How I ended up LIVING in South Africa… and a quest for Malva Pudding

I’ve been on a quest for malva pudding, and well, home. I landed in South Africa in January 2024 and have fallen in love with this place. Its just crazy to think it happened by chance and me being brave enough to listen to that intuition or grater force leading me here. I can’t think of my life a different way.

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0:00 the quest began
4:19 how a boy lead me to live in South Africa
7:52 trying to solve to malva pudding dilemma
10:10 it wasn’t right… Cape Malay restaurant
14:57 I got a family recipe
16:58 breaking into South Africa

[Music] Mville pudding. I don’t know if it’s something that I always have known about in my life, but I know about it now. And sometimes that happens. You feel like you’ve known something about your whole life, but actually you’ve only known something for about a for about a year, but it was like set in casual passing and like intercepted your subconscious mind to think like, “Yeah, I I just know I know what that is. Like it makes sense. These are words that I’ve heard before sort of and uh it’s a dessert. That’s a context that I know it in. And I really don’t think I’ve ever had it before and I’m going to attempt to make it without eating it ever in my life. So, I don’t know how this is going to go. I found the internet and the internet has recipes. So, we’re going to follow a Kate Malay mulva pudding situation. And if you’re new to my channel, baking scares me. It is not something I feel comfortable in and I’m a great cook. But when it comes to trusting the process of making something that I cannot taste and know the outcome of before it goes into the oven and bakes and like there’s no going back at that point. Like it it freaks me out a little bit. So basically like a cake or sponge that then you submerse and cover in like a creamy sweet sauce. Let’s do this thing. The amount of sugar in these recipes always seems outrageous, but we are learning to trust the process. [Music] Pro tip, don’t try to pour sugar back in a bag. It doesn’t really work that well. Got sugar all over my floor now. [Music] All of the recipes that I saw on the internet have apricot jam in it. And it was um a lot of willpower for me to buy this jam because I’d find jam way too expensive. But the idea of trying to source apricots to make my own jam also seemed ridiculous. So I bought the cheapest apricot jam and I hope it’s good. I hope it tastes okay. One tablespoon. Are you serious? 1 tbsp of we’re adding h a little bit more. [Music] The one thing I don’t get about this recipe is that it requires one teaspoon of white vinegar. Please explain. Never have I ever put vinegar in a baked good before. Cuz it’s like this is like like it says it it’s supposed to curd and that’s what’s happening. But like why though? Why why is there cheese in my baked good? Yeah, that’s cheese now. [Music] So, what inspired this was actually going to the District 6 museum. There was a bunch of really beautifully embroidered recipes of different um South African yumminess. And there was one dessert recipe that I really wanted to try, but the further I looked into it, the the more I realized that I had to deep fry the dough. And I’m at like maybe level two of Mario Kart game um when it comes to baking. And I feel like deep frying dough is like at least midway through that journey of figuring out baking. And I just it felt way too overwhelming for me to try. So this is how I concluded making malva pudding. All I smell is the vinegar. Like I don’t I don’t get that step [Music] right. Okay. Yes. Do things that scare you, kids. Do things that scare you. All I’m hoping is that I do it justice. So, somebody in a comment not that long ago asked me to share the journey of how I ended up in South Africa. And I actually created an entire video about my life. And it’s a bit satirical and crazy and funny, but obviously very truthful and gives like a full timeline of everything that I’ve experienced in this uh weird thing that we call life. And you can check that out here. But um how I actually ended up in South Africa is a little bit of a crazy story because it was not something that was like on my bingo card, so to speak. It was not something that uh I’ve been dreaming about forever and ever. It really just kind of happened and in this weird way I felt like two hands behind me like pushing me to bring me here and I honestly can’t imagine my life any other way and I know a lot of people question why I don’t live in Canada which I’ll get around to. However, let’s start with how I ended up in South Africa. Previously in 2022, I car camped across Canada, filmed a lot of it, and ended up moving to a small town in British Columbia, Canada. When I moved there, I met a boy. It’s always about a boy. And in 2023, we decided to start traveling together. We went to France and Spain and then went back home to Canada. I still had my travel bug. Me and that boyfriend broke up. I started traveling again. Next thing you know, ticking off a bunch of countries, I land in Turkey. And at the end of September, beginning of October, I met a boy from Namibia. I have never met anyone from Namibia before. And you know what? I think a lot of people in the world can confidently say they have never met a Namibian person before. There’s like 3 million of them. And I honestly don’t even know how they measure the 3 million because there’s like tribes in Namibia. Do they send census out to these tribal people and like tick them off? Are they are they part of the 3 million? You know what I mean? Anyways, um we dated and let’s not go into the depths of that relationship because honestly, like I’m not going to lie, it wasn’t great. Um but I landed here because he was Namibian and South African. Namibia actually used to be a part of South Africa and then in 1992 gained their independence. So it’s a very very very young country. Super cool. one of the only German colonies in Africa. So, there’s still a lot of people that do speak German. A lot of Africans as well. People would speak to me in Africans all of the time when I was in Namibia. However, we met in Turkey, me and this Namibian boy, and we traveled together for like a month and, you know, had all of these loveydovey feelings and whatnot. And then I went back home to Canada. I sorted out a bunch of stuff that I needed to do, you know, life admin and things. And then we met up in Thailand and we spent about six to eight weeks in Thailand together. And he told me that he wanted to come back to South Africa. And I debated a lot whether or not I wanted to come to South Africa to be honest. And nothing to do with South Africa, but like me and the boy weren’t like doing that hot. So then I was like, am I really going to I just keep traveling Asia? And there’s this debate in my head going on. But again, I just felt like these two hands kind of like pushing me from behind being like go, go, go. Even though like my I was kind of like I don’t know. Anyways, I ended up coming here and shortly after that me and the boy broke up and I didn’t want to leave and that’s how I ended up in South Africa. Okay, so I have a dilemma and that dilemma is that the grocery store didn’t have any unsalted butter and the soaking sauce for this recipe requires half a cup of butter. half a cup of butter. And I only have salted butter and I’m nervous that it’s going to be too much salt. [Music] The sauce to to cake ratio doesn’t make sense to me. Trust the process, I guess. It just seems wrong. I’m not stressed. You’re stressed. It smells a little burnt. I’m not going to lie. But I cooked it for the amount of time that the recipe told me. So, let’s hope. And now the tail is told that I pour a little bit of this on. [Music] Okay. And now I stab generously. [Music] And then I pour again. Seems wrong. [Music] It’s absolutely beautiful on the inside. And somehow someway it soaked up like almost all of that liquid, which is just insane to me. But this side is a bit burnt. And I think I was actually supposed to cook it in like a loaf pan and not like a square dish. But oh my god. Okay. Wow. Although some of the photos of mala pudding seem very dark, but not in this way that it’s cooked in mine. Like it’s only dark on the outsides and like relatively light on the insides. So, I think something went ary. However, I’m going to have a sugar rush after this. Although I tried my best, the malva pudding adventure is far from over because this was not right. This This is not what malva pudding is supposed to look like. So, a few days later, I had some errands to run in the city, and I’ve been craving to try this Kate Malay restaurant called Bokeup Com. Can I just sit down for one? Yeah. She’s been saved on my Google Maps for like months and months. So, today was the day. Something I had zero idea of before coming to South Africa was that there exists a quote unquote cake Malay population. They are descendants of people from Eastern Africa, India, Indonesia, and several other places brought to South Africa as slaves between the 17th century and the 19th century. So the traditional cuisine is very very unique with eastern roots, European influence, African practices, and local ingredients. So I ordered a dish called Denning Fles. It’s kind of hard to say without a little bit of an accent, which is traditionally made with lamb, but it can be made with other meats. The meat is slowcooked in a stew and has this sweet and sour flavor. Mine was served with roasted vegetables, a small amount of mashed potatoes, spiced rice, and a bit of pickled beet. It was so incredible, and there is no wonder why this restaurant has great reviews. [Music] It it it has to do with the econ economics of the time where we live, what our parents or our grandparents could afford and that was the birth of our food. And also one must understand the mixture of the food that was brought in by the Dutch from the eastern and Malaysian uh uh archipelago. Those flavors mix with our forefathers and fore mothers if you like flavors and a new cuisine was born. Understand? So it it firstly I must add it is not unique to our particular community. It is unique in the sense it consists of many other influences. So the city of Cape Town is split into two suburbs and where these colorful houses are which is where I am right now is one suburb and it’s called Bokehop and a lot of Cape Malay people live here. Obviously it’s not exclusive. Anyone can live in Bokehop. It’s not a you know fundamental thing but uh a lot of Cape Malay people do live here and so there are a lot of mosques because um Islam is still very much practiced in the Cape Malay community. So I can actually hear from my house the mosques singing the call to prayers every single day on like a quiet morning or a quiet evening in the city which is really cool. But um over here is Freda Hook. There’s Aranazette over here, Tambuslof, which is kind of over that hill. The more city center back here, and this whole area is the city bowl. So, all of these communities inside of of this little bowl is not the only part of Cape Town. Cape Town spreads so far and so wide. And even where I was like previously living like 30 minutes outside of the city um in the cabin last year is still considered Cape Town. Like the address is like another town, a Cape Town. So although this is the city bowl of Cape Town and what people are going to come and like visit when they come to Cape Town, Cape Town is so much more vast than these suburbs within the city bowl. Also, I feel like people are listening to me, so that was really uncomfortable to record. [Music] And again, we must underline the fact that we cannot just take uh acknowledgement, sole acknowledgement of our dishes. It it is a mixture of many other dishes. And I always say that even in food we are one people. [Music] I just had the cutest experience at that restaurant. I didn’t realize that they closed between 4:00 and 6:00, so I walked up at 3:00 and I ended up being like the only one in there, which was really sweet and nice, actually. But I ordered malva pudding for a dessert because I needed to taste what malva pudding is actually supposed to taste like and sort of like my botched recipe that I attempted to make. It was good. Like my recipe was fine. I actually just made ma pudding at home and I’m like curious uh to taste yours. So I’ll I’ll do a mulva pudding because it was like my first attempt ever to make ma pudding and so now I’m like on a quest to figure out what mala pudding should be. But I just tasted like sweet and I felt like their recipe had so much more depth of flavor even though it was such a similar recipe. Like they’re doing something different, right? So, I’m like asking so many questions nearing the end about this muffle pudding recipe and the one girl is just like, you know, calls the actual woman that makes these muffle puddings and she’s like yelling down the stairs at me like what to do and how to do it. And at some point, I think she was just like, “Girl, like let me just write this down for you because it Yeah. So, I got a lovely little family restaurant recipe, which is really sweet of her to do. She’s just like the sweetest probably woman in her maybe mid50s or something. It was like a family-owned restaurant. I’m not sure how long she’s uh been doing what she’s doing, but she’s doing it well and I’m super grateful to have her recipe here. I’m going to have to attempt to make it at some point again, but the idea of eating more mala pudding in my life um makes my stomach turn slightly currently. So, for future endeavors, I’m going to like put this on a little frame cuz I feel like it’s a little prized possession. Actually, I’ve always wanted a family recipe. In a country where a lot of people are trying to break out of it, uh it’s joked amongst my friends that I’m trying to break in, but somehow I’ve always known that I wouldn’t end up in Canada. I remember when I was 15 years old journaling about how I wanted to travel and work for myself. And I had no idea where I would choose to live or how I’d make it all work. But for some reason, Canada just never really truly felt like home to me. And the couple times I’ve had to go back to Canada since being in South Africa. I’ve been filled with dread, a dullness, a numbness, just disease. my eczema would flare up and I would deeply miss South Africa. Just wanting to get back as soon as I possibly could. And I can safely say I’ve never felt this type of way about another country. Personal space. Did it feel nice? Sweaty. It was water. Fresh water. I don’t just want to be a tourist here. I want to understand this place. And I know this history is deeply complex and I don’t claim to be an all- knowing teacher. And the thing is depending on who you speak to, a different perspective is presented through the same facts. It’s also impossible for me to explain the depths of things in such a short voice over. So I hope all of that is taken into consideration when I share these videos. And I’m absolutely not trying to misrepresent any people that call this place home. I think talking about race and the struggles of people is a complex issue for me to talk about. But I don’t see all white people that call Africa home as colonizers as I don’t see all black people victims. These are extremely complex issues that I think a lot of people cannot grasp whether they’re from here or not. How is it? Did you fill up your water bottle? Beautiful. Are you going to drink it all though? Aren’t you scared that people pee in the mountain into the water? I’ll drink. Okay. Yeah. [Music] Look at how looks just like a little fairy tale. Look how cute that is. It just looks like all my fairies look. But I’d like to close out this video with the one and only DP singing the South African national anthem while we’re delusionally climbing down this mountain. It has five of the official languages in it. Kosa, Zulu, Sutu, Africans, and English. [Music] Oh, the cross. And for freedom in South Africa and seeing. This is why I can’t wing my friends. put my friends on the internet. I just do weird things.