If we’re South African, we most likely grew up eating savoury mince in one form or another as a regular part of our diet. It is a natural partner for vetkoek, that singularly local-is-lekker delight which we love despite how much fat it is cooked in. But we love it simply piled on top of toast too, for breakfast, or as a part of a larger local take on the traditional English: add savoury mince, or boerewors, or what the hell, both.

A closely related cousin is curried mince, which can be served in just the same way, or as a main meal with yellow rice. In this case, I went the savoury mince route, rather than curried, but we enjoyed it with turmeric rice. Curried mince is sometimes made with an accent on turmeric, hence its distinctive yellowish tinge.

Green peas are most often added to savoury mince, and there’s no reason not to use frozen peas. And they can go straight into the pot, frozen, and will defrost almost instantly and amalgamate into the dish. You just need to bring it back to a simmer again and let it keep on cooking.

(Serves 4 to 6)

Ingredients

1 large or 2 medium onions, finely chopped

3 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped

2 celery stalks, diced

2 bay leaves

3 Tbsp tomato paste

2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce

3 Tbsp chutney

1 kg beef, lamb or venison mince (I used eland mince, which is superb)

1 x 400 g can of chopped tomatoes

The same can, filled with beef stock (dilute your chosen liquid stock in water)

½ tsp ground turmeric

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp ground coriander

1 tsp chilli flakes

Coarse sea salt to taste

Black pepper to taste

1 cup frozen peas

Coriander leaves, chopped, to garnish

Method

Chop the onion, garlic and celery and sauté until softened in the oil. Add the bay leaves and stir in the tomato paste, Worcestershire sauce and chutney.

Add the mince and work it with a wooden spoon to prevent it from clumping. Beef tends to clump, but the eland mince I used did not clump at all. Cook for 5 minutes while stirring, then add the chopped tomatoes and beef stock and stir well.

Stir in the spices, season with salt and black pepper, and simmer for about an hour for the meat to become perfectly tender and flavourful.

Halfway through, stir in the frozen peas, return to a simmer, and continue cooking.

Serve with yellow (turmeric or saffron) rice, garnished with chopped coriander. DM/TGIFood

Mervyn Gers Ceramics supplies dinnerware for the styling of some TGIFood shoots. 

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