Calling all our South African viewers!!

We are looking to do a South African themed show on April 27th in honour of 'Freedom Day' in South Africa.

Do you celebrate this day and if so how?

We want to hear about the South African dishes that best represent the country for you, the foods and dishes you love and whether there are any SA foods you just couldn't live without!!

Are there any traditional South African dishes that you struggle to make at home? If so why?

Please post your comments here and you might hear Jeni read them out on the show! Thank you!

Has St. Georges Day been abolished? This just about tops it, probally a very interesting topic of which few of us have any knowledge but is it that un PC to be English. The Scots, Irish and Welsh celebrate their Saints days and and we get the ideas to celebrate St.____'s Day on TV Food. So why not the old Dragon Slayer?

Barry

.....whispers, but isn't St George's Day April 23rd???

Correct

Hence my post. Has it been forgotten, again?

Have no fear...St George's Day's won't be forgotten. We'll be celebrating it in style on GFL!

Well that's good news..I'm English and very proud of it.
As for South Africa, can't say I know a huge amount about Soyuth African cuisine, but I have made Bobotie a few times and very tasty it is too. This might be a good one to show viewers, good family fare and inexpensive .

I think St Georges Day should be celebrated as loudly as St Patrick's Day.St Andrews Day and St Davids day. I am very proud to be English and I don,t see why its not PC to hang out St Georges flags for April 23rd.

JO-GFL

Thank you for the very quick reply and on a Bank Holiday!!
Please don't get me wrong, I think the RSA themed prog. is a great idea and if the concept works should be expanded to other countries "ethnic" food.
The idea of viewer participation/input can only work, we can't moan about content if we are contributing towards it.
Oh can't we

Good luck, great idea and hope it works, you need all the help you can get at the moment if the channel is to survive IMO only of course

Barry

I lived in South Africa for 6 years and enjoyed the food tremendously. Curries were indiginous to the Cape area (served with 'sambals' - chuytneys)and we ate a lot of fish in particular a white fish called 'kingclip'. There was "Potjiekos' (everything cooked in one pot) - my favourite being a 'potjie' made from spicy sausages, frikkadels, new potatoes, baby onions, tomatoes and spices and cooked in a cast iron pot over hot coals for hours. Bobotie, but not the version that looks and tastes like cottage pie with a touch of curry. There was 'soetpatats'....... pumpkin (or sweet potato) cooked with cinnamon, brown sugar and butter. There were different types of 'breddies' - stews, depending on the season and lot's of ostrich meat. Perri perri sauce went onto almost everything. My favourite were the desserts..........Milk tart, Van der Hum Souffle (an orange liqueur for SA). Malva pudding, Vinegar pudding, Brandy pudding and Koeksisters.
Don't think there's any need to mention the outstanding wines.........

My other half is South African and I spent 3 years out there with him. We lived in Durban, where the curry is king! The local equivalent of a kebab (i.e. something to soak up the beer at 2am in the morning!) is a bunny chow. Take half a white loaf, scoop out the middle to make a container and fill it with curry (which has no finesse and plenty of heat!). Eat the curry, then the container! He too loves melk tart and potjiekos and, of course, biltong which he now has sent from a Surrey butcher to the Scottish Highlands. It would be great if someone could show how to make your own.

I'm so pleased to see that you're doing a whole show dedicated to South Africa. I'm a South African living in Sweden so I will probably be homesick on the 27th!

Our cuisine is as varied as our nation, and most is already quite well known, like biltong, boerewors (traditional sausage), potjies, mieliepap (traditional porridge eaten at any time, especially at a braai served with a tomato and onion gravy), snoek (Cape fish) cooked on a braai with a jam-based baste, bunny chow (curry served in a scooped-out loaf of white bread), bredies, mieliebread, bobotie, melktert, rusks (don't forget to 'dunk' them in your coffee first), the list is endless. And there are those that I don't miss, like 'smileys' - sheep's head!

I still cook the same dishes here, but obviously have to adapt many of the recipes, as Sweden does not have many of the ingredients. The only other option is to stock up at one of the many SA shops in the UK when I visit. They seem to have everything, from fishpaste to mieliemeal, vanilla essence to butternuts (nope, can't even get those here!). And don't forget our wine, of course.

As much as I enjoy Sweden, I just miss Africa, so I am realy looking forward to the show!

Thanks,
Lynne

JO GFL

Yes lets celebrate St. Georges Day in style.
Home page link to the normal top 10 recipes. Don't think I'll be celebratimg with homemade cordial. As for GFL, what time is it on today please as I cannot find any mention of it.
Forgotten or pushed into a corner somewhere again, probally by a member of the Dragon Preservation Society

Try again next year

Barry

Hey Barry .... I'm worth preserving!

Hi Everybody at Great Food Live!

Have been missing drinking ice cold milk through a Peppermint Crisp Straw!
Can't wait for the summer, to have a braai (barbeque) with pap and gravy.

Dessert can only be koeksisters and melktert.

Have tried twice to make koeksisters. Second time was better, but they are still not as syrupy as the home variety.

Got my Mom to send my 'Kook en Geniet', a traditional recipe book that was once given to all brides!

Thanks for a great programme!

Cee

Forgot to mention, if you are in Putney by chance (or otherwise) and drooling for a good quality Boerewors Roll, at a good price, give Snoggy's a try. Their food is lekkerrrrrrr!

Fudge's Mum

I'm already preserved. I've stayed pickled for years and if alchohol is as good a preserver as it's made out, I should live forever


Barry

Really enjoyed the St. Georges Day extravaganza after the day.

Barry