Cape Malay Recipes

While touring Cape Town, South Africa I had the opportunity to visit the home of a local resident of the Bo Kaap neighborhood for an afternoon of Cape Malay cooking. To learn more about the experience, read my post on it here: Salt is Love and Other Lessons Learned From a Cape Malay Cooking Experience. I discussed a lot of food in that post, and as promised here are the recipes for the delicious dishes we made that afternoon.

For more information on the Cape Malay Cooking Experience, please check out Andulela Tours. All recipes were provided by master Cape Malay cook Faldela Tolker.

Cape Malay Recipes

Roti

Ingredients:

• 750 ml (3 cups) flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 5 ml (1 tsp salt)
• 50 ml (4 tbsp vegetable oil)
• Enough water to form soft elastic dough
• 250 g  (2 1/5 sticks) soft butter
• Vegetable oil for frying

Mix flour, salt and baking powder in a large bowl. Add oil and rub in with fingertips until fine breadcrumbs form. Add water gradually and mix creating soft elastic dough. Cover and leave in a warm spot for a few minutes. Take dough to form about the size of a tennis ball and roll out on a floured surface to form a disc the size of a dinner plate. Spread butter on dough. Cut slit ¾ up the round shape of dough creating 2 flaps. Roll up each flap like a Swiss roll and “snail” up right end then left end on top of right. Cover with tea towel and leave to stand for 30 minutes. Roll out each disc and fry in hot oil until golden brown (approximately 2 minutes each side). Clap between hands before serving warm with curry.

Samoosas (Samosas)

Ingredients:

• Pur(r) or samosa leaves: Must be purchased fresh (can store for up to 24 hours in fridge). Spring roll pastry can be used as a substitute.

Filling for samosas: Makes 50

• 1 kg (2.2 lbs) minced beef
• 2 medium onions
• Fresh coriander leaves
• 3 tsp salt
• 3 tsp masala
• 2 tsp curry powder
• 2 tsp turmeric
• 2 tsp chilly powder or crushed chilies
• 1 tsp fresh crushed ginger
• 1 tsp fresh crushed garlic
• fresh curry leaves (optional)
• Green or red pepper (optional)

Braise and separate the mince in a big open pan until crumbly (this can take up to ¾ of an hour). Leave to cool. Chop onions and fresh coriander very finely using a very sharp knife so as not to mash or create watery onion bits. Mix together in a bowl with mince.

Mix flour and water to make paste to seal samosas

Dhaltjies (chili bites)

Makes around 20 dhaltjies

Ingredients:

• Vegetable oil for deep frying
• 250 ml (1 cup) self-raising flour
• 250 ml (1 cup) chickpea flour
• 10 ml (2 tsp) baking powder
• 10 ml (2 tsp) turmeric
• 10 ml (2 tsp) masala
• 1 onion, chopped finely
• 5 leaves of spinach, chopped
• 1 egg
• 5 ml (1 tsp) salt

Mix all the dry ingredients together in a bowl. Add the onions and spinach and mix together well. Make a well in the center of the dough, add the egg and mix. Add around 200 ml to 250 ml water to form a dough. Mix the dough until the texture has an ‘easy drop’ consistency.

Fill a pot halfway with oil and heat so it’s medium-hot (not boiling). Use a spoon dipped in oil to scoop up enough dough to make one dhaltjie (a golf-ball size). Drop the dhaltjie into the oil and fry until cooked in the center (use a skewer stick to poke the center of the dhaltjie to check if it’s cooked). Drain the dhaltjie on paper towel. You can cook around four or five dhaltjies at once, depending on the size of your pot.

Chicken Curry

Serves 6

Ingredients:

• Large onion
• 45 ml (3 tbsp) vegetable oil
• 3 cardamom pods slit
• 1 large chicken
• 5 cloves garlic
• ¾ inch fresh ginger root
• 1 green chili
• 5 ml (1 tsp) ground cumin
• 5 ml (1 tsp) ground coriander
• 15 ml (1 tbsp) masala mix
• 2 ml (1/2 tsp) turmeric
• A few curry leaves
• Fresh coriander leaves

Fry onion and cardamom pods until the onion is soft. Add chicken and simmer for 10 minutes. Crush ginger, garlic and chili and add to chicken. Add cumin, coriander, masala and turmeric spices. Simmer for further 15minutes over low heat. Add curry leaves and simmer for 5-10 minutes. Garnish with fresh chopped coriander leaves and serve with sambal or “slaatjie”.