Putu 'bout the Pap!

As so often seems to be the case when you're a mother to a fantastically (it's always a matter of perspective!) busy toddler, time vanishes into thin air along with any plans you had diarised with hope bordering on desperation! And so, my cooking date with Eunie the Samp Queen was thrown in like the proverbial wet towel and replaced with fingerpainting my mom's pool room's sliding doors, depicting - apparently - a scubadiver! (Layla (25 months old) has some rather unusual fixations: robots, a passion for tiny little toys, Ben10 (urrrggghhhh), ballerinas and tutus and... scubadivers!)
Anyway, in lieu of my broken samp & beans promise, I'll jot down the recipe for mielie pap, which we ate the other night in Grabouw in an unintionally patriotic celebration of my and Melanie's at-long-last reunion on South African soil! Her mom made 'pap en sous' with perfectly braaied, juicy wors. What's interested about pap, is that you can really take your time cooking it - or it can be done chop-chop on the stove. (I think it's actually available in an instant, microwaveable version now - but I always prefer the authentic process of cooking over an instantaneous nuking in the microwave!)

Pap is traditionally cooked in one of those cast-iron pots called a 'potjie'. It is an Afrikaans word, pronounded "poi-ki" - and I'm struggling to find the Xhosa/Sotho/Zulu etc word for it... I've always known potjiekos to be an originally Afrikaans phenomenon, but from the looks of the photos I pulled up in Google, it seems to be a cross-cultural thing! What's lekker about pap is that it is real, South African soul food. Dense, with the almost imperceptible sweetness of manna and with an inherent simplicity about it that is found in so many other staple starches around the world: the sticky, glutinous rice of the Japanese, North African cous-cous, Italian pastas... (Besides being incredibly satisfying and sustaining in terms of energy, the hips also adore it, clinging onto those calories with great affection!)

Quirkily, there is apparently a restaurant in Joburg that has replaced the rice in sushi with pap! And, I think that instead of the traditional raw salmon and tuna, they use carpaccio (though this is merely another wild assumption of mine! Googled the 'pap johannesburg restaurant sushi' but found nada - so if you know the name of the restaurant, please jot it down in the 'Comments' box below! *wink*)

Here follows an infallible recipe for pap: serves 4 hungry tums!

• 2½ cups boiling water
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2½ cups maize meal ... And, a naughty dollop of butter!


1. Pour boiling water (plus ) salt into your potjie or a heavy-based pan. Bring to a rapid boil.
2. Add the maize meal.
3. Put the lid on the pot - and do NOT stir!
4. Reduce the heat and simmer for 5 or so minutes.
5. Remove the lid, stirring well (with a wooden spoon).
6. Close the lid again, reducing the heat so the pap can steam for 30min. (It can easily burn at this stage, so keep a close eye on the heat level!! You can check it's not burning when you 'fluff' the mixture with a fork every now and again.)

Melanie's mom mixed in a tin of creamed sweetcorn - and then served a dish of cooked onions and tomatoes alongside it. If you are camping, savour simplicity or you're merely a little lazy in the kitchen department: you can get it in canned format at the shops! I however, garlic addict that I am, would:

a) coarsely slice and dice an onion : saute in happy lashings of the most virgin of olive oils.

b) ditto for 2 x ripe tomatoes per person and gooi in with the onions.

c) sprinkle in some dried basil at this point (or fresh basil just before serving!) And salt and pepper! Maybe even a dash of paprika - and if you're brave: a dash of cayenne pepper!

d) last but definitely not least: as much garlic as you'd like to indulge in!

(If you're running out of time, tumble all the above ingredients together (sommer in a lasagne dish: 220deg in the oven, tumbling around every now and again.)

And, voila! Gourmet pap en sous, ek sê!

{ PS. Just discovered the Xhosa word for pap is 'putu pap'. Afrikaners call is 'krummelpap' : i.e. 'crumble' pap. }

Amor! Love! Liefde!

Another new blog. Because: I love food. I ADORE food, actually. I think about food more than I perhaps should. I crave South African food like samp-and-beans and boerewors. I salivate with almost sinful obsession at the mere thought of 'world food' like sushi, chai handcrushed and expertly blended by my long-lost Pakshi and the dim-sum I discovered on a holiday in Melbourne that I can still taste and feel in my mouth and heart -- so indelibly connected to memories of those special cousins too far away...

In light of my sudden concern about developing Type 2 Diabetes after a close shave with gestational diabetes while pregnant with Layla, my once unfettered love of food needs to be redirected into a more constructive and healthy outlet: hence Samp&Sushi. This can be a place where I can indulge my foodie fantasies without succumbing to glucose- and cholesterol-spiking temptation! (I've also been indulging in an unhealthy rollercoastering ride of low energy - high sugar/carbs - low energy - high-sugar ... you get the picture. Unhealthy, hey? Layla also needs to see that food is not a crutch or comfort, but something to be celebrated and respected: a source of nourishment for our bodies and souls. (Another element about my eating habits that was unhealthy was the rush to prepare and eat: being a mommy trying to co-ordinate naps, bathtime and very intense playtime made me lose my focus on the importance of the mindfulness of food: treating food with respect, joy, thoughtfulness and... taking it s-l-o-w... Choosing recipes that delight your gastronomic imagination! Shopping for the ingredients with care and sensory delight: tenderly feeling for just the right plumpness in a fig, feasting your eyes on the deep purple blush, the soft velvet of its skin, the lingering scent as you hold it close. And then... the cooking. Put on an apron - of linen or cotton or denim. Feel your heart skip a beat at the dangerously sharp glint of your gourmet knives. Put on some of your wildest rock anthems or some sultry, sexy jazz. Light some candles, or let the sunset steal the scorching sun away into its indigo night. Or gather your family and friends around you in an Italianesque celebration of togetherness! Or, solitude when you need to escape into yourself after a long, long day of too much job-related community. Feel the textures of onion sliced paper-thin, hear the pop of squashed baby tomatoes and the slow, hot sizzle of melting butter. I'll stop here - you get the picture.)

The next post will be about samp which I shall attempt to cook for Layla - under the authentically South African instruction of Thenjiwe Eunice Bunu (our family nanny for the last 30 years!)

I would also like to celebrate the marvellous coming into being of my friend, Melissa's company: Sublime Cakery! She's talented, beautiful, amazing, ingenious and as sweet as her confectionary delights: and, sadly for my heart (and tummy!) lives in Northamptonshire, UK. Check out her deliciousness on Sublime Cakery's Facebook page!