Siba Mtongana has levelled up South Africa’s food and entertainment industry.
Celebrity chef, entrepreneur and author, Siba Mtongana, is the first African to win a Prestige Award for the impact of her cookbook My Table. The mother of four has brought the art of food to tens of millions of homes around the world with her cooking show, Siba’s Table. Here are two of her favourite traditional recipes with a Sibalicious twist and some tips.
MFINO FRITTERS WITH SOYA MAYO AND SALMON
Mfino is a type of traditional food I grew up eating as a child, especially in summer. My mother used to make it as a midday snack for us to have on our way back from school. It’s typically eaten by women rather than men and is made of sautéed onions, spinach and maize meal and seasoned with salt. Once cooked it crumbles and is usually eaten by hand. When I had my first born, Lonwabo, my mother came to Cape Town to see the baby, and made mfino for me. The next day I played around with the leftovers in the kitchen and came up with these delicious mfino fritters.
They really have a taste of Africa, but with a bit of a global touch!
Preparation time: 10 min
Cooking time: 20 min
Serves 4–6
Ingredients
30ml olive oil
½ red onion, finely chopped
2 spring onions, chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely crushed
200g spinach, washed, stalks removed and finely chopped
45ml coriander, chopped
30ml thyme, chopped
170ml maize meal
Salt and freshly ground
Black pepper
Topping
60ml thick mayonnaise
20ml soy sauce
5ml lemon zest
1 fillet Norwegian smoked salmon
Micro herbs, to garnish
Method
In a large frying pan, heat the oil and sauté the red onion, spring onions and garlic for 1 minute. Add the spinach and herbs and cook for another minute
or two until the spinach starts to wilt.
Stir in the maize meal and mix. Pour in 60ml water, season with salt and pepper and stir to combine until the spinach is wilted and the maize meal is slightly cooked and looking a bit like mashed potato. This takes about 10–15 minutes. Remove from the heat and allow to cool enough to handle.
Use a teaspoon scoop, and your hands, to shape the maize mixture into mini balls. Then squeeze them firmly – so that they won’t break apart when you fry them – and flatten them slightly. Place a knob of butter in a heated non-stick pan, and cook them for 1 minute on each side, until golden. Place on a serving platter.
Now mix the mayo, soy sauce and zest together. Place a small dab on each fritter and top with a piece of smoked salmon. Decorate with micro herbs.
Siba’s tip… I often make these fritters as part of a finger food menu for friends and special guests. They’re also great as canapés for a party. You can use polenta instead of maize meal, but just make sure you add enough polenta to prevent the mixture from being too soft to form into shape. It must also be flexible enough to shape into small round balls.
To see Siba’s recipe for boerewors bobotie, click here!
