Project 72........mealie meal braai dish

As I told you before, we love braaing(BBQ) in South Africa.  It is always a question on what to eat with your meat....See....meat first..... and then something else! Most of the options normally have a starch or two!  Really unhealthy, but that is just the way we do it!

This is a nice version of the old 'pap and meat' that you always get.  When we grew up, 'pap' was eaten for breakfast only. My parents were both from the eastern cape originally, and you would never think of eating 'pap' at any other time than breakfast.  So we moved to the then called Transvaal, and not only did they support the blue bulls up here, they ate 'pap' with braais!  My mom still does not eat 'pap' with braai, but she will eat some of this dish.

Cook your mealiemeal porridge on the stove as usual.  It must not be too soft, neither too firm.  You can also do it in the microwave if you are familiar with it, but I found the coarse meal cooks better in the microwave than the fine ones, and the last thing you want is lumps of raw meal!

Then in a frying pan on top of the stove, fry some onions, a packet of bacon pieces, green pepper, garlic and mushrooms, seasoned with salt.  Add a tin of tomato and onion mix.  If you feel like it you can add a tin of sweetcorn to you porridge, or you can use some of those instant 'pap'-mixes we get here in South Africa to your boiling water whilst making your 'pap'.  It is basically a savoury mix that just season your 'pap'.

Place half your'pap'(porridge) in an oven dish, then third to half your onion mix on top(depends on the size of your dish), then cover with some grated cheddar cheese.  Repeat your layers 2-3 times, ending with your cheese layer.  sprinkle with paprika and bake in a preheated oven until cheese had melted.