What is Sauce?
In cooking, a sauce is a liquid, cream, or semi-solid food, served on or used in preparing other foods.
Most sauces are not normally consumed by themselves; they add flavor, moisture, and visual appeal to a dish. The sauce is a French word taken from the Latin salsa, meaning salted.
Best Sauces In South Africa
1. BHISTO
“A sauce that I can’t stop eating is ibhisto, Port Elizabeth’s favorite tomato preparation. A deliciously sweet moor which is basically braised onions and tomatoes, salt and sugar.
It’s sometimes curried, and best enjoyed with warm vetkoek and a fried egg with crispy edges.
2. GRAVY
“In the Eastern Cape you often get a teacup of the umhluzi gravy from a stew next to the main plate so maybe umhluzi is our classic sauce. I remember Madiba used to say “ibingaseli na?” (which roughly translated means ‘was the animal that made this meat not drinking?’)
If you gave him meat without the umhluzi in a cup – he was saying the meat was dry – but it’s not so much a sauce he is referring to as delicious meat juices.” – Anna Trapido, food historian and author of Hunger for Freedom: The Story of Food in the Life of Nelson Mandela
3. PERI PERI
“The only proper saucy sauce that I can think of is pEri with an E as it is made in SA but that is really a bastardized/appropriated form of Mozambican pIri pIri with an I and definitely not something we could or should claim as ‘ours’.” – Anna Trapido. Nevertheless, we certainly eat vast quantities of it!
4. MONKEYGLAND
“We do a smooth version of monkeygland sauce at De Vrije Burger and people often ask us what is in it. It’s got no monkey glands in it whatsoever, obviously.
The rumor has it that in the late sixties, a Swiss chef came to South Africa and you can imagine the ingredients in the sixties were quite limited and this poor guy probably opened up the cupboard and saw tinned tomatoes, onion, tomato sauce, and chutney, and thought shit I’ve got to make a sauce to go with steaks. And monkeygland really is just like a South African barbecue sauce.
5. AMASI
“We always had amasi in our fridge at home. We never ate in the traditional application, poured over a mound of steaming pap. Rather my mom prepared it as dressing or sauce to go with biryanis or spicy curry, to balance and/or brighten up the flavor.
Strained or plain the amasi was blended with fresh mint and coriander leaves with a slight hint of ground cumin and salt. The sauce has evolved in my kitchen and I add a bit of lemon zest and deseeded green chilli for an extra kick.
What condiments do South African people prefer?
Sauces and condiments in South Africa
Atchar – a spicy condiment that comes from South Africa’s Indian population. It is usually made with green mangoes and chilies.
People serve achar alongside curries or eat it with bread. Bhisto – a relish of tomatoes and onions that has its origins in Port Elizabeth.