Chakalaka

Ingredients

• Carrots — grated4
• Bell peppers — mixed colours3
• Onions2
• Baked beans400 g
• Tomatoes — chopped400 g
• Curry powder1 tbsp
• Paprika1 tsp
• Chilli2
• Garlic4 clove
• Ginger20 g
• Vegetable oil50 ml
• Salt and pepperto taste

Salt and spices grow more slowly than the rest: doubling a dish does not double the pepper.

Weight converts to ounces and volume to cups. Grams of flour are not turned into cups, because that depends on how tightly it is packed.

Method

1. 1

   Grate the carrots coarsely and cut the peppers and onions into thin strips.

   15 min

2. 2

   Fry the onion with the garlic, ginger and chilli in oil until soft, five minutes.

   7 min

3. 3

   Add the curry powder and paprika and warm them a minute; the spices need to open up in the oil.

   2 min

4. 4

   Add the peppers and carrot and cook five minutes over a high heat, stirring.

   6 min

5. 5

   Add the tomatoes, season and cook seven minutes, until the sauce thickens.

   9 min

6. 6

   Stir in the beans, warm them three minutes and take the pan off. The vegetables should still have bite.

   5 min

About the dish

The carrot is grated rather than diced: grated, it melts into the sauce and binds the dish; diced, it stays a separate vegetable.

Chakalaka should keep its crunch. It cooks about fifteen minutes and no more: turned into a stew, it stops working as a relish.

It comes from the miners' hostels of Johannesburg, where cheap vegetables and a tin of beans became something to season pap with. Today it is on every braai table.

Worth knowing

• — Chakalaka is better the next day and is often made ahead. It is served cold or hot, and both are correct.
• — Tinned beans in tomato sauce are not a shortcut but the canon: the dish appeared with them.
• — The heat comes from the chilli, not the curry powder. To make it milder, drop the chilli entirely; without the curry it stops being chakalaka.

Nutrition

Per serving at the base yield, calculated from the ingredients rather than measured in a lab.

Calories

220 kcal

Protein

8 g

Fat

10 g

Carbs

26 g

More from South Africa

• Bobotie — A bake of spiced mince with dried fruit under an egg and milk custard. South Africa's national dish.