Nice South African dish on your reach:Learn how to simply cook the tastiest PAP EN VLEIS

 

This food is deeply rooted in South African history and the most beloved meal by South Africans. Pap en vleis literally mean maize porridge and meat. Sometimes the meat can be barbecued, and the pap is like porridge.

The pap is made from maize meal, and it’s preferable if it’s coarser than American cornmeal, however, it can still be used. The vleis can be prepared with mutton, beef, chicken, and even fish. This popular African meal has little variation; the South African method is the widely used one.

 Ingredients and requirements (for the pap):

 

You will need:

• 1 cup of water
• A large pot
• ½ tbsp of salt
• A large spoon
• 1 cup of maize meal
  

  Direction:

• Pour the water in a large pot and put it on your cooker or stove. Then add salt and leave the water until it boils.
• Add the maize meal gradually and stir with the large spoon. Make sure to continue stirring to prevent lumps.
• Keep stirring until it becomes a thick mixture.
• Allow it to simmer for about 15 min and stir regularly until it has the mix of dough, and well cooked.
• If it’s too thin, you can add more maize meal and stir, and if it’s too thick, you can add water and stir.
• Take out the pap from the pot and serve it on a plate.

  Ingredients and requirements (for the vleis)

  You will need:

• Chopped 1 or 2 medium-sized onions
• Chopped 1 or 2 medium-sized ripe red tomatoes
• 500-gram fresh meat
• ½ tbsp finely ground ginger
• ½ tbsp of salt
• Dried parsley leaves
• ½ tbsp chili powder
• ½ tbsp red/black pepper
• Olive oil
• Large saucepan
• Frying pan

Direction (preparing the sauce):

1. Place the saucepan on medium heat and cover the bottom with olive oil.
2. Once the oil is very hot, stir fry the onion and ginger for just one minute (don’t use all the ginger and onions, remain a little which we will use later)
3. To redden the ginger and onions, sprinkle chili powder
4. Add the red and black pepper and start stirring regularly
5. Now add 1 tbsp of the salt and stir. And add ½ tbsp of dried parsley leaves then stir.
6. It will start to simmer from the heat, and the steam would be noticeable
7. Now add the tomatoes and keep stirring
8. When the sauce reaches a boiling point, the heat should be slightly reduced. Leave the sauce to boil for 10 to 15 minutes. Start stirring and mashing the tomatoes.
9. Sprinkle some more chili powder and continue stirring. After about 5 minutes, turn the heat down to low, but if it isn’t yet boiling, then cook for another 10 to 20 minutes before dropping it from the fire.

Direction (preparing the vleis):

1. Place the frying pan on medium to high heat then pour olive oil into the frying pan. Make sure the olive oil covers the bottom of the frying pan.
2. When the oil gets hot, add the remaining onions and ginger then stir-fry for some seconds.
3. Turn the cooker/stove to high heat. Place the meat in the center of the frying pan. That means some meats will be atop other meats
4. Let the bottom pieces cook then spread the remaining around the frying pan. Stir the meat regularly, so none of it burns
5. After some time, the water in the meat will cover the bottom of the frying pan. Let the water boil and continue to stir and sprinkle the chili powder.
6. Once the water has dried, and the bottom of the pan is dark brown from the spices and the heat, you should now add the meat to the sauce. Stir it so it can mix up well and keep under low heat. Let it simmer for 30 minutes, but make sure to stir it occasionally.
7. Now turn off the heat but still keep it on the stove/cooker so the residual heat can keep it warm.

When you’re ready to serve, the sauce has to be in a soup dish while the pap can be served on a plate. To eat the food, you will have to dip rolls of the pap in the sauce before eating it.