South Africa is a rainbow nation with a varied culture and cuisine. A number of dishes evolve from Italian, Chinese, Japanese, Moroccan, French and Indian food influences. South Africa is famous for its curries, biltong, and milk tarts that are dishes from the Afrikaan and ingredients like maize porridge which was a staple food for the bantu people. My recipes are adapted to suit local tastes.

Photos:  Massimo Cassar, Cj Baldacchino, Marconia Schembri

Chickpea Bobotie with Maltese Bread

You will need:
450g cooked chick peas
1 tablespoons olive oil
2 white onions, finely sliced
1/2 tablespoon mild curry powder
1/2 teaspoon fresh turmeric, grated
3 slices Maltese bread
150ml milk
grated zest of half a lemon
4 eggs
1/2 apple
50g golden raisins
a pinch of allspice
For the topping:
1 cup milk
1 tablespoon nuts of your choice
salt and pepper

Heat the oven to 170C.  Brush an ovenproof dish lightly with olive oil. Cut up the bread slices into cubes. Grate the apple with skin on. In a large bowl mix the cubed bread, milk, eggs, salt and pepper, grated apple, sultanas and apricots.

Heat some olive oil in a large pan.  Add the finely sliced onion and garlic powder.  Cook on low heat for a few minutes until they start to become transparent.  Add the curry powder and the grated turmeric, stir.  Add the chickpeas and mix though for about 5 minutes until the mixture appears consistent.

Remove from the heat.  Place the mixture in an ovenproof dish.  On top pour the soaked bread pieces.  Push them down into the chickpea mixture without mixing the contents.

Bake for 40 minutes.  Then take out of the oven and pour the egg and milk mixture.  Top with a bay leaf.  Sprinkle some nuts on top and cook on a hot oven for 15 minutes.  Allow the dish to rest for 10 minutes before serving.

For a gluten-free recipe use gluten-free bread.

Sweetcorn Loaf

You will need:
500g self raising four
150g mature cheddar
200g sweet corn
400ml yoghurt
2 eggs
1 onion
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 teaspoon all-natural stock powder
1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/4 teaspoon fresh marjoram, finely chopped
pinch of dried marjoram
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper to season
For the top:
50g extra grated cheddar and 50g extra sweetcorn and tulbaghia edible flowers to garnish (optional)

Preheat the oven to 160C. Chop the onion very finely and cook in the olive oil on very low heat until it is translucent.  Place on kitchen towel to absorb the extra oil and allow to cool down before adding to the other ingredients.

Sift the flour twice into a large bowl.  Add the salt, pepper, dried marjoram, smoked paprika, natural stock powder and mix gently making sure that all the bits of sweet corn and onion are covered with flour.

In a separate bowl mix well the eggs, yoghurt, fresh herbs and grated cheddar. Prepare a loaf tin by brushing it lightly with olive oil. Gently and firmly use a large metal spoon to fold in the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients.

Pour the batter into the prepared loaf tin. Sprinkle the extra cheddar cheese and sweet corn on top.  Garnish with some tulbaghia edible flowers. Bake for 35 minutes.  Allow to rest for 10 minutes and serve warm.

For a gluten-free recipe, use gluten-free flour.

Malva Pudding with Spelt Flour

You will need:
250g self raising
100g spelt flour
200g sugar
120g butter
50g apricot jam
2 eggs
250ml milk
2 tablespoons organic apple vinegar
Vanilla
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
A pinch of salt
For the sauce:
250ml evaporated milk
A pinch of salt
1 teaspoon butter
vanilla

Preheat the oven to 180C. Grease an ovenproof dish with butter. Use an electric mixer to cream the butter and sugar together. Add the eggs, one at a time and beat until the mixture is light and fluffy.

Sift the self raising flour and spelt flour twice into a large bowl.  Add the bicarbonate of soda and salt.  In another bowl, mix in the eggs and beat them with an electric mixer until the mixture is light and fluffy.  Add the apricot jam and mix.  Use a metal spoon to mix in some of the milk and alternate with some of the flour mixture until you have used them both up.  Do not overmix.

Pour the batter into the prepared dish and bake for 45 minutes. In the meantime, prepare the pouring sauce by heating all the ingredients together.  When the malva pudding is cooked, take it out of the oven and pour the hot sauce over the pudding while it is still hot.

Leave it to soak up all the sauce for at least an hour before serving. This pudding is also delicious refrigerated and cut into squares.

For a gluten-free recipe use gluten-free self raising flour and to reduce the sugar content use stevia and sugar-free jam.

You can watch Lea’s Good Food Everyday at 10am, 4.10pm and 9pm on Smash TV and follow her blog www.goodfoodeveryday .wordpress.com.  More of her recipes are available on www.timesofmalta.com.