Traditional Weekend Lunch

Likhobe (beans & sorghum): Boil water, add dried beans and sorghum (about 50 g per person), a pinch of salt, and a tablespoon of cooking oil. Cook at boiling temperature for 30 mins, then reduce the heat and cook for another two hours.

Leqebekoane (steamed bread): Mix whole wheat flour (about 100 g per person) with a portion of yeast and a pinch of salt and sugar. Put everything into room temperature water, cover, and leave to rise for about 1 hour. Then wrap with plastic, put into boiling water, and cook for 2.5 hours. Remove, wrap in a dry cloth and cut into thin slices when serving. Dip into the mutton sauce (see below).

Pap: Boil water and then add about 100 g of coarse maize flour per person, stirring constantly until it thickens; keep it on the stove for 20 mins, stirring from time to time to prevent burning. Serve hot directly on the plate.

Moroho: Cut spinach (200 g per person) into salad- sized pieces, put into a pot, add half a cup of water, 2 tbsp. of cooking oil and a pinch of salt. Cover it and let it boil for 15 to 20 mins, stirring from time to time.

Mutton and chicken stew: Take a whole farm-raised chicken, clean it, stuff it with its (washed) intestines, add salt and a little pepper, and cook; add several slices of mutton cutlets (1 per person) and cook together with the chicken for about 2 hours. Once finished, pour the sauce into a small bowl, for dipping the leqebekoane bread. Serve the meat on a platter or directly on each plate. Alternatively, you can cook only the mutton and roast the chicken in the oven, after rubbing it with a mixture of traditional spices and herbs (salt, pepper, rosemary, etc.).

Motoho (sorghum drink): Put a few tbsp. of mabele (special variety of sorghum) into a bowl, add a cup of water, cover and keep it at room temperature for two to three days until it develops into yeast. Put 100 g of mabele per person into a pot, add water (at room temperature), add the yeast and a little salt, and let it ferment for 5 to 7 hours. Then cook it, remove the water from the top and boil it separately for 10 to 15 mins. Add the mabele from the first pot, stir vigorously for 5 mins, let it cool down and put it into the refrigerator. The brew should have a consistency between ordinary beer and Lassi (south Asian drink from sour milk). Motoho is served to accompany the other dishes or sometimes as a dessert.