, cumin and others.

Boggems are definitely an acquired taste. They are small, whole mullet (called harder in South Africa) that are salted and dried. They’re a bit tough to just chew on but they can be reconstituted and cooked into something approaching a Portuguese bacalhau, which makes them far more palatable.

Braais are part of southern African life and they are so much more than a barbecue. As well as boerewors, sosaties, pap en sous and roosterbrood, there may be any other kind of meat and fish. Crayfish braais are very popular.

Bredie is the Afrikaans term for a stew, usually mutton-based and served with rice. The most popular is tamatie bredie (tomato stew), and the most unusual is waterblommetjiebredie (see below).

A bunny chow lunch is an essential part of a visit to Durban. Consisting of curry (either meat or veg) piled into a hollowed out half or quarter loaf of bread it is best eaten with the hands on the street. (Yes, it’s a cultural experience.)

Butternut squashes are large, gourd-shaped vegetables which are very similar to pumpkins but with brighter orange, more solid flesh and a more intense taste. They are often cooked over the coals at braais or made into lightly curried soups.

Coastal oysters are wild, as opposed to cultivated, oysters.

Chambo is a delicious bream found in Lake Malawi.

Crayfish are Cape spiny lobsters. They’re delicious.

A Gatsby is a form of street food found mainly in Cape Town. Cheap and filling it consists of a whole loaf of bread cut lengthwise and filled with chips (French fries), salad and either meat, curry or fish.

Imifino is a wonderful dish of wild spinach-like greens fried up with onion, spices and perhaps a bit of chilli, and usually served with pap or putu (see below).

Kapenta are small, sardine-like freshwater fish caught in huge quantities on Lake Kariba, dried and exported all around southern Africa. They are usually reconstituted and cooked up with vegetables and spices into a relish to be eaten with pap, putu or rice. A similar fish, usipa, is caught on Lake Malawi.

Koeksusters are a tad schizophrenic. One version is a sweet, syrupy, plaited confectionary not entirely unlike a doughnut but much richer - if you can believe that. Great stuff if you have a very sweet tooth and fantastic with strong coffee. An alternative, somewhat less sickly version is more like a doughnut and covered in coconut.

Konfyt is the term given to any preserve. Two of the most popular are made from a type of otherwise unpalatable melon, and from green figs. With a bit of ginger and other spices, these are actually pretty tasty and not at all cloying although obviously sweet.

Lake flies are - genuinely - small flies that swarm on Lake Malawi. They are caught in fine nets, compressed into small cakes and then fried up with onions to form a protein-rich and (evidently) tasty relish.

Line fish is the term given to fish that has been caught locally that day on a line (as opposed to netted fish). In restaurants it will often be the “fish of the day”.

Milktart is a traditional baked custard tart, sprinkled with cinnamon.

Mopani worms are dried caterpillars. Yes. Nobody claims that they taste particularly great but they are high in protein and very nutritious. They are usually served rehydrated and cooked into some sort of sauce and relish but – as a tourist – you will be challenged to eat one raw. It’s not that bad.

Morogo or meroho, is exactly the same as imifino (above).

Moskonfyt is a delicious, sweet, tangy syrup made from must (which is the solid residue left over after pressing grapes for wine.) A bit like a fruity version of maple syrup, it’s really good on bread or pancakes and even, for those with a very sweet tooth, on ice cream. It is delicious stirred into plain yoghurt.

Nsima, Nshima - see pap, below.

Pap is a gritslike maize porridge. It can be made quite sloppy in which case it is eaten with a spoon as a breakfast cereal, or made really stiff in which case it is called stywepap, and eaten with the hands with some kind of sauce or relish. Relish could be imifino (see above) or a rich meat stew. Pap en sous, in which the sauce (sous) will almost always be an onion and tomato based one, is a traditional accompaniment to a braai. The Malawian version, Nsima, is often served at a consistency somewhere between the stiff variety and the sloppy breakfast variety and is dipped into relish and eaten with the hands.

Peppadews are designer vegetables developed and patented in South Africa. A cross between a sweet pepper and a chilli, they are slightly spicy, fruity and piquant, and are usually found pickled. Although they are patented, they are a hybrid and are not genetically modified. They’re delicious in anything from salads and sandwiches to pizza and pasta.

Peri-peri, or piri-piri as it is sometimes called, hails from Mozambique. It’s a fiery concoction of mainly, chilies, garlic and tomato (and a few other secret ingredients). It’s most commonly used as a basting for fish, chicken or prawns but can be used for anything. Beware; some varieties are very hot, while others are nicely tasty.

Perlemoen is the local word for abalone. Many locals claim the best way to eat this is braaied (see above) on the beach in a piece of kelp (hollow seaweed), but it is easier to try it as a schnitzel in a restaurant, or cut into strips and stir-fried. At present, it is protected and may not be harvested at all. Too late, you missed out.

Potbrood is bread made in a cast-iron pot on the top of a fire. (also see roosterbrood)

A potjie is a three-legged cast-iron pot (much like a witch’s cauldron) and it is the basis of the iconic potjiekos. It’s a stew made by putting in the onions first and then the items which need most cooking, eg meat, potatoes and/or hard vegetables. Softer vegetables are added in layers and the pot is never stirred. As it simmers for hours the flavour permeates the whole dish. Often served with putu (see below).

Putu is the same a pap, except that it is always the stiff variety. It is also, depending on where you are, called sadza, nshima or ufu.

Roosterbrood is bread made on the grill over an open fire. (Brood is the Afrikaans word for bread.)

Rotis are a traditional Indian flat bread which may be quite familiar. And …

Salomies are rotis, filled with curry and rolled up, so they can be eaten with the hands.

Samosas are an Indian delicacy that has become part of the South African culinary landscape. It’s a triangular fried pasty filled with curry – either meat, fish or veg.

Samp is whole maize which is cooked up rather like rice and most often served with beans which makes it a very nutritious, high protein food highly valued by traditional societies.

Skilpad is the Afrikaans name for a tortoise, and you may well be offered this at a braai. Do not be alarmed. It is not a whole tortoise roasted in its shell. Far from it. There is a delicious vegetarian option – a whole cabbage, with slits half way through it and filled with butter, garlic and spices and cooked in foil over the fire. A richer, meatier version consists of liver or kidneys wrapped in caul fat and braaied – very rich and only for dedicated carnivores. Never, ever tortoises.

Smoorsnoek is a kedgeree-like dish made of flaked smoked snoek (see below) cooked up with tomato, onion and spices.

Snoek is a local game fish not unlike barracuda. It is delicious freshly braaied but it most often eaten smoked – possibly even more delicious.

Sosaties are very similar to kebabs – chunks of meat impaled on a skewer. Traditional ones will be marinated in a lightly curried fruity sauce and then cooked over the fire but there are dozens of variations.

Usipa – see kapenta.

Waterblommetjiebredie is a stew (see bredie above) featuring endemic waterflowers that grow wild in seasonal wetlands in the Cape in winter .