Recipes / Sides
Stywe pap with chakalaka
Firm maize porridge with a spicy relish of onion, peppers, carrot and beans. The side dish for any braai.
- Prep
- 20 min
- On the fire
- 40 min
- Serves
- 6
Ingredients
Pap
Chakalaka
Method
Cooking on gas?
- Cook both pots on a gas ring or your grill's side burner, or on the stove. Use medium for the chakalaka and for bringing the pap water to the boil.
- For steaming the pap, turn the burner down to the lowest flame you have. Gas stays steady, so stir every 10 minutes as in the recipe and it will not catch.
- Start the chakalaka. Heat the oil in a pot over medium coals or on the stove. Cook the onion for 5 minutes until soft.
- Add the garlic, ginger, green pepper and chilies and cook for 3 minutes. Stir in the curry powder for 1 minute.
- Add the carrots and tomatoes. Simmer for 15 minutes, stirring now and then, until thick.
- Stir in the baked beans, heat through for 5 minutes, and season with salt and pepper. Chakalaka is served warm or cold.
- For the pap, bring the water and salt to a boil in a heavy pot with a lid.
- Pour in the maize meal in a steady stream, stirring with a wooden spoon until there are no lumps.
- Put the lid on and move the pot to very low heat. Steam for 30 minutes, stirring firmly every 10 minutes.
- Stir in the butter. Serve the pap with chakalaka spooned over it.
Done when: the pap is stiff enough to hold its shape on a spoon and no longer tastes raw or gritty.
Tips
- White maize meal is sold as mealie meal or maize meal. Fine white cornmeal is the closest substitute, and it may need a little more water.
- If the pap gets too stiff to stir, add a splash of boiling water.
- A crust forms on the bottom of the pot. Many people think it is the best part.
- Chakalaka keeps for 5 days in the fridge and tastes better the day after it is made.
Pap is maize porridge and it is eaten across southern Africa. Stywe pap is the firm version, stiff enough to pick up in your fingers. Chakalaka is a spicy vegetable relish that started in the townships around Johannesburg.