Ukhonaye Mconi celebrates Mzansi cuisine by adding a modern twist

Ukhonaye Mconi is preserving Mzansi dishes by elevating their dining status from treasured family delicacies to culinary splendour beckoning a restaurant table.  

“I am big on the food I grew up eating and that I have enjoyed, but don’t see on restaurant tables," says the 29-year-old project planner at Capsicum Culinary Studios and IIE School of Hospitality and Service Management at Rosebank campus.  

"When it comes to my food, I've always taken from my past. We turn our noses up at these meals and we should not."

Among Mconi’s finger-licking array of distinct traditional foods that have received a culinary elevation includes a stomach-rumbling spin on his beloved childhood favourite umngqusho (samp and beans).   

“Imagine an umngqhuso croquette, deep-fried samp and beans balls with bacon and cheese," he says.  

“I would slightly overcook the samp and beans and place it in the fridge in the shape of a block so the natural starch from the samp can bind it. I would then roll it out and put prepared cheese and bacon in the middle. Roll it up into a ball. Put it in flour, eggs, breadcrumbs and deep fry it.

“Outside it would have that crispy deep-fried texture and as you bite into it... creamy luscious samp and bean with flavoursome bacon and cheese."  

The Kariega, Eastern Cape, native credits his passion and creativity for heritage cuisine to his upbringing.   

“My father’s side of the family love their traditional food, whereas, on mom's side, they are always experimenting with new techniques, watching cooking shows, making sauces,” says Mconi. 

It wasn’t until being homesick in Florida, US, that he was driven to improvise; recreating the classic umphokoqo namasi (crumbly pap with amasi).

“While I lived in America between 2016 and 2017, I realised that there were only certain African cuisines that are celebrated abroad. Everyone is familiar with Ethiopian cuisine, Nigerian jollof and okra. SA is known for certain ingredients but not for its cuisine,” he says.

“As a graduate, I worked at The Club at Admirals Cove in Jupiter, Florida. I was missing home and I wanted to recreate umphokoqo namasi. Luckily there was a maize meal, but to get amasi I mixed buttermilk and sour cream.

“I made it for my pastry executive chef and she was amazed by the taste. I realised then that people don't know what we eat in SA. The experience inspired me to go further, probe into what chef schools are teaching.

"We are telling our SA students that this is what they need to learn, but what about our food history and the food we eat? Yes, we eat it in our homes, but can't we elevate it and put it on our restaurant menus?" 

His audacious creations include slow-cooked pulled tripe in milk Stout, then served as an open sandwich on barouche bread, rocket, blue cheese and chakalaka cream. With the Heritage plate as Mconi has named it, he believes his delicious pursuit to reimagine SA’s indigenous culinary narrative will yield a sweet and sticky outcome.     

“Cooking with beer is something I learnt from my dad. I use milk stout in the caramel flavours. Once you’ve cooked out the alcohol, cook it down and thicken it –  all those natural flavours," he says. 

Milk stout pulled beef cheek with sorghum ravioli and amasi ricotta

Ingredients  

• flour, 3 cups  
• eggs, 6 large  
• olive oil, 500ml  
• sorghum (rehydrated) 1kg bag  
• salt and pepper  
• Amasi 2L  

• lemons, 4  
• beetroot 1kg (boiled)  
• apple cider vinegar, 100ml  
• water, 2 cups  
• sugar, 100g  
• beef cheek, 1kg  
• Castle milk stout,750ml  
• garlic, 30g  
• thyme,10g  
• oregano10g  
• cashews 100g  
• pumpkin seeds, 50g  
• Demerara sugar, 50g  
• smoked paprika, 20g  
• pumpkin 400g  
• harissa paste, 100g  
• spinach, 1 bunch  
• oil for deep frying  

Method 

• To make the sorghum ravioli, make a well with the flour, add the eggs and two spoons of sorghum. Knead and roll with the pasta machine. Thin sheets, two long ones. Fill with the pumpkin and use the cookie cutter size of your choice. Boil for six minutes then fry in butter, garlic and thyme.  

• To make the amasi ricotta, in a pot, add amasi and lemon juice and zest. Simmer till milk solids separate and then drain into a colander and cloth. Chill till later.  
• To make beetroot puree, peel and cube beetroot, in a pot add the beetroot and water, and boil till soft. In a blender, blend beetroot with sugar and vinegar till smooth. Put it into a piping bag.  
• To prepare pulled beef cheek, in a deep medium tray/dish, add all your herbs and onion, add your brisket then pour in the Castle milk stout. Bake for 18 at 90 degrees. Once cooked, pull it and reduce the cooking liquid till a thick sauce is formed.  
• To make the cashew and pumpkin crumble, in a hot pan, add your nuts and seeds, followed by spice and sugar. Once sugar is melted and covers everything, pour the mixture on greaseproof paper till it cools and hardens. Break into pieces.  
• To make the roasted pumpkin filling, roast in an oven at 180 degrees for 20 minutes till light charred and soft. Blend with a bit of water to loosen it. Then into a bottle or piping bag to use for ravioli and plating.  
• To prepare the deep-fried spinach, in a deep saucepan heat up the oil. Add your spinach leaves and cry till dark green and crispy. Use as needed on plating.  
• Plate all elements together.