“South African Sushi”: TikToker’s Deep-Fried Pap Recipe Has Mzansi at Each Other’s Throats

• A Stellenbosch food creator took South Africa's most beloved staple and turned it into something crispy, golden, and completely unrecognisable from what your gogo used to make
• South Africa has been fighting over creative pap recipes for years, and this deep-fried version with boerewors and chakalaka may be the most convincing argument yet
• From Tyla making it on British Vogue to a Stellenbosch creator dropping it in a deep fryer, pap is going places nobody saw coming

A Stellenbosch food creator has put South Africa’s most beloved staple through hot oil, leaving Mzansi with a lot to say.

On 5 March 2026, TikToker @tablespoon.of_tinks posted a recipe showing how she turned maize meal into crispy golden cubes served with chakalaka and boerewors.

Tinks is a food creator from Stellenbosch who experiments with South African food on her TikTok platform. She cooked stywe pap from scratch. She smoothed it into a dish, refrigerated it until firm and then cut it into cubes. Each cube went into egg wash and panko breadcrumbs before hitting hot oil three at a time.

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The finished product came out golden and crispy on the outside, soft in the middle. She plated it with a spoonful of chakalaka, sliced boerewors, fresh coriander, salt and pepper.

One man would like to have a word

South Africa has a self-appointed defender of pap, and he is not shy about it. Yerik Jomei went viral in July 2025 after posting a video declaring himself a pap rights activist and demanding that the abuse of pap come to an end. Jomei called out people for installing wors inside the pap, mixing it with cheese and dyeing it purple. He launched a full campaign to make pap great again.

Watch the TikTok video below:

Mzansi reacts to the recipe

South Africans had mixed reactions in the comments section of the post. Briefly News compiled a few comments below.

@Charmoney Jacobs commented:

“South African sushi.”

@inayah 🇿🇦 wrote:

“She's coming up with something. Why is it giving a South African Sushi vibe?”

@thelmaludick said:

“The normal pap is so boring.”

@zuzniza/munymunyu noted:

“I tried this, and it was terrible. 😭”

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@That one commented:

“They won't see me coming on the next braai. 🤣Chakalaka is always better if you reheat it and add some spices or herbs to remove that tin taste.”

More stories about pap

• A man’s video of his grandmother eating pap with yoghurt had many South Africans amused and curious about the unusual combination.
• A self-proclaimed "Pap Rights" activist has gone viral on social media for his humorous video criticising the creative ways people are cooking pap.
• A South African content creator went viral after making pap into the shape of bread for a kota, filling it with atchar and chips.
• A local woman shared a creative solution to running out of fries by turning stiff pap into fry-like strips and deep-frying them.
• A university student sparked controversy on TikTok by creatively presenting stiff pap as a "cake" with triangular slices.

Source: Briefly News