Stephanie’s Side Dishes

A while back I wrote a blog on our Boma and all the wonderful dishes that accompany this traditional barbeque. I thought Stephanie could share one of her recipes. We decided on Paptert. Papert directly translates as the following: “Pap” porridge normally made from maize meal and the word “Tert” which is a tart. Maize is one of the staple foods on the African Continent and is quite similar to Polenta. It has no flavour and can be eaten with nearly everything. Here is Stephanie’s Recipe for Paptert. This paptert will serve around 4 people.

What you will need for the “Pap”:

1 Cup of Maize

500 ml of Water

100g of Butter

10g of Salt

Heat half of the 500ml water in a pot on the stove; mix the remainder of the water with the Maize. Bring water on the stove to a boil. Add the water and maize mixture to the boiling water dollop by dollop and use a whisk to mix. Once you have added the first two dollops remove the pot from heat. Mix in the rest of the water and maize. Place the lid on the pot. Allow rapid boiling for roughly 10 minutes, after this turn the heat down to medium and simmer for around 20 minutes. The consistency must not be grainy, it should resemble polenta.

Now you have created the basis of your dish.

What you will need for the layering:

500ml Cream

1 Onion

250g Mushroom (of your choice)

20g of Crushed Garlic

60g Parmesan Powder

Salt and Pepper to taste

Slice the onion and mushrooms.

Now put a layer of “Pap” at the bottom of a Casserole dish.

Sprinkle the Onion, Mushroom, Garlic, Parmesan and Salt/Pepper evenly. Pour a dash of Cream.

Repeat this cycle until the Casserole dish is filled or your ingredients have finished.

Place the dish in a 180 Degree/400 Fahrenheit oven for about 20 minutes.

You can use basically any ingredients you wish. Other alternatives include: Bacon, Cheddar Cheese, Mozzarella Cheese, Tomato, Chicken, Bell Peppers, Biltong “Jerky”, or Sausages. There are so many versions of this dish and it can be altered however you like.

I hope you will make this dish with your next barbeque or braai. And post some photos on our Facebook Page.

Hope you will have fun with the recipe.

Happy Cooking

Stephanie.