The winter has been creeping up on us slowly but surely…. This is one of my favorite winter comforts. For those of you Non-South Africans that are confused with the title: “Melkkos” literally translates to milk-food. Melkkos (also called Boeber) is a thick milk mixture made with butter rubbed into flour, thin strips of dough, or even sago. Cinnamon is an important ingredient that is either added by cooking the mixture with a cinnamon stick and/or cinnamon sugar that are sprinkled over. I guess most people would say this is more of a dessert…. but every now and then on a relaxed evening I would conjure this up as a light dinner, much to my children’s delight.
Every time I would make this I would remember my grandma visiting us when I was still young. Grandma Anna would serve this and we would tease that her Melkkos was good enough to catch a rich widower. She always blushed when we were teasing her. Sadly Grandma passed away ten years ago… Unfortunately I was not lucky enough to obtain her Melkkos recipe as this one like many of her recipes were known of by heart and were therefore never recorded.
To make this hearty light meal that will serve 3 to 4 persons you need to do the following:
Recipe:
Ingredients:
- 4 1/2 cups of milk
- 1/2 cup sago
- 2 Tbsps butter
- 1/2 t vanilla extract
- 3 Tbsps plus 1 t corn flour
- 2 Tbsps custard powder
- 2 Tbsps cake flour
- 1 Tbsp sugar
- 1/2 t salt
- 2 eggs separated
- cinnamon sugar
Method:
- Warm 1 cup of milk in the microwave until warm (not more than two minutes)
- Soak sago in this warm milk for 1/2 an hour
- Place 3 cups of milk, the vanilla and the butter into a large thick bottomed sauce pan and bring to a boil
- Make a paste by mixing the last 1/2 cup milk with the corn flour, custard powder, cake flour, sugar and salt
- Add the paste to the sago mixture and mix well
- Add the sago mixture to the boiling milk and stir continuously until the mixture is thick and cooked
- Whisk the yellow of the eggs and mix with a little of the warm sago mixture
- Add the eggs to the sauce pan
- Beat the egg whites until stiff and fold into the warm milk mixture. Simmer for one more minute
- Serve with cinnamon sugar sprinkled over
