South African Savoury Tart (Sout Tert)

This savoury tart (or sout tert) is a traditional South African recipe, made with chopped sausages and hard-boiled eggs, mixed in a creamy cheese sauce, and baked in a pastry shell. It’s a favourite at any get-together, and a slice of this tart makes delicious quick and easy lunch.

South African Sout Tert Recipe

When my daughter Kathy, who lives in South Africa, was over for a visit not too long ago, her first words to me were ‘please put that savoury tart up on your website – you know the one – the sout tert that ouma used to make’.

This savoury tart has long been a family favourite, making its appearance at various get-togethers over the years. It’s made by chopping sausages and hard-boiled eggs, and mixing these with a creamy cheese sauce. It is then baked in a crispy shortcrust flan. To be honest, it is so easy to make, I’m surprised she can’t remember how to make it.

Sout tert (pronounced Sowt Tert) is the Afrikaans name for this recipe. Sout means either salt or savoury depending on the context in which you use it. So in this case, sout tert simply means savoury tart.

Red viennas

Back in the day, when my mother-in-law first showed me how to make it, a savoury tart was made with red vienna sausages. In those days, vienna sausages were of very dubious origin. The outer skin was a lurid pinkish-red colour, and the inner meat was a very highly processed ‘something’. It was probably best that we didn’t know what that ‘something’ was. I also believe that there are regulations in place now, to prohibit the addition of all the colourings that were added.

Red viennas were very popular, however. I remember many times buying ‘viennas and chips’ at the local cafe after school. The chips were fried in an enormous vat of oil. Two red vienna sausages were added when the chips were almost done, and then the whole lot was tipped into a greaseproof bag. Finally it was sprinkled with copious amounts of salt and vineger.

We survived, but I’m not too sure that I could eat it today.

Luckily, I’ve found a substitute for the viennas. Lidl does a very nice range of German bockwurst which I use instead. And even if I say it myself, I think it tastes better than the original version.

So Kathy, here is the sout tert recipe you asked for.

What you will need

For the filling for the sout tert you will need these ingredients. I’m sure you have all of them in your pantry anyway.

• Hard-boiled eggs – shelled and chopped into small chunks
• Bockwurst sausages (or good quality vienna sausages) – chopped into 1/2cm lengths.
• Grated cheddar cheese – you can use your favourite cooking cheese.
• Butter – don’t use margarine, butter gives a much better flavour.
• Cornflour – this is used for thickening the filling
• Milk – full-cream or semi-skimmed, it doesn’t matter.
• Salt – this is optional
• Ground black pepper – black pepper always goes well with eggs

You will also need

• 1 quantity of shortcrust pastry – you can get instructions for making shortcrust pastry from this Bacon and Egg Pie recipe, or you can buy a roll of ready-made shortcrust pastry in the supermarket.

How to make a Savoury Tart

Line the pie dish

• Roll out the pastry and line a 30cm x 20cm baking dish. You should aim for 1/4″ thickness. This pastry doesn’t need to be pre-baked – you just pile in the filling and pop into the oven!

Make the sauce

• Melt the butter in a saucepan and stir in the cornflour.
• Add the milk, salt and pepper and bring to the boil stirring continuously until the mixture thickens.
• The sauce will be thick enough if it leaves a trail then you draw a spoon through it.
• If the sauce does not thicken sufficiently just mix an additional teaspoon of cornflour with a little milk and drizzle it in slowly, mixing all the time, until the desired consistency is reached.

Add the filling ingredients

• Reduce the heat and add most of the grated cheese. Reserve a small amount of cheese to sprinkle on top. Stir until the cheese has melted.
• Mix the chopped egg and sausages into the sauce
• Allow to cool and then spoon the filling into the prepared pastry case.
• Sprinkle with the remaining cheese.

Bake

• Pre-heat the oven to 200C / 400F.
• Place the pie in the oven and bake for 30 minutes until the edges of the pastry are a light golden brown.
• Remove from the oven and allow to cool.
• This tart is delicious eaten either warm or cold. When the tart is warm, the filling is slightly runny, but it firms up nicely as the tart cools.

Other recipes you may enjoy

If you enjoyed this savoury tary, why not have a browse through all my South African recipes and see what other recipes I have posted.

These are some of my favourites.

• Milk tart is a traditional South African favourite dessert, similar to an English custard tart.
• If you like savoury tarts, you might like to try these:
  • Bacon and egg pie.
  • Crustless bully beef quiche
  • Crustless vegetable quiche

Equipment

You probably have all of this equipment in your kitchen already. In case you are missing something, I’ve included some handy links to items on Amazon that you may find useful.

• 30cm x 20cm baking dish – you can use a smaller size but then the tart will be deeper. I like using a glass baking dish when I’m making pastry. Because a glass dish is see-through so you can easily see whether the pastry is cooked or not. A dish with handles also helps you to easily remove it from the oven.
• Saucepan – you need one large enough to hold all the filling ingredients.

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Recipe – South African Savoury Tart (Sout Tert)

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Savoury Tart (sout tert)

Egg and sausages combined in a creamy cheese sauce, baked in a crispy shortcrust pastry shett.

Prep Time15 mins

Cook Time30 mins

Total Time45 mins

Course: Lunch, Snack

Cuisine: South African

Servings: 1 tart

Calories: 276kcal

Author: VJ

Ingredients

• 1 qty Shortcrust pastry homemade or shop-bought
• 6 large hard-boiled eggs shelled and chopped
• 6 bockwurst sausages sliced into 1/2 cm pieces
• 1 cup cheddar cheese grated
• 2 cups milk
• 2 tablespoons cornflour
• Salt and black pepper to taste

Instructions

• Pre-heat oven to 200°C / 400°F
• Roll the pastry to ¼" thickness and use to line a greased 30cm x 20cm pie dish.
• Melt the butter in a saucepan, add the cornflour and stir to combine
• Add the milk, salt and pepper and bring to the boil stirring continuously until the mixture thickens
• Reduce the heat, add most of the cheese. Reserve a little cheese to sprinkle on top. Stir until the cheese has melted.
• Remove from the heat. Add the chopped egg and sausages and stir well to combine.
• Pour into the prepared pastry case
• Sprinkle with the remaining grated cheese
• Place in the pre-heated oven and bake for 30 minutes until the pastry is golden.
• Remove from the oven and allow to cool.

Notes

The sauce should leave a trail when a spoon is drawn through it.  If the sauce does not thicken sufficiently you can mix an additional teaspoon of cornflour with a little milk and drizzle in slowly, mixing all the time, until the desired consistency is reached.

Don’t allow it to become too thick – the sauce will thicken further when the cheese is added.

The pastry shell does not need to be pre-baked.  The pastry and the filling bake at the same time.

Serve either warm (the filling will be slightly runny), or cold (the filling will be firm).

Calories have been calculated on the assumption that the tart will be cut into 12 servings.

 

I am not a nutritionist. The nutrition information has been calculated using an on-line calculator, and is intended for information and guidance purposes only.  If the nutrition information is important to you, you should consider calculating it yourself, using your preferred tool.

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