So we have many different versions of “Paptert” here in South Africa. It’s usually layered using cooked maize meal, bacon, and cheese with a tomato-onion sauce (lang sousie). I prefer this version as I’ve never had a good paptert in all my years growing up.
I’m unsure of its origins as we celebrate so many beautiful cultures here in South Africa and maize meal is a staple here. I know many of my friends in the Western Cape have never had or heard of paptert before they heard me raving about it but when I was living in Gauteng, most family gatherings I attended had paptert on the menu.
I made this full-fat, all-in version because I love maize meal but never had a good paptert. It’s simple, tasty and perfect for your next BBQ or braai. It is quite an expensive recipe but well worth the treat. I can also say that even if you have family members that don’t like cream styled corn, this one might be an exception, even for them. I had served it to my brother-in-law who despises sweetcorn, and he even went in for a third serving with this one.
You can use maize meal, corn meal, polenta, or grits in this recipe. It will affect the texture and colour depending on which variant you decide to use. Maize meal and grits is ground white corn, but maize meal is finer in texture when compared to grits. Corn meal and polenta is ground yellow corn, but both have a rougher texture. I used maize meal from Woolworths – see below recipe video for reference, but you could blend the granules in a blender or spice blender if you’d like a finer texture.
Notes:
– Feel free to add fresh chilli, chilli flakes and/or freshly ground pepper prior to baking.
– I add 1 cup of water to the mixture to additional moisture but feel free to add an additional 1/2 cup or more depending on your personal preference.
– You could add more or less cheese on top prior to baking but I do enjoy that extra cheesy top.
– Grits would work well – if you grind/blend the grits to a slightly finer texture I think it’ll work even better.
Ingredients
- 1-2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 garlic cloves finely diced
- 200 g diced bacon sautéed
- 250 g button mushrooms sliced and sautéed
- 1 large white onion diced and sautéed
- 320 g raw maize meal/corn meal/grits
- 2 x 420g can cream style sweetcorn
- 500 ml cream
- 450 g white cheddar cheese grated and separated
- 1 cup water or more see notes*
- Good pinch of salt
- 1 tsp baking powder
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celsius
- Add the oil, garlic, bacon, mushrooms and onion to a large frying pan and sauté on medium high heat for about 20mins or until fully cooked and golden brown in colour. Set aside.
- To a large mixing bowl add the raw maize meal, canned cream styled sweetcorn, cream, 150g grated cheese, the onion-bacon-mushroom mixture, 1 cup water, salt and baking powder. Mix until well combined
- Pour the mixture into a large heatproof dish. Top with the remaining 300g grated cheese 300g and bake for 1 hour and 15mins at 180 degrees celsius.
- Remove from the oven once it’s beautifully golden brown in color and deeeevour!