Bokkie Got Back

I always loved the word "bokkie." I'm not entirely sure why, its just so South African and such a sweet term of endearment. It's almost totally out of fashion and its rarely used in my life. And by that I mean, I certainly don't get called a bokkie very often. But there's good reason to be taken by the bokkie nickname tomorrow.

Rugby fans around the country are wearing their green jerseys tomorrow in support of the Springboks who are a mere one bonus point away from winning the Tri Nations Cup. Let me be the first to say publicly that our rugby team is sexy. My loyalty can't possibly be swayed. Not even Dan Carter can change my mind.

So its a weekend of rugby. I thought we'd take it to a patriotic (yet light) level and plan a braai. You know, a "barbecue" - where meat is cooked on a fire, bread is baked in coals, beer is well...everywhere. Vegetarians aren't invited.

Boerwors, pap en sous


Boerewors is a specifically spiced whole meat sausage. True wors has very little fillers and much more meat. This comes in thick and thin portions. Cook your wors over a slowish fire until brown all the way through.

Pap


Pap is a Mielie (Corn) based porridge. Add 3 cups of mielie pap to a cup of cold water until smooth, add another 3 cups and some salt. Place pot on stove and heat until the pap is hot. Add more water if necessary. Reduce heat and cook slowly for 1 hour stirring and adding more water (if necessary) every 10 minutes. Serve with sauce. Delicious.

Sauce


Grate an apple
Finely chop an onion
Crush two cloves of garlic
Finely chop one tomato
Fry in olive oil


Add 1 tablespoon of sugar, tomato sauce, 2 tablespoons soya sauce.
Add 1 can of chopped tomatoes
Season with salt and pepper
Cook until the onion is cooked and you have a thick sauce.

To serve place pap on plate, add a chunk of boerewors and top with sauce, garnish with a rugby game, a beer and your bokkie of choice.

There you have it...plan your braai, support the Bokke and get cooking!

Go Bokke!



This recipe was lifted and adjusted from
http://www.south-african-homeschool-curriculum.com/south-african-braai-recipes.html.

If you feel like giving your braai a traditional Canadian flavour, then take your cue from http://allrecipes.com/Recipes/World-Cuisine/Canada/Main.aspx

Brewery wants to make it cheaper for you to tap in

SABMiller, the second-largest brewery in the world and a brewery born in South Africa, is spreading its reach and is about to tap into an African market worth over US$3-billion or ZAR30-billion. This year SABMiller plans to open four new brewing plants in Mozambique, Tanzania, Sudan and Angola to benefit from these four countries' economical growth.

The company was first founded in South Africa in 1895 as South African Breweries (SAB). For the next 95 years their interest was focused on southern Africa until 1990 when it began investing in Europe. In 1999 SAB became SABMiller after merging with the Miller Brewing Company in North America. Today, the company are the proud producers of six beer brands that are in the world's top fifty beer brands and SABMiller is also one of the largest bottlers of Coca-Cola products in the world.

In Africa, SABMiller currently has operations existing in Nigeria, Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Mozambique, Angola, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi, Ghana, Comoros and Mayotte. Despite this, the four new plants that are planned are in a market that will quadruple SABMiller's current market and the company wishes to become a major role player in that market.

That seems like the obvious position for a company to want to take...however, they also have some odd viewpoints. SABMiller's head of media relations, Nigel Fairbrass, has said that the company wants to make beer more affordable on the African continent. Apparently they plan on reducing the price of the beverage by introducing new, cheaper brands.

Well I'm sure no one's going to stick their nose up at cheaper beer.