If you know South African food, chances are you know pap. Made from ground maize (mielie meal), pap is one of the country’s most familiar staples, appearing everywhere from breakfast tables to braais. It can be soft and spoonable, firm enough to scoop up with your fingers, or crumbly and textured, depending on how it is cooked.
And while “pap” is the name many of us use, maize-based dishes have different names and traditions across South Africa’s cultures. In isiZulu, a crumbly style is commonly known as phuthu, while Xhosa food traditions include dishes such as umphokoqo, a crumbly maize preparation served with sour milk or buttermilk. Pap and maize meal also feature alongside stews, gravies, vegetables and grilled meat, and are a familiar part of gatherings and braais.
This pap tart aka paptert takes that wonderfully familiar ingredient and gives it a bit of a makeover. Rather than the layered versions of pap tart that many South Africans may know, this one starts with raw ground maize and combines it with cream, a deeply savoury tomato-and-onion sauce and plenty of cheese. Everything comes together in the oven, where the maize cooks and absorbs all those flavours while the cheese melts and turns beautifully golden on top.
Think of it as pap taking a small detour from the usual pot and heading straight for the baking dish. The result is hearty without being complicated, with creamy maize, rich tomato and onion, and a golden, cheesy crust doing most of the heavy lifting.
Paptert is a dish that took some time to grow on me though. It took me a while to realize that the layers just didn’t do it for me. It can easily become quite a messy dish to dish up and that’s what kick started my paptert fear but this version is one I can easily send out to you tastebuds knowing you’re going to absolutely adore her.
Maize became an important staple in Southern Africa after being introduced from the Americas, eventually becoming deeply embedded in South African foodways. While older Southern African food traditions relied heavily on grains such as sorghum and millet, maize gradually became a dominant staple.
If you loooove paptert, well, then give this version a try:
Paptert – The Big Tasty’s Way!
I’m busy working on a few Braai Day or Heritage recipes but enjoy this one for now. Friendly reminder to submit your recipe rating (this just helps me deliver you my A-game)!
Tamatie en Uie Paptert | Tomato & Onion Maize Tart
Equipment
- 1 large saucepan or pot no lid needed
- 1 large baking tray oval dish 20cm x 30cm x 10cm, see note 1
Ingredients
Tomato & Onion Sauce
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2-4 cloves garlic peeled and sliced, as per personal preference
- 1 tbsp fresh thyme or 2 tsp dried thyme
- 1 large onion diced
- 2 x 400 grams chopped tomatoes canned
- 800 ml chicken stock warmed
- 3 tbsp white wine vinegar or red
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1 ½ tsp smoked paprika
- 1 ½ tsp mild curry powder
- 1 small birds eye chili chopped, optional
- 1 tsp fine sea salt or add more to taste
- ½ tsp black pepper coarsely ground
Paptert
- 2 cups maize meal (pap, mieliemeel etc.) ground corn, see note 2
- 500ml/2 cups cream or milk, chicken stock, see note 3
- 400 grams cheddar cheese grated, separated
Instructions
- Start by bringing a large saucepan to a medium heat. Add olive oil, garlic and thyme. Sauté until the garlic start to turn golden in colour. Add the onion and continue sauteing until golden in colour, about 5 minutes.
- Add the canned chopped tomatoes, chicken stock, white wine vinegar, sugar, paprika, mild curry powder, fresh chili, salt and pepper. Allow to simmer, on a medium-low heat, uncovered, for 30 minutes or until the sauce has reduced by half, stirring occasionally.
- Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 180℃/356℉.
- To an ovenproof baking dish, add the ground corn, cream, tomato and onion mixture, half of the grated cheese and mix well.
- Evenly top with the remaining cheese and bake, uncovered, for 1 hour 10 minutes. Then allow to rest for another 10 minutes to allow it set. After that, you can get serving!
Video
Notes
- Baking dish: I usually use an aluminum baking dish because it bakes faster, evenly and the edges get extra crispy. This is just my personal preference but feel free to use glass, porcelain etc. The baking time might be increased slightly.
- Pap/Maize Meal/Mieliemeel: You can also substitute with polenta, corn meal, grits etc. The only difference is the coarseness of the grind as well as type of mielie used. So naturally the finer it is ground the more dense the dish will be so just keep that in mind. The coarser the grind, the more texture there'll be. I prefer using "Braai Pap" which is a coarser ground white corn, somewhere between corn meal and grits.
- Cream Substitute: You can substitute the cream with milk or chicken stock. I haven't made this dish using the substitutes but seeing milk and stock is much thinner than cream I'd adjust the amount added by 1/3 cup to 1/2 cup. You'll need to eyeball the consistency prior to topping with the remaining cheese. Follow the recipe video for reference. As long as the final product isn't too watery.