Last Updated on May 20, 2020 by Chef Mireille
Mealie Cakes – African Cornmeal Biscuits – These gluten free light savory cornmeal biscuits from Lesotho are a delicious accompaniment to stews or soups.
Most month’s I participate in the Blogging Marathon, a group of bloggers who blog on selected themes. How the organizer, Valli, comes up with so many different themes is beyond me. It’s a great way as a blogger to keep the inspiration going. Anyway, for this month one of the themes was to pick a letter and find 3 capital cities that begin with that letter and recreate recipes from those selected countries. You know this was right up my alley. Another excuse to discover more international recipes.
So I was perusing the list of world capitals and Maseru immediately caught my eye. Maseru – many people probably have never even heard of this capital- however it is mentioned in one of my favorite movies. Cry Freedom, a movie I have seen more times than I can count, mentions it. In fact, writing up this post reminded me of the film and I was so happy to find it on Amazon Prime. If you have Amazon Prime’s streaming service, if you have not seen this movie, you should search it out now.
Cry Freedom
Cry Freedom depicts the true story of Donald Woods and Steve Biko, two men from totally different backgrounds who formed the most unlikely of friendships. Donald Woods was a white newspaper publisher during South Africa’s apartheid regime and Steve Biko was a black freedom fighter, who was eventually murdered by the South African government. Eventually, Donald Woods is forced to flee South Africa with his family. He had to do this covertly as he was not allowed to leave the country as he was declared a banned person, meaning he couldn’t travel or even speak with more than one person at a time, outside of his immediate family. They escaped through a contact who owned a small airport in Lesotho and it is in Maseru where he applies for amnesty at the British High Commission.
I wonder how the others doing this theme picked their letter, but this is how mine came about.
Before we get to the recipe, let’s learn a little more about Lesotho so we can better appreciate their history and culture!
A little Lesotho History
Lesotho is such a unique country in that it is located within another country. Instead of bordering South Africa, it is geographically located within South Africa, yet the nation is independent of South Africa.
Here’s a brief synopsis of how Lesotho came to be because I find history as fascinating as the food – I hope you do too!
Surprisingly, Lesotho was never a part of South Africa. As the Dutch Boers were taking over South Africa, they tried to also take over what was then known as Basutoland and inhabited by the San people who speak Sesotho. Back in the 1700-1800’s both the British and the Dutch were fighting over African colonies. Basutoland defeated the British in a few battles fought in the mid 1800’s. The San then lost quite a bit of land to the Boers in a battle in 1867. They then appealed to Queen Elizabeth and became a British protectorate until they got their independence in 1966.
Lesotho means the people who speak Sesotho, which differentiates them also from other South African tribes who mostly speak Bantu, Zulu or Xhosa (the one with the clicks).
…now let’s get back to the recipe…
I was surprisingly able to search out several Lesotho recipes like this one. Once that research was complete, the letter M was quickly decided upon.
Mealie is the word for corn in African countries. I have made different versions of Mealie Bread from both Zambia here – and this South African steamed version here . I love anything made with cornmeal, so I knew I would love these biscuits!
IN THE MAKING – HOW TO MAKE MEALIE CAKES
These biscuits are very light and airy. In fact, when they first came out of the oven, they are hollow – similar to Bolivian Cunape (gluten free cheese bread).
These cornmeal biscuits are usually enjoyed with savory stews in Lesotho. Although not a Lesotho recipe, you might enjoy it with this Omani Goat & Okra Stew or this Pork Stew!
They are a perfect accompaniment to any savory stew or soup!
Mealie Cakes – African Cornmeal Biscuits
Ingredients
- 1 cup cornmeal
- 2 tablespoon sugar
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 2 cups boiling water
- 2 eggs separated
- salt and pepper to taste (about ¼-1/2 teaspoon salt)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 F. Spray two cookie sheets with non stick spray.
- In a saucepan, combine cornmeal, sugar and oil.
- Slowly add boiling water, while stirring constantly, until thoroughly combined.
- Cook on low heat for about 10 minutes, stirring frequently, until you have a thick porridge like consistency.
- Add salt and pepper and mix well.
- Leave to cool for 5 minutes.
- Meanwhile, beat the egg yolks well fro about 2-3 minutes until they lighten a little bit in color.
- Beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form.
- Add the egg yolks to the cornmeal mixture and mix well, until thoroughly combined.
- Using a rubber spatula, fold in the egg whites until completely mixed in.
- Drop about 2 tablespoons for each biscuit on the cookie sheet, a few inches apart. Shape them a little into a round shape.
- Spray the back of the spoon with non stick spray to flatten the mounds a little bit.
- Bake for 45 minutes, until golden.
Notes
VERY IMPORTANT to let porridge cool and add egg yolks SLOWLY so that they do not scramble in the heat of the porridge.
Today is also the start of the annual December Bake-a-Thon so look out for some delicious baked both sweet and savory treats this month – just like this one!
Do you know anyone else who likes learning about international food, culture, history and travel? Bring them over here to join the party! Don’t forget to use those share buttons!
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If you like this recipe, PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT & SUBSCRIBE!
Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing this BM#95
Check out the other bloggers doing this Bake-a-thon
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How airy and prefect those cornmeal biscuits looks, am sure they are just prefect to enjoy with some meaty stews for a chilled evening dinner. Mealie cakes rocks.
yes they go great with stew!
I love all the variations of cornmeal on your blog. Interesting history lesson. The biscuits look so good!.
yep I do love some cornmeal – glad you found it interesting 🙂
I knew about Lesotho from work because I worked with the denim factories in my previous life, but I had no clue that it is a country within South Africa. Learnt something new today 🙂
Those African mealie cakes look delicious. Very interesting recipe.
i also found the geography of the country very interesting!
One thing I always love about history and geography in your posts is how much efforts you put in capturing and sharing that information. I am so glad you write in detail. The one factor that always pushes me to the extreme, is, of course, the wonderful friends like you, who make it all the more worth in coming up with such themes..:)..I thoroughly enjoyed reading this post and can’t wait to see the other 3 Ms…great share..
glad you like the history as much as I do:)
I always look forward to your posts since there would always be something interesting and new to learn! Hearing about Lesotho for the first time and so interesting to know about a country within a country! The cornmeal biscuits look really amazing, never baked with cornmeal and have been seeing recipes here and there, but still not sure if my family would accept it…
I bake with cornmeal all the time – it is super delicious – I am sure they will love it. You should check out some of my other baked cornmeal recipes 🙂
Wow loved to read your post, so much information there. This cakes with cornmeal looks yum, I have yet to back a cake with cornmeal though have shortlisted for the one for Bakeathon. The pics here are tempting me to go ahead.
I have so many bakes – too many to count – using cornmeal. I am sure you will love baking with cornmeal as much as I do!
Very interesting write up and info Mir.I like the way you narrate the history and origin of the recipe.Nrver tried baking with corn meal,this one sounds interesting.
cornmeal finds its way into every part of my kitchen: – I am sure you will love it once you try!
Though I’m not a history person, yet love to read your posts. May be your style of explaining is catchy. The cookies look quite crisp.
Im glad I pique your interest in the history too!
Details to perfection ..Lovely read and lovely bake of course 🙂
glad you like the history as well as the recipe 🙂
Mir , love the detailed posts where I feel we have so much to learn from you , seriously our history and geography lessons get updated !
The corn bread with a stew would be a wonderful combo to enjoy , and my my ! You are clubbing BM and Bakeathon ! Wow !
thanks glad you enjoy the extra details I put in there and yes it’s a 2-for-1 post!
Your posts are always so informative. Love the way you research on each of them and take time and effort to write the post. Cornmeal biscuits looks very inviting
Valli brings us themes, and you bring the global cuisine for us to savour, Mir. These cookies seem to have an airy texture and must have tasted delicious. And an interesting read of history too ! great start to the Bakeathon.
thanks – glad you like it!
These corn meal biscuits looks gorgeous. Texture is so wow!!
thanks – yes they are so light!
We always love to read your posts Mir, the history and the geography makes the food more interesting!! I m very poor with geography, it was my favorite subject until high school, somehow i lost the interest to pursue further. My elder one loves geography and loves to read more about it
Coming to recipe, the cornmeal biscuits looks inviting! love the texture, i would love toenjoy it with a spicy, chunky fruit chutney!!!
I’m glad you like the extra info!
First time on your blog and Mealie cakes look so light and delicious. Thanks for the detailed recipe.
thank you and welcome – I present traditional recipes from around the world – Do take a look at my Recipe Index – I am sure you will find many recipes you will want to try 🙂
Interesting recipe and interesting read..cornmeal cakes look delicious!!
thanks – glad you found it interesting
I know I say this often, but I love your post for the details that you post around the recipe / place you have chosen the recipe from. I must look up that movie as it sounds really interesting. I have never baked with cornmeal but love that airy texture! Nice share Mir
I think you will love the movie as much as I do and as I also know you are a reader, there is also a book called Biko by Donald Woods – although I found the book a little difficult to get through as it focuses more on the government and the trials Biko went there so there are a lot of court proceedings to read through (truth be told, I never finished the book) – I prefer the movie which focused more on the unique friendship of these two.
Thanks Mir,Will look up the book as well.Let me check if it is available online.
I know very little about Africa/South Africa and nothing at all about Lesotho.
I only have coarse cornmeal – will that work or should I grind it? Not as fine as flour, though, right? I can’t wait to try them with their airy interior. I pinned and subscribed – more history, please!
Cornmeal is slightly grainier than regular flour but not that coarse so yes if you only have a coarse variety I would grind it. Thank you for the follow and glad you like the history also!
I have not had much success with corn meal recipes before. I love this biscuit and the texture of the biscuits are just perfect to soak up any gravy.
really??? what goes wrong??? let me know and perhaps I can give you some guidance!
I love cornmeal biscuits, they have turned out so well. Good one
thanks – yes they did come out so delicious!