South Africa
SEASONINGS
Though the diversity is huge, South African food leans toward a few directions: bold spice, sweet-savory combinations, tangy sauces, smoke from the braai, and some gentle sourness from fermentation. Many recipes focus on spices; herbs are very subtle.
The constant use of sweet-savory is one of the strongest flavour combinations. Raisins, apricot jam, and dried fruits are added to savory dishes for contrast, like in, for example, bobotie. Cape Malay foods also uses this sweet-savory principle, but also add aromatic complexity and warmth on top. The cuisine prioritizes fragrance and layered spice notes over aggressive spiciness. The essential spice palette includes coriander, curry powder, cumin, turmeric, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, cloves and paprika.
If you look at braai marinades and Cape recipes, vinegar and other acids show up over and over. That gives a typical South African plate a sweet-tangy edge.
Compared with many Western European cuisines, there is more sweet + spicy + tangy in the same dish. Compared with very minimalist seafood or vegetable traditions, there is more emphasis on layering and transforming flavours through spice blends, chutneys, smoking, and long cooking.
Many parts of South African cuisine do lean toward spiciness, but not uniformly. For many urban dishes, township foods, or Indian-influenced meals, “spicy” is definitely part of the flavour profile.
CAPE MALAY CURRY POWDER — a traditional blend of cinnamon, cardamom, cumin, coriander, turmeric, and sometimes fennel and fenugreek is used in stews and curries.
RAJAH CURRY POWDER – South Africa’s crown jewel spice blend. Launched by Robertsons in 1938, it has become a household name and market leader in authentic South African curry flavours.
SIX GUN – a bold South African spice blend of salt, paprika, onion, celery, cumin, and cayenne. It is designed to enhance grilled meats, stews and mince. It is a trusted braai companion, bringing smoky, robust flavour with the punch of a six-shooter revolver.
SAUCES
PERI PERI sauce originated from the African Bird’s Eye chili, which is native to Africa, and was then popularized by Portuguese settlers who brought it from Africa to Portugal. Portuguese explorers encountered the spicy chili in Africa, brought it back to Portugal, and blended it with other ingredients to create the sauce now popular worldwide. It’s common in grilled chicken, seafood, livers, and meats at braais.
CHAKALAKA RELISH – a spicy, vegetable-and-bean relish which works as a condiment or a side dish. It features onions, garlic, ginger, bell peppers, carrots, sometimes cabbage, tomatoes, and often baked beans, all simmered with curry powder, paprika, and chili.
MONKEY GLAND SAUCE – a thick, dark sauce balancing sweet, sour, and savoury flavours. Base of chopped onion, garlic, fruit chutney and tomato sauce, with added vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, sugar, black pepper, chili. Used with steaks, burgers, as a dip for onion rings, fries, roast potatoes. Despite its name, the sauce contains no monkey meat or glands!
MRS BALLS CHUTNEY (BLATJANG) – made from dried fruit, often apricots and chillies, cooked with vinegar, sugar, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, and coriander. This Malay-inspired condiment is a staple at braais and pairs with bobotie.
Morocco
SEASONINGS
Moroccan cuisine combines sweetness with savor and adds spiciness without overwhelming heat. Cumin, coriander, saffron, ginger, and cinnamon are the main spices that give a distinctive profile compared to more subtle Mediterranean cuisines. Dried and fresh chili peppers are used lavishly; mint, fresh cilantro, and parsley freshen up dishes; bell peppers, tomatoes, onions, and garlic prevail in aromatics; olives and preserved lemons bring a tangy kick. Orange flower, jasmine, and rose petals water infuses exotic aromas into desserts. In many stew or slow-cooked dishes, cooks frequently use raisins, apricots, prunes, almonds, pine nuts, and other nuts to create a sweet-savory contrast.
RAS EL HANOUT – a dried spice mix popular in Morocco, Tunisia, and Algeria, blends from a dozen to 80 spices. The name means “head of the shop” – the best spices the seller has to offer. Each shop, company, or family may have their own blend. Common ingredients, though, include cardamom, cumin, clove, cinnamon, nutmeg, mace, allspice, dry ginger, chili peppers, coriander, black pepper, sweet paprika, fenugreek, and turmeric.
LA KAMA – a lesser-known but traditional Moroccan spice blend that includes black pepper, turmeric, ginger, cinnamon, and nutmeg.
Also popular in Moroccan cooking are:
Levantine ZA’ATAR – dried oregano, thyme or marjoram, sumac, sesame seeds, salt.
Arabic BAHARAT – black pepper, cumin, coriander, cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, nutmeg, paprika.
SAUCES
HARRISA, a hot chili pepper paste made from a variety of chiles, could be the baklouti, guajillo, anaheim, chiles de arbol peppers, along with garlic, coriander, caraway, cumin, and lemon juice (or preserved lemon) and olive oil and is widely used as a marinade, dip or sauce.
CHERMOULA is a marinade and relish used in Moroccan, Algerian, Libyan, and Tunisian cooking, it slightly reassembles the Latin American chimichurri. In Morocco its often used for fish. Frequent ingredients include fresh cilantro, garlic, olive oil, lemon juice or preserved lemon, cumin, paprika, chili peppers, salt. It can come in different hues and tones: green (without paprika and red elements, with red tone due to sweet paprika or harrisa and yellow tone due to turmeric (source).
Moroccan cuisine is exclusive with four distinct cooking styles that are both cooking techniques and flavor combinations on the same time: m’hammer (red), m’chermel (marinated), m’qali (fried) and q’dra (skills).
M’HAMMER is a classic way of preparing tagine in which roasted meat is doused in a sauce made of onions, paprika, and cumin. A generous amount of paprika is used, giving sauce a brownish red color, and the meat is cooked in the sauce, its later taken out, charred under the broiler (source) and put back.
M’CHERMEL is a cooking style that is characterized by marinating food in chermoula sauce.
After marinating, food can be cooked in any other style, but the term m’chermel describes the process and style of cooking with this particular marinade.
European tradition cooks usually pan-brown the meat in the beginning before stewing. M’QALLI method is vice versa – first, the meat is stewed, and when it absorbs the broth and becomes tender, is fried. Compulsory spices are ginger, saffron, and turmeric.
Q’DRA is also the name of deep cookware unique for this type of cooking. It involves cooking meat very slowly, until it becomes exceptionally tender. This will be considered the most casual cooking technique; literally what Moroccans will prepare almost every day. (source) A liquid yellow broth is made with saffron and turmeric, pepper, cinnamon, parsley, and smen, while paprika and ginger are never used for this style.
