Meet Lesego Mabale, the Mother of Mageu

“They call me the mother of mageu because I never miss an opportunity to show my colleagues and diners in the restaurant how versatile this wonderful, South African product is.” 

These are the words of Lesego Mabale, Senior Pastry Chef at the Prue Leith Culinary Institute, in Centurion. For anyone unfamiliar with Chef Mabale’s favourite ingredient, mageu (Setswana spelling) madleke (Xitsonga), mabundu (Tshivenda), amaHewu/amaRhewu (Xhosa) or amaHewu (isiZulu) is a lightly fermented, non-alcoholic, traditional maize meal drink.

Historically homemade (often from leftover porridge) it has a subtle, sour taste. Thicker than most Eurocentric drinks, the nearest English equivalent in viscosity would be gruel, but that has negative, Oliver Twist-type connotations whereas mageu is much loved. 

Commercial producers have introduced sweeter, fruit flavoured and/or custard-infused versions that flow like drinking yoghurt. Generally considered comforting rather than cool, mageu is sold in supermarkets as nutritious, cheap food on the move or as mummy “medicine” to revive sick children. 

While South African chefs quite often work with amasi (fermented milk), mageu’s potential as a fine dining flavour has been overlooked. 

Enter the mother of mageu, who says: “I love the contrasts of that rich creaminess and then the tart taste. There is a soothing, velvety mouthfeel but also a slight granularity from the maize in the texture. These features give it an interesting depth and complexity.”

Challenging, in a good way

When Chef Mabale was asked to create recipes to pair with De Krans fortified wines she “found it challenging, but in a good way”. 

She adds: “So often as chefs we make the food first and then find a wine to go with it. This exercise forced me to reverse that. To think about the wine and then create the food. Shifting focus by actively designing my dish for the wine. I had to study the wine. Assess its smell, its colour, its mouthfeel, its taste. I had to let the wine tell me its story. And then I made a plate to match that story.” 

The De Krans Cape Pink (a blushing blend of traditional port varieties Touriga Nacional, Tinta Barocca and Tinta Amarela fortified with unmatured brandy spirit) was paired with a strawberry mageu panna cotta. 

Chef Mabale topped her light, creamy creation with marula nut, brown butter crumble, wine-macerated strawberries, skhokho chips and a white chocolate vanilla crème. 

The decision to “match on similarity, not difference” was rewarded with deeply delicious tastes and textures. She observed that “it works because the first thing you notice about this wine is its strawberry aroma. When you taste it, it is not just sweet. There is also some acidity that prevents it from being cloying.

‘It reminded me of English-style strawberries’

“It has balance, like a fresh, ripe strawberry. The wine’s sweetness that translates into a thick, mouth coating, silky viscosity reminded me of English-style strawberries and cream desserts, but also of strawberry mageu.” 

When spooned and sipped simultaneously the fermented, creamy base and the smoky, toasted marula nut crumble gave gravitas to the ebullient candy floss, spun sugar sweetness of the wine. The chef “liked that savoury maize note from the mageu so much that I decided to add crisp, salty, skhokho shavings from the bottom of the pap pot”. 

Slivers of Cape Pink macerated strawberries created a beautiful bridge between wine and food. 

Having made magic with mageu and Cape Pink, Chef Mabale moved onto De Krans Cape Tawny and a recipe she described as “a celebration of South Africa’s great cheeses”. Again, she took a traditional taste and reconfigured it into a restaurant-style offering. 

Amanzi Farm boerenkaas lepelsteeltjies (cheese-laden soutkoekies with a jam filled central indent made by the handle of a spoon) each contained a generous blob of cherry and rosemary compôte. The fruit and herb filling “matches what I found in the Cape Tawny. It has these definite herbal, almost menthol aromas, but then there are also smooth, mellow tastes that are intense with dried stone fruit flavours. Cherries are coming into season, so they seemed like the logical choice for my little biscuits.” The nutty notes in the amber liquid matched those in the magnificently moreish biscuits. Eat one and it is impossible to stop sampling until every crumb is consumed.

‘I would challenge the wine makers’

Musing on the epicurean experience, she said: “We are a wine-making nation and yet we so seldom pair our food with our wine. We seem to think that when we serve food with wine, we need to pretend to be French or Italian. I loved the opportunity to really think about wine and build recipes around it, but I would challenge the wine makers to do the same in reverse. 

“I am not sure if our wine makers are aware of or are even interested in the unique tastes of South African food. If they don’t know about things like mageu, how will they ever make wines to match it? And how will we truly embrace our terroir?”

Let’s face it — fortified wine has an image problem because it is often associated with (horror of ageist, misogynist horrors) grandmas. The same could be said of mageu and lepelsteeltjies. Much loved but generally not considered stylish. 

Prior to meeting Chef Mabale I had never seen either ingredient on a posh nosh menu. And almost everyone I know asks for espresso to accompany dessert. Fortunately, fashion is cyclical, and fortified wines are ripe for a revival. 

Chef Mabale’s combination of Cape Tawny with robust rosemary biscuits could not have been cooler. Pairing Cape Pink with the refined, modernist mood of mageu panna cotta was a masterstroke of Mzansi chic. When it comes to matching food and wine, the mother (of mageu) knows best.

Chef Mabale shared some of her favourite recipes with us.

Cherry Compôte Lepelsteeltjies

Lesego’s biscuits, right, and with De Krans Cape Tawny, left. (Photo Adele Stieler)

Yield: 25 biscuits

Cooking time: 15-20 minutes

Ingredients

For the Biscuits:

225g finely grated Boerenkaas cheese

1 ¼ cups plain flour

1 Tbsp poppy seeds

Pinch of salt

Pinch of cayenne pepper

½ cup olive oil

For the Cherry Compôte:

175g fresh cherries, pitted

7,5ml lemon juice

25g sugar

Sprig of fresh rosemary

Method

For the Cherry Compôte:

Roughly chop the cherries into smaller pieces.

Combine the cherries, sugar, lemon juice and the sprig of rosemary in a small pot.

Bring the compote to a gentle simmer, and simmer until the sugar has dissolved and the compôte is slightly reduced and syrupy.

Remove the compôte from the heat and set aside to cool until the lepelsteeltjies are ready to be filled.

Remove the rosemary sprig when the mixture is cool.

For the Lepelsteeljies:

Preheat the oven to 180˚C

Combine the cheese, flour, poppy seeds, salt and cayenne in a bowl and make a well in the centre. 

Pour in the olive oil and mix quickly to form a soft dough.

Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and place it in the fridge to rest until the dough is firm and cold.

Divide the dough into 10g pieces and roll each piece into a neat ball.

Place each ball on to a greased baking sheet, with enough space between them to allow the biscuits to spread a little.

Dip the handle of a wooden spoon into some flour and then gently press the spoon handle into each biscuit to make a hole. 

Rest the biscuits again in the freezer for a few minutes to firm up.

Fill the hole of each biscuit with a little of the cherry compote.

Bake the biscuits in the oven for 15 to 20 minutes until they are lightly golden brown.

Remove each biscuit from the tray with a small palette knife and place them on a cooling rack to cool completely.

Strawberry & Mageu Panna Cotta

Lesego Mabale’s strawberry mageu panna cotta dessert. (Photo: Adele Stieler)

Yield: 6-8 portions

Preparation time: 40 minutes

Setting and cooking time: 1 hour

Ingredients


For the Panna Cotta:

200g strawberry mageu

50g strawberry purée

20g sugar

2 gelatine leaves

For the Vanilla Whipped Ganache:

75g cream (1)

10g glucose

112g white chocolate

200g cream (2)

5g vanilla paste

For the Macerated Strawberries:

100g strawberries

10g icing sugar

50g Cape Pink wine

For the Magogo Pap Chips:

50g water

30g maize meal

Pinch of salt

For the Cape Pink Gel:

150g Cape Pink wine

100 strawberry purée

80g sugar

1g agar agar

Method

For the Panna Cotta:

Hydrate the gelatine leaves by placing them in a small bowl and covering them in cold water.

In a small pot bring the strawberry mageu, sugar and strawberry purée to a scalding point.

When the gelatine leaves are well hydrated, squeeze out the excess water and add the soft gelatine leaves to the warm mageu mixture. 

Stir the mixture to melt the gelatine, making sure there are no lumps.

Divide the mixture into your desired moulds and allow to set in the fridge.

For the Vanilla Whipped Ganache:

Bring the first cream amount and glucose to the boil. 

Put the white chocolate into a bowl. Pour the warm cream mixture on top of the chocolate and gently stir it with a spatula to melt the chocolate and allow the mixture to combine.

Add the 2nd cream amount to the chocolate mixture and stir to combine.

Cover the mixture with cling wrap, making sure the plastic is touching the surface of the chocolate to prevent a skin from forming. 

Place the mixture in the fridge and allow it to set.

Once set, whip the ganache until it is thick. Do not over-whisk it, it will split.

For the Macerated Strawberries:

Slice strawberries into round disks and lay them on a flat tray

Sprinkle the icing sugar over the strawberries to evenly coat them.

Drizzle the wine over the strawberries.

Cover and set aside until ready to use.

For the Magogo Pap Chips:

In a large saucepan, boil the water with a pinch of salt.

Add the maize meal to the boiling water and make the pap. 

Spread the pap paste thinly on the base of the saucepan and leave it on low heat for a few minutes to form a crust.

Gently peel the crust from the bottom of the pan and set it aside to cool.

For the Cape Pink Gel:

In a small pot, bring the Cape Pink wine, strawberry purée and sugar to a boil

Add in the agar agar and boil for a further two minutes. Make sure the mixture boils rapidly as boiling makes the agar agar set.

Pour the mixture into a container and leave to set in the fridge for 30 minutes.

When the mixture is set, place it into the jug and blend it with a hand blender until it is smooth. 

Place the smooth mixture into a squeezy bottle or piping bag until ready to use.

To Finish the Dessert:

Unmold the panna cotta on to your plate.

Next quenelle or pipe the white chocolate ganache elegantly on to the dessert plate. 

Lastly, add the macerated strawberries and finish garnishing the dessert with the Cape Pink gel and Magogo chips.

For added visual appeal, flavour and texture you can add a few freeze-dried strawberries to the plate. DM

Want more of Chef Lesego Mabale discussing her homegrown food and wine philosophy? See www.youtube.com/@foodwaysafrica