“Plate Looks Like a Rainbow”: Cook Makes Traditional 7-Colours Sunday Meal From Scratch

• A content creator shared a full cooking video, preparing a traditional 7-colours Sunday meal for her family
• The 7-colours meal is a vibrant South African Sunday lunch tradition featuring rice, meat and a variety of colourful veggies
• South Africans were impressed by the spread, with some asking whether it's called "seven colours" or "several colours"

Sunday lunch in South Africa hits different, especially when it's traditional food. TikTok content creator @najeebah_tayob, who shares cooking vlogs, showed her full recipe on 5 January 2026.

She started by saying if your plate isn't looking like a rainbow on a Sunday, what are you even doing? She kicked things off by searing her lamb to lock in all the moisture and flavour, then added two cups of water and let it cook for about 40 minutes in a pot.

For the curry base, she heated ghee in a pan and added cardamom, cloves, bay leaves, and two teaspoons of cumin seeds. She fried two onions until golden brown, then added garlic, ginger, and tomato paste. She mixed in turmeric, masala, chilli powder, dhania powder, and garam masala followed by tomato purée. Once the oil started separating, she knew the paste was ready. She transferred the lamb to a different pot, added the curry paste and a bit of water, tasted it, and declared it delicious.

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She moved on to chakalaka using the same pan. She added oil, onions, green chilli, mixed peppers, and masala. For the creamed spinach, she made a white sauce with butter, flour, milk, and seasoning, then added mushrooms and spinach.

She boiled rice with peas, cooked pumpkin with sugar and salt, and made potato salad by mixing boiled potatoes with mayo, cream, spring onion, Aromat, and Dijon mustard. For the beetroot salad, she mixed sliced boiled beetroot with salt, sugar, vinegar, and Mrs Ball's chutney.

At the end, she plated everything up: rice, potato salad, beetroot, lamb curry, pumpkin, chakalaka, and creamed spinach. The plate genuinely looked like a rainbow.

What is the traditional 7-colours Sunday meal?

A 7-colours meal is a traditional South African Sunday lunch that represents family, tradition and a rainbow of flavours. It usually includes rice, beetroot, potato salad, butternut or pumpkin, beans and creamed spinach. The idea is to have at least seven different coloured foods on one plate.

Watch the TikTok clip below:

Mzansi loves the traditional 7-colours Sunday meal

South Africans were ready to pull up a chair after seeing the amazing TikToker @najeebah_tayob's meal:

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@Lerato Moseki said:

"My reaction, she spoke Sesotho 😭😭✋🏽"

@bmfk2401 asked:

"Who is this queen?!"

@Nomsa🦋 joked:

"By the time you're done cooking, you must be probably full from all the tasting 😅."

@MbaliZamaDonda asked:

"Is it seven or several colours? Please help."

@Thembi Skosana suggested:

"Najeebah, squeeze the lid, when you hear a pop; it will easily open. Please try it and come back."

@MaCee noticed:

"Your face looks different at the end to show gore ka nnete you were cooking ☺️☺️."

@"🧸BOO♑️" laughed:

"I knew you from South Africa 🇿🇦 because of the ingredients 😂😂😂"

More South African food in the news

• Briefly News recently reported on an American man who tried fried biltong in South Africa and left locals completely disturbed.
• Woolworths shared a traditional isinkwa sombila recipe that got South Africans emotional.
• An American tried Chicken Licken for the first time in South Africa and wasn't impressed with what he ordered.

Source: Briefly News