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Tamatie en Uie Paptert | Tomato & Onion Maize Tart

A delicious spin on the original paptert us South Africans are familiar with.
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Course: Main Course, Side Dish
Cuisine: South African
Keyword: paptert
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour 40 minutes
Servings: 6 servings
Author: The Big Tasty Bite

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

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.