South Africa offers adventure, wine, a wealth of natural attractions, diverse cultures, and even gold.
The different cultures contribute to the unique, tasty, and flavorful cuisine of the Rainbow Nation.
Best South African Food – Top Dishes
This list contains ten of the best South African foods. Their flavorful and unique texture provides quite an experience for your taste buds. Bon Appétit!
Boerewors
A staple in South African cuisine, Boerewors is a type of sausage. Boerewors contain lamb, beef, pork, and spices. South Africans braai, bake, or fry boerewors.
An interesting fact about preparing Boerewors is that no additional oils may be used to prepare it. Just prick the Boerewors in a few places and enough fat will provide enough fat in which to fry it.
A combination of meats, fat, and spices, Boerewors make for a full meal though not a healthy one. Preparing Boerewors is an art in South Africa and they even go as far as having competitions to determine the person who best prepares Boerewors.
Biltong
Biltong is a South African snack that goes way back. This snack is dried cured meat. It is somewhat similar to Beef Jerky but not as sweet. Different types of meat can be used to make biltong.
The most important part is the spices which help to give the meat its flavor. Some ingredients used in preparation include coriander, salt, paprika, nutmeg, lemon juice and many others. It makes for a savory garnish from soups, salads, and vegetables.
Pap
Pap is Afrikaans for porridge. It can be prepared in different ways. In South Africa, this porridge is prepared with milk, sugar, and butter and served as breakfast.
Another way to prepare it is with a thick consistency. South Africans call it stywe pap and serve it with meat or tomato stew. If you attend a braai while in South Africa, you will find that stywe pap with tomato, cheese, mushroom sauce is a part of almost every meal.
A common meal is Pap served with Borewors. Poor people serve Pap with vegetables. The best thing about Pap is that it can be served with just about anything you like.
Sosaties
Sosaties are one of the best South African dishes. Preparers of this succulent dish marinate the meat, usually lamb, in tamarind juices, fried garlic, and curry leaves overnight.
He then threads pieces of lamb on a skewer then braai or pan-fry to make sosaties. Oh and if you do not know, braai is Afrikaans for barbecue.
On the skewers, you may also find mushrooms, sliced peppers, dried apricot or prunes. Yes, South African dishes combine flavors which may for very interesting dishes
Tomato Bredie
Now this Tomato Bredie is a stew. The Bredie comes from the Malays who came to South Africa as slaves.
Tamatiebredie, Africaans for Tomato Bredie, is usually made with mutton and seasoned with cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, cloves and a little chili to make things interesting.
There are other variations of Bredie. There is Green Bean Bredie, Cabbage Breddie and you are free to use whichever meat is on hand.
Potjiekos
Potjiekos is a one-pot South African dish. Do not call it a stew though as traditional South African cooks will surely give you a severe frown.
They are quick to point out that Potjiekos is cooked with very little water and is not stirred. In the preparation of Potjiekos, the cook places a potjie, a cast iron, three-legged pot, on an outside fire.
Meat, potatoes, vegetable, a few spices and a little alcohol go in the pot in a precise order. During all of this, the cook does not stir the pot and adds little to no water.
The potjiekos takes from 3-6 hours and when completed is served with rice or pasta.
