Braai Life

Recipes / Sides

Curried noodle salad (kerrie noedelslaai)

Pasta screws in a sweet and sour curry dressing made from ketchup, vinegar, sugar and chutney, chilled overnight.

Coals
No fire needed
Prep
20 min
On the fire
10 min
Plan ahead
6 hours chilling, or overnight
Serves
8 to 10

Ingredients

  • 500 g (1 lb 2 oz) short pasta, screws or shells
  • 1 red onion, about 180 g (6 oz), finely chopped
  • 1 red bell pepper, finely chopped

Dressing

  • 250 ml (1 cup) tomato sauce (ketchup)
  • 125 ml (1/2 cup) white vinegar
  • 125 ml (1/2 cup) sunflower oil or other neutral oil
  • 160 g (3/4 cup) white sugar
  • 5 teaspoons mild curry powder
  • 3 tablespoons Mrs Ball's chutney, or mango chutney
  • 12 drops Tabasco, or more to taste
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Optional extras

  • 1 tin (410 g / 14.5 oz) peach or apricot pieces, drained and chopped
  • 80 g (1/2 cup) raisins
  • A handful of chopped parsley

Method

  1. Cook the pasta in well salted boiling water until it is just al dente, about 8 to 10 minutes. It must still have some bite.
  2. Drain the pasta well and leave it in the colander for 5 minutes to steam dry. Do not rinse it.
  3. Put the chopped onion in a bowl of cold water for 10 minutes while the pasta drains. Drain it well. This takes the harsh edge off.
  4. Whisk the ketchup, vinegar, oil, sugar, curry powder, chutney, Tabasco, salt and pepper until the sugar has dissolved. It should taste sharp and sweet at the same time, because it mellows in the fridge.
  5. Tip the warm pasta into a large bowl with the onion and bell pepper. Pour over about three quarters of the dressing and toss well.
  6. Add any extras you are using. Add more dressing only if the salad looks dry.
  7. Cover and chill for at least 6 hours, or overnight. Stir once or twice while it sits.
  8. Taste before serving. Add a splash of vinegar if it is too sweet, a spoon of sugar or chutney if it is too sharp, and a little oil if it looks dry.

Done when: the pasta is evenly stained orange, the dressing has soaked in but the salad still looks glossy, and the sweet, sour and curry flavours are in balance.

Tips

  • Undercook the pasta slightly. Soft pasta turns to mush after a night in the dressing.
  • Pasta brands soak up different amounts of dressing. Hold some back and add it the next day if needed.
  • The salad keeps for 5 days in the fridge. Do not freeze it.
  • Outdoors, keep the bowl in the shade and put it back in the fridge between servings.

Kerrie noedelslaai is a fixture of Afrikaans home cooking. It turns up at church bazaars, school fundraisers and nearly every family braai, and it is built from things already in the cupboard: ketchup, vinegar, sugar and curry powder. People call it noodle salad, but it is almost always made with pasta screws or shells.

It is one of the few braai sides that improves when made the day before, which frees you to watch the fire. Serve it alongside boerewors rolls or anything off the grid.