Stywe pap en tamatiesous
The great equaliser — pap en sous stretches any braai to feed whoever arrives. Stirred with patience at the edge of the fire while the coals come down.
The great equaliser — pap en sous stretches any braai to feed whoever arrives. Stirred with patience at the edge of the fire while the coals come down.
Ingredients
- 4 cups (1 litre) water
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 cups maize meal
- A generous knob of butter
- For the sous: 2 tbsp oil, 2 onions (chopped), 6 ripe tomatoes (chopped), 1 tsp sugar, salt and pepper
Method
- Bring the salted water to a rolling boil in a heavy pot at the side of the fire.
- Rain in the maize meal while stirring with a wooden spoon until thick and smooth.
- Turn the heat right down, cover, and let it steam for 30–40 minutes, stirring now and then. Stir in the butter at the end.
- Meanwhile make the sous: soften the onions in oil, add tomatoes and sugar, season, and simmer to a rich, spoonable relish, 20–25 minutes.
- Serve a heap of pap with a crater of sous, next to the wors. This is not negotiable either.
Engineer's view
Read left to right: ingredients merge into steps, steps merge into supper.
| Ingredient | Process → | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Water 1 litre | Bring to a rolling boil | Rain in the meal, stirring · cover · low heat 30–40 min | Stir in the butter → stywe pap | A heap of pap, a crater of sous — next to the wors |
| Salt 1 tsp | ||||
| Maize meal 2 cups | → | |||
| Butter a knob | In at the end | |||
| Oil 2 tbsp | Soften the onions | Simmer 20–25 min → rich, spoonable sous | Season to taste | |
| Onions 2, chopped | ||||
| Tomatoes 6 ripe, chopped | Add + sugar | |||
| Sugar & seasoning 1 tsp sugar | ||||
Which fire, and which day? Not a grid dish. A heavy pot at the fire’s edge, or the stovetop, while the coals come down. Hold your palm at grid height and count: 4 seconds is hot, 6 is hot-medium, 8 is medium, 10 or more is gentle. The full reading is the hand test, and the wood that makes those coals is in the wood guide. Buying notes: the wors it sits beside. Thursday 24 September is National Braai Day. Part of the Braai Day menu pack.
Questions the fire actually gets
How long does stywe pap take?
About 45 minutes. Boil a litre of salted water, rain in two cups of maize meal while stirring until thick, then cover and steam 30–40 minutes, stirring now and then. Butter goes in at the end.
What is tamatiesous?
The tomato-and-onion relish on the pap: onions softened in oil, tomatoes and a teaspoon of sugar, seasoned, simmered 20–25 minutes until spoonable. Make it while the pap steams.
Why pap at a Braai Day fire?
It stretches any amount of meat to whoever arrives. One pot feeds eight beside the wors. Cook it at the edge of the fire, not over the fiercest coals.