3 Cheese & Biltong Quiche

We don't know many people who have 'left-over' biltong after tucking into that great South African taste. So, unless you have some amazing self control, it is very hard to put biltong DOWN once opening it up...

BUT if you can bring yourself to stop and put some aside (or order more especially for cooking with) then here is a recipe that won't disappoint! 

THE CRUST

Ingredients:

375ml cake flour

Pinch of salt

125g butter, cold and cubed

45ml cold water

Pre-heat the oven to 200ºC. Grease a 20cm loose bottomed cake pan.

Sift the flour and salt together and place into a food processor with the butter. 

Process until it resembles fine breadcrumbs.

Add the water and process to form a dough.

Remove the dough from the food processor and knead lightly.

Roll out to a circle and line the base and sides of the cake pan. It doesn't need to be perfect – the more rustic the better.

Place in the fridge for 20 minutes.

Bake blind in a pre-heated oven for 10 minutes.

Remove from the oven and cool down slightly. Reduce the oven temperature to 160ºC. 

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THE FILLING

Ingredients:

250g creamed cottage cheese

150g feta cheese, crumbled

40g finely grated parmesan cheese

200g grated cheddar cheese

250ml cream

3 extra large eggs, beaten

200g sliced beef biltong

2.5ml grounded nutmeg

Pinch of salt

Freshly grated parmesan (optional) 

Mix : cottage cheese, feta cheese, finely grated parmesan cheese, cheddar cheese, cream and eggs.

Add ¾ of your sliced biltong and nutmeg. Season lightly with salt and mix through.

Spoon into prepared crust and bake for 40 minutes in 160ºC oven or until the filling has set and the top is slightly brown.

Let the quiche cool down for at least 15 minutes in the pan.

Transfer to a serving dish and top with the remaining biltong slices and some extra parmesan.

Serve lukewarm with a side salad. 

SA FACT #1

Pietermaritzburg City Hall is the largest red brick building in the Southern Hemisphere 

• Built in 1893 (the most accurate date we have come across)
• Victorian architecture 
• Ravaged by fire in 1895
• Rebuilt in 1901
• 47m High Bell Tower
• Houses one of the biggest pipe organs in the southern hemisphere with 3806 pipestringing with sizes starting at the thickness of a knitting needle right up to pipes 11 meters in size.
• Declared a South African National Landmark in 1969

Here are some great photo's we found from way back when:

Celebs with South African Roots

J.R.R. Tolkien:

English writer, poet and university professor, Tolkien is famously known as the author of some of the most famous fantasy books: The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. He was born on 3 January 1892 in Bloemfontein in the Free State, his parents had moved there from England when his father was promoted as head of the British Bank in their Bloemfontein branch.

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Dean Stanley Geyer:

27 year old singer-Songwriter Dean finished third in the 2006 season of talent show Australian Idol. He has also had a notable role in the popular Australian soap opera Neighbours as Ty Harper and then went on to join the cast of Glee in the 4th season as Brody Weston. He was born in Johannesburg on 20 March 1986. 

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Sienna Miller:

Born in New York City, Sienna moved to London with her family when she was just over a year old. Her mother, Josephine, is a former South African model and used to be David Bowie's personal assistant.

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Roger Federer:

Born in Basel, Switzerland, Roger actually holds both Swiss and South African citizenship. His mother Lynette was born in Durban and then grew up in Kempton Park, Johannesburg.

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Justin Gabriel:

Our very own home grown WWE wrestler who goes by the ring name 'Justin Gabriel'. Born Paul Lloyd Jr, on 3rd March 1981 in Cape Town, Lloyd secured a 3 year development deal with WWE becoming the first South African ever to do so. Justin made his wrestling debut at the age of 16 and was trained by his father, Paul Lloyd Snr, who was a promoter and wrestler himself, going by the ring name: 'The Pink Panther'.

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Sasha Pieterse:

American actress and singer, known for her role as Alison DiLaurentis on the TV series 'Pretty Little Liars', Sasha was born in Johannesburg on 17 February 1996. She was 3 years old when her parents moved to the US and was raised in Las Vegas and later moved to Los Angeles.  

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Seether:

Originally known by the name SARON GAS (but later changing it when the lead drummer left), Seether is a South African band who made it big in the US. Shaun Morgan Welgemoed, lead vocals, born 21 December 1978 in South Africa, went to school in Pietermaritzburg and famously dated Amy Lee from Evanescence. Bassist, Dale Stewart, was born 30 November 1979 in Irene, Johannesburg. The final member, John Humphrey is from America. 

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Sal Masekela:

Born in Los Angeles, Sal's father is the famous South African Jazz musician, Hugh Masekela. Hugh was born in Kwa-Guqa Township, Witbank 4 April 1939. Sal is well known for presenting on The E! Entertainment channel and in 2012 Sal's film Alekesam (his last name spelled backwards) premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival.

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Elize du Toit:

Elize was born in Grahamstown, Eastern Cape on 21 February 1980. In 2012 she played M's assistant, Vanessa in the Bond film, Skyfall and although she has had some really good roles in tv and film, she is most recognised in the UK for playing the role of Izzy Davies in the Channel 4 Soap Opera Hollyoaks. Du Toit actually WON the role after an open audition – beating 40,000 hopefuls. She left the show in 2004 after four years of filming in Liverpool.

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Candice Swanepoel:

Our very own home grown Victoria's Secret Model was born on 20 October 1988 in Mooi River, Natal. Candice was spotted at the age of 15 at a Durban flea market and by the age of 16 she was earning up to R40,000 per shoot. In 2010 she was made a Victoria's Secret Angel and in the same year she went on to model for the Kardashian 2010 swimwear line and open the first Victoria's Secret retail store in Canada. In 2013 Swanepoel became cover model of the coveted Victoria's Secret Swim Catalogue. She is listed in the Forbes' top 10 earning models with a massive £1.92 million earned in 2010-2011 

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We had a great time looking for celebrities with SA roots and the more we looked, the more we found! It makes us so Proudly South African to look at how well these guys have done. There were so many that we found which means we will certainly be back with some more people you did or didn't know had South African roots. If you can think of any we should add onto the next list, please let us know!

Caramel Milk Tart

Serves 10-12

Preparation time: 20 min

Cooking time: 15 min

Chilling time: overnight

Ingredients 

250 g Tennis biscuits, finely crushed

200 g butter, melted

1,5 litres milk

200 g sugar

3 eggs

100 g flour

100 g cornflour

10 ml (2 t) vanilla essence

50 g butter

extra 250 ml (1 c) milk

1 box (90 g) caramel instant pudding

250 ml (1 c) cream

1 can (360 g) caramel condensed milk

1 slab (90 g) milk chocolate

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Method

 1 Mix the biscuits with the melted butter and press onto the bottom of a deep 30 cm square dish. 

Chill until needed.

2 In a large microwave-proof bowl heat 1 litre (4 c) of the milk with the sugar for 10 min.

3 In a separate bowl beat the eggs, remaining 500 ml (2 c) milk, flour, cornflour and vanilla essence until smooth.

4 Mix the flour mixture with the hot milk and microwave for 12 minutes, stirring every 2 minutes until the mixture is thick. Beat in the butter and leave to cool.

5 Whisk the extra milk and instant pudding together. In a separate bowl whisk the cream until soft peaks form and fold into the instant pudding.

6 When the custard is cooled, start the layering. Pour the custard over the chilled biscuit layer, smooth the caramel condensed milk over the custard, then add the instant pudding mixture. Grate the chocolate over and refrigerate overnight.

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ENJOY!

Who We Are

That's simple... We're South Africans!

We moved to the UK in 2006 and once we adjusted to the culture shock we managed to settle quite well but it always felt like something (besides the sunshine) was missing.

After much thought we realised that it was the South African spirit that we longed for, the spirit which lives within all South Africans...

We couldn't go home as our life was now abroad but we missed the people terribly. In 2013 we started a Facebook group for South Africans living abroad and found it grew quicker then we ever anticipated.  We built it and they came... we found a way to be with the people once more.  From jokes to politics and even virtual braai's we spend time together and have gotten to know one another well.

Now we have decided to branch out and create a bigger platform for information and networking and look forward to whatever else it brings with it. This is just the beginning and we are really looking forward the journey ahead with other great South African's!

MAKE SURE YOU ARE CONNECTED TO US

South African Global Community (page) 

South African Expats Global Community (group)

Everything South African in UK (page)

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