Lizel Salter – Recipes from South Africa

All posts by Lizel Salter

Christmas Cakes

Christmas Time :)

Christmas time… Feels like it comes around so quickly every year. Kids are so excited, we all are taking things slowly. And here we are another year later. We have family over from South Africa and it is VERY cold and wet at the moment, but why not bake and enjoy!!!

Enjoy your Christmas everyone !!!! Will post a recipe again soon.


Giant Plaatkoekies

I always bake small plaatkoekies but decided to make them bigger this time. A bit thicker as well which means that they are more filling and wonderfully soft and fluffy 🙂 We bake gluten free so the recipe is gluten free.

1 cup of water
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 tablespoon of sugar
1 and 1/2 cup of self raising gluten free flour

1. Mix the water and eggs together.
2. Add the sugar, salt and flour.
3. Mix well and place spoons-full in a pan….
4. Bake on both sides turning when little air bubbles appear on one side.

You can add chocolate spread (which is a lovely sweet option), cinnamon sugar, melted cheese or even meats like salami or ham… Our family love this and enjoy eating it even for breakfast with bacon and syrup….


Soentjies – just for you :)

Hi there everyone!!!!!

Today I will share with you our soentjie recipe. This is specially for Alison, so make sure you give us feedback once you tried the recipe please…. Photos, remarks, anything is welcome… I would love to see what happened…

Soentjies is a wonderful biscuit. They crumble in your mouth, almost disintegrate as you bite them. They are lovely and soft but also have a slight crunch at the same time. One of my all time favourites. The secret ingredient that makes this all possible is the cornflour…

You can halve the recipes if you want to make a bit less… This will make around 2.5kg.

2 cups of margarine
2 cups of sugar
3 eggs
4 cups of flour
3 cups of cornflour
3 teaspoons of baking powder
1/2 teaspoon of salt

1. Cream the margarine and sugar together and then add the beaten eggs. Mix well.
2. Sieve the dry ingredients together and add. Fist mix together with a wooden spoon.
3. Then use your hands and knead the dough together. Put through the mincer attachment of the Kenwood. Attach the cookie shape in the front.
4. Cut the dough into rectangular shapes with a pastry cutter.
5. Bake on the bottom shelve of the oven, pre-heated to 180 degrees celcius for about 10 minutes.
7. Move to the middle of the oven and bake for another 10 minutes. They stay white so don’t let them burn.

1 cup of sugar
1/2 cup of margarine
1/2 cup of milk
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

Boil all the ingredients together for 5 minutes. Stir while it cools down. It is a good idea to make the filling first before you bake the cookies….

Once the cookies are cold, spread some of the filling on one of the cookies, and stick another against it…

Enjoy with tea, coffee or just on the go like I do 🙂 If you don’t have a Kenwood, just take the dough and roll little balls… Place in a baking tray and lightly press them down with a fork. After they cooled down, stick 2 together with the filling. They might not look exactly the same, but they still taste great !!!

Birthday cookies

Birthday cookies





Kids new favourite – pampoenkoekies


1 egg
3 tablespoons of flour (we use gluten free flour)
pinch of salt



my kiddies

Marakkas !!

Ai, nog ‘n pragtige Afrikaanse woord…. Daar is geen taal in die wêreld wat kan kers vashou by Afrikaans as dit kom by beskrywende woorde, uitdrukkings en manier van praat nie 🙂 Ek glimlag sommer klaar as ek net van die woorde deur my brein laat wandel… Dit is so mooi, so beskrywend, so akkuraat en pragtig.

Ek het net nou die aand een van my Haas Das se Nuuskas boekies vir my seuntjie gegee om te lees. Gaan hom ‘n ruk lank besig hou, maar hy lees so pragtig. Een van die stories se naam is “Hier kom groot marakkas!” ‘n Wonderlike beskrywing van wat gaan gebeur. Jy hoef nie eens te wonder nie, dit sê alles as jy net die opskrif lees.

Dit is presies hoe ek gevoel het nou die dag toe ek ‘n lemoenpoeding probeer bak het…. Ons huur ‘n nuwe huis en die oond het baie belowend en nuut gelyk, maar met kan nooit van die buitekant af oordeel nie… Ek het die poeding aangemaak en in die oong gesit en binne die eerste 5 minute het ek besef dat hier kom groot marakkas…..

Die poeding bo-op was sommer donker bruin, amper swart, en die poeding onder is nog in vloeistof vorm. Ai, en niks wil rys nie…. Die poeding bied nie eers ‘n poging aan om te rys nie, is net so plat soos toe ek dit ingesit het. Net so…. Geen vordering, geen bakproses… Net swart bo-op gebrand, rou aan die onderkant en plat soos ‘n pannekoek. Nou dit is wat mens noem marakkas…. GROOT PROBLEME….. So wonderlike akkurate beskrywing van hoe iet maklik verkeerd kan loop.

As jy opsoek is na die resep en wil sien hoe die poeding regtig MOET lyk, lees gerus meer by resep vir Lemoenpoeding

Vertel ons van marakkas wat plaasgevind het in jou kombuis. Deel gerus jou storie met ons 🙂 Jy is welkom on in AFrikaans of Engels te skryf. Maak gebruik van hierdie geleentheid om iets met die wêreld te deel 🙂

Oven cooked rice

Rice – easy as that :)

Today I am going to share with you a recipe that my husband showed me. It is the easiest thing you will ever make. I never thought of cooking rice in this way, never ever 🙂 Amazing what there is out there still to be discovered by you. Maybe something that one person accepts as normal is totally unheard of for another person. So let’s all share recipes and ideas 🙂

This is how to make this wonderful easy rice….

First you have to decided what flavours you are in the mood for today. Curry, Chinese or whatever you like to eat. My whole family loves bacon and I just happened to have a few pieces in the fridge to use up anyway, so I cut the bacon into little pieces and fried it off with finely chopped onion in a little bit of oil. I also like smoked paprika so added just a little bit for taste.

Once the onion is see through and the bacon is cooked, you have to add your rice. We use 1 cup of rice for our family, so I added 1 cup of raw rice to the mix of onion and bacon…

Raw rice

You then stir the rice in the pan or pot, whatever you decide to use, for a few minutes. Not too long… Then it is time to add the liquid….. I used chicken stock. Take one chicken stock cube and add 2 cups (500ml) of boiling water and stir. Now it is ready to add to your rice mixture on the stove. Stir the mixture together… Remember you need 2 parts liquid for every part rice that you are using.

Then you have to find an oven dish or whatever you have lying around. I could only find our braai dish (a round one) and it worked wonders. I now use nothing else :). Pour the rice and stock mixture into the dish… Make sure you cover it very well. You want the steam from cooking to stay in the dish, not escape into the oven.

Stock with rice

Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees celcius and then add the mixture to the oven. You need to let it cook for about 10 minutes. Then take it out of the oven and stir. Leave it another 10 minutes. It should be cooked after 20 minutes. If not, just cook a bit longer until the rice is dry.

Oven cooked rice

The taste of the rice is wonderful, so different from just boiling it on the stove in water like I have always done. Something to try…. Goes well with anything, even just on it’s own 🙂


Sweet Mustard

This is a wonderful recipe I got from my mother… Believe me, my son LOVES this recipe and eats it on everything. It is a bit sweet, but also sour at the same time. Goes well on pork and is a winner if you add a little bit to mayonaise for a chicken mayo toasted sandwich…. My favourite, add to a hot dog with melted cheese 🙂

Here is the recipe. I changes it a little bit because of availability of ingredients:

1 cup of sugar (250ml)
25 ml of mustard powder. Use the English mustard
20 ml of cake flour. I add 20ml because I make everything gluten free, if you are using regular flour, start maybe with 15 ml.
Pinch of salt
1/2 cup of white spirit vinegar. I used apple cider vinegar, could not find white spirit vinegar… (the cider vinegar has a stronger taste than the spirit vinegar)
1/2 cup of water
2 extra large eggs

1. Mix the sugar, mustard, flour and salt in a bowl.
2. Microwave for 4 minutes on 100% stirring after 2 minutes.
3. Beat the eggs together and add some of the mixture, mixing very well… Add to the rest of the mixture and stir together…
4. Microwave for 3 minutes at 50% until it turns thicker.
5. Let it cool down. Place the mixture in a holder and store in the fridge. It tastes great when it is very cold 🙂

gluten free potato balls

Gluten free fried potato balls

Like I mentioned last time, my children love potatoes. They don’t eat bread at school and it important for me to find something they will love eating that is also filling. Potatoes give me that possibility. They love it and it is filling at the same time.

3 potatoes (raw potatoes that you grate)
pinch of salt
1 egg
2 tablespoons of brown rice flour (or regular flour if you prefer)

1. Make the balls as big or small as you like. I make it small, easier and quicker to cook and not too much to eat at a time.
2. Take a spoon full of mix and press together in your hand. Once it holds it’s shape, deep fry in oil.
3. I choose to deep fry them, but you can shape them and then bake in the oven without any oil.

Potato balls in bowl

Easy to make 🙂

potato cakes gluten free

Potato Cakes, gluten free

My children are very fussy when it comes to eating at school. They do NOT like bread (only toast) so I had to come up with something else they will enjoy at school that is filling enough and NOT full of sugar and junk. So I tried these wonderful potato cakes. It only takes a few ingredients and are very easy to make. You only need the following ingredients:

4 large potatoes (boiled and mashed with a little bit of butter)
1 extra large egg
pinch of salt
A large hand full of cheddar cheese (or whatever cheese you prefer). You can add as much as you enjoy.
Optional: add bacon, salami or ham.

1. First boil the potatoes and mash with some butter.
2. Add the cheese, egg and salt and mix well.
3. Add the bacon, salami or ham, whatever you are in the mood for 🙂
4. Mix well and heat up a pan. I use my pancake pan and don’t use any oil.
5. Form little balls and then press them flat in the pan. I bake 4 at a time.
6. Turn when one side is golden brown and cook on the other side.
7. Remove when ready and eat warm or cold as a snack…

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