Beauties serve up favourite dishes

Voting for Miss SA 2021 Top 10 has officially closed but you still have a last chance to vote for your favourite, with your stomach. Some of the top 30 contenders for the Miss SA crown have shared their favourite dishes and you can try out the recipes to see if your favourite wins the battle of the beauty and the plate.

Mama knows best

Andile Mazibuko from Ulundi in KwaZulu-Natal says that at home, her mother’s seven colours lunch is a staple. The 23-year-old final year homoeopathy student at the Durban University of Technology shared her mother Sibongile Mazibuko’s beef stew and steamed bread recipes.

Sibongile Mazibuko’s beef stew

Ingredients

1kg stewing beef, cut into bite-size pieces

1 onion, chopped

1 tbsp oil

2 bell peppers, chopped

1 large garlic clove, chopped

1 tomato, diced

2 beef stock cubes

4 carrots, sliced

1 cup of sweetcorn

2 bay leaves

1 tsp BBQ spice

1 tsp paprika

1 tsp thyme

2 bay leaves

Salt and pepper to taste

Method

Add oil to a large pan and over a medium to high heat, sauté onion, peppers and garlic until soft

Add the beef and fry till brown, stirring to coat with the onion, peppers and garlic

Once beef has browned, add all the spices, the diced tomato, the 2 beef stock cubes and a cup of hot water

Reduce the heat, pop the lid on the pan and cook for 1 hour

Then add the sweetcorn and carrots and cook for a further 15 minutes

Add salt and pepper to taste before plating and serving hot with your favourite vegetables or a salad.

Sibongile Mazibuko’s steamed bread

Ingredients

4 cups of flour

1 pack of yeast

2 tbsp of sugar

1 tsp salt

500ml lukewarm water

2 tbsp melted butter

¼ cup sweetcorn

Method

Add all the dry ingredients to a large bowl and mix well.

Stir in the butter and then gradually add water and mix with your hands until a dough forms (the dough should not be sticky or dry).

Place the dough in a clean steel bowl, cover with a cloth and put it in a warm area for 45 minutes to prove.

After 45 minutes the dough should have risen to twice its initial size

Pound it down and then add the sweetcorn and mix well.

Form a ball with the dough and place in a steel bowl pre-greased with butter or oil

Place the bowl in a pot half-filled with boiling water, making sure the water does not rise above the bowl

Steam for 45 minutes before removing bread and serving hot with the beef stew.  

Fast fresh food for the win

Foodie Eloïse van der Westhuizen from Panorama, Cape Town, loves to cook and catch episodes of MasterChef Australia on TV. The 26-year-old business intelligence analyst has a quick, easy and hearty chicken and coconut curry that she swears by.

Eloïse van der Westhuizen’s chicken and coconut curry (Serves: 4-6)

Cooking time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

4 free-range skinless chicken breast fillets, cut into bite-size pieces

3 tbsp coconut oil

400ml coconut cream

300ml organic chicken stock

½ onion, finely chopped

2 cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped

2 tsp fresh lime juice

2 tsp paprika

3 tbsp ground coriander

2 tbsp ground cumin

1 tbsp curry powder

2 tsp fresh ginger, finely grated

Salt to taste

Chilli, finely chopped (optional)

Handful of fresh coriander chopped, for serving

Method

Heat a large pot over high heat and add coconut oil.

Add chicken breasts and sauté until golden brown, remove from the pot and set aside.

Sauté the onion in the same pot until they are soft and fragrant. Add the garlic and spices and fry for 30 seconds then add the chicken back to the pot.

Pour in the coconut cream and chicken stock.

Lower the heat and allow the curry to cook for 20 minutes until the chicken is cooked and the sauce has thickened slightly.

Add the lime juice and season to taste

Garnish with fresh coriander and chilli (optional)

“I serve it with basmati rice and a fresh tomato and cucumber sambal,” says Van der Westhuizen.”

Sister’s cooking served as an inspiration

“My sister could and still makes the heartiest meals out of the least ingredients, that’s what I love most about cooking. She taught me so much and puts so much fun into cooking. I always look forward to cooking for the family and one day hosting dinner parties at my own place,” says 26-year-old Zimi Mabunzi, from eQonce (King William’s Town) in the Eastern Cape. Mabunzi shares her umngqusho and beef stew recipe.

Zimi Mabunzi’s umngqusho and beef stew

For the samp & beans

1 cup of samp

¼ cup of beans

Full pot of water

1 beef stock cube

Aromat

1 tsp of Holsum fat (optional but makes it super yum!)

Method

Cook the samp and beans in the water until soft and edible. Then add the stock cube, Aromat and fat and cook for about 3 hours.

For the beef stew

1kg stewing beef

1 tbsp of oil

1 onion, chopped

2 red peppers, chopped

1 garlic clove, crushed

1 tbsp Mother-in-Law spice (or more if you like your stew hot!)

1 tbsp chutney

1 cube of beef stock

1 tbsp paprika

Add oil to a pot and over a medium heat brown the beef. Remove the meat and, in the same pot, add the onion, peppers, garlic and beef stock and cook until onion is soft.

Then add the salt (to taste), paprika, Mother-in Law-spice, chutney and a generous amount of water and cook – stirring regularly – until meat is tender.