Thursday 25 April 2013

Food to celebrate Independence Day














On 25 April 1968 the British flag was brought down.  An independent Swaziland then hoisted its own flag proudly. 
How about celebrating this day with us by trying out one if these recipes. Comments are most welcome.
This side dish is served regularly in my house. It has a few basic ingredients and you can add and change the other ingredients to suit your likes. I like to have colourful food and when I have looked at my other dishes and I see there is too much green on the table then this dish get generous helpings of yellow and red peppers, or I tone the table down by adding more green veggies to this dish. Take some inspiration from the Swazi flag, use a bright blue serving dish and add lots of yellow and red veggies to the following recipe.
In Swaziland samp is eaten often / a few times a week. Samp is also known as hominy.  
Gather the following together:
1.5 litre water
400g samp (hominy)
200g sugar beans
1 onion
Above are the basics. You can add the following or do your own thing
1 tomato
2 carrots, chopped
 green beans
 shredded cabbage, shredded
1 butternut squash, chopped 
Method:
In separate bowls soak the samp and sugar beans overnight. Rinse the samp, drain and boil for 30 minutes then add the washed beans, season with salt and boil until soft but still firm, it takes a long time . Add the vegetables, reduce to a simmer and cook  until the vegetables are done. Add pepper to taste and serve. 

Does that sound a bit boring? Well let’s go wild:
A main course dish:  Pork with cabbage and bananas
You will need
500g pork, cubed
1/3 white cabbage,  shredded
4 bananas
2 onions, sliced thinly
4 garlic cloves, crushed
2 tsp green chilli, finely chopped
2 tbsp soy sauce
salt and freshly-ground black pepper, to taste
4 tbsp vegetable oil 
And now you have to 
Fry the onions, garlic and chillies in a little bit of the oil until the onions are soft. Add cabbage and 120ml of water (or white wine to give it a more European flavour) and bring to boil. Remove from heat. Fry the pork in the remaining oil until brown, remove pork from the pan and set aside. Peel and cut banana into slices, season with salt. Using the pan in which the pork was fried,  arrange the banana slices in the pan. Sprinkle the soy sauce over them and cook for about 2 minutes, or until the bananas are just softened. Remove from the pan and set aside. 
Return the pork pieces to the pan and stir in the cabbage mixture. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, cover the pan and cook for about 15 minutes, or until the pork is cooked through. Add the bananas and allow to heat through (do not over cook, or the bananas will break down). 
Adjust the seasonings to taste and serve immediately. 

Feel like some bread with a difference: 
Cornbread is a Swazi staple food and it's served with almost every meal, especially with stews and curries.  It is very simple to make. 
Mix
2 eggs, beaten 
300 g wheat flour 
3 tsp baking powder 
generous pinch of salt 
300g cornmeal (mealie meal) 
Add enough milk to make a fairly watery dough. Leave to stand for five minutes, pour into a tin and bake in an oven pre-heated to 190°C for 30 minutes, or until cooked through and golden. 

Enjoy!!
Heloise