IT’S the first week of autumn and already the leaves are falling off the trees. Cape Town weather is sunnier than ever. As we know when seasons are changing, some of us are bound to get flu or some other “change of season” bug.
I’ve been having that change of season flu and regardless of the hot weather I felt like comforting myself with a dish from the Venda culture, a Tshisevho (dried meat) stew.
This is what I love about our country and the people in it, we think we are different yet we are so similar in many things.
Let’s look at biltong for an example; it is a traditional item in many cultures. We call it different names depending on the culture. Xhosas call it Umqwayito and Zulus call it Umqweyiba. Our brothers and sisters in Zimbabwe call it chumukuyu. The latter use biltong to prepare a chumukuyu stew which is similar to the one I have prepared this week.
Ground peanuts are added to the stew and they give it that characteristic traditional African food taste. The recipes are very similar in that only biltong, water, and ground peanuts are added to it.
The dish is self seasoning, no salt is necessary. So go ahead and prepare it! Enjoy!
l www.mzansistylecuisine.co.za