Chakalaka in South African Cuisine on eJozi's RecipeBook

It’s said that black mine workers threw everything they had, onions, carrots, garlic, chillies, cabbage, green pepper, ginger, curry spices, coriander and a can of baked beans in a pot, let it simmer and served whatever came out over their pap. If the ‘sauce’ had a chance to sit, it would have thickened and the flavours would have had a chance to improve wonderfully to create the spicy condiment we know as chakalaka today.

The ingredients almost always include grated carrots, chopped garlic, chunks of green pepper, sliced onion, cauliflower florets, chopped chillies, curry powder and tinned baked beans. If you don’t have baked beans, add chopped green beans or tinned green beans.

It’s served as both a sauce and a relish, but also as a cold salad with other greens. There’s so much you can do with chakalaka: Leave it for a day or so for the flavours to fuse, then use in bread or muffin mixes, as a marinade for meat and kebabs, over pilchards, hamburgers, fish cakes, mashed potatoes, pap, with “pap and wors” at a braai, with a Malay curry or stirred into mixed vegetables, sprinkled with cheese and grilled.

Category: South African Cuisine

Sub Category: Condiments and Relishes

Posted19-Oct-2009
Total Views300
Word Count317
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