Pap, a porridge of finely ground white maize, is the staple that feeds most of South Africa, eaten soft for breakfast, crumbly beside a braai or firm enough to be shaped by hand and dipped into stew. Chakalaka is its most famous companion. The usual story places its birth in the townships and gold mines around Johannesburg, where mineworkers, many from Mozambique, cooked tinned tomatoes and beans with chili into a quick, fiery relish for their pap. Today every family has its own version, and the relish turns up at almost every braai in the country.

Kyalami sits on the northern edge of Johannesburg, so this is the local plate of the circuit's home city: cheap, filling, vegan as written, and better than it has any right to be for the price of the ingredients.

Stywe pap

Ingredients

• 4 cups (960 ml) water
• 1 teaspoon fine salt
• 2 1/2 cups (375 g) fine white maize meal

Method

1. Bring the water and salt to a rolling boil in the saucepan over high heat.
2. Pour in about half the maize meal in a mound in the middle. Do not stir yet. Lower the heat to medium, cover and leave for 3 minutes.
3. Uncover and stir vigorously with the spoon, pressing out lumps against the side of the pan. Add the rest of the meal a little at a time, stirring all the time, until it is very thick.
4. Turn the heat to the lowest setting, cover tightly and let it steam for 30 minutes, stirring and turning it over once every 10 minutes.

Chakalaka

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons (45 ml) vegetable oil
• 1 large onion
• 1 green bell pepper
• 1 red bell pepper
• 1 to 2 fresh green or red chilies
• 3 garlic cloves
• 1 tablespoon finely grated fresh ginger
• 1 tablespoon medium curry powder
• 1 teaspoon smoked or sweet paprika
• 3 medium carrots
• 2 medium tomatoes
• 1 can (14 oz / 400 g) baked beans in tomato sauce
• 1 teaspoon fine salt
• 1 teaspoon sugar

Method

1. Heat the oil in the skillet over medium heat. Add the onion, both peppers and the chilies and cook, stirring, for 8 minutes.
2. Add the garlic, ginger, curry powder and paprika and stir for 1 minute.
3. Add the grated carrots and tomatoes and cook, stirring now and then, for 8 to 10 minutes.
4. Stir in the baked beans with their sauce, the salt and sugar and simmer 5 minutes. Taste and adjust.

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