‘Isijingi is a traditional dish from the Zulu culture. Sothos call it Setjetsa. It is prepared with a mixture of maize-meal and pumpkin and served on its own, as a side dish or as breakfast porridge,’ says Thuli Gogela, traditional food blogger

Serves 10

• 200g digestive whole-wheat biscuits
• 45ml salted butter, melted
• 3 cups butternut, chopped
• 500ml low fat milk
• 250ml boiling water
• ⅓ cup quick cooking maize meal
• 80ml cold water
• 5 tbsp light brown sugar
• 1ml salt
• ½ tsp ground cinnamon
• pinch of ground nutmeg
• 230g tub of low fat cream cheese
• 1 tbsp powdered gelatine
• 45ml boiling water

Raspberry Compote

• 1½ cup fresh raspberries, plus extra for garnishing
• 250ml boiling water
• 3 tbsp sugar
• 30ml fresh lemon juice
• rind of ½ lemon, finely grated

1 Using a food processor, crumble the biscuits until fine in texture, add the butter and mix until fully combined. Alternatively, put the biscuits into a sealable plastic bag and crush with a rolling pin until fine in texture. Transfer into a bowl and combine with the butter.
2 Lightly grease a 21cm spring form pan and press the crumbs into the bottom of the pan. Keep the pan in the fridge until needed.
3 Cook the butternut in the milk and water in a pot on a hot stove until soft. Tilt the lid of the saucepan to avoid spillage.
4 Use a stick blender to purée the butternut while it is still in the pot. Make a paste with maize meal and boiling water. Remove the pot from the stove and whisk the paste with the puréed pumpkin.
5 Lower the heat, and return the pot to the stove. Cover with the lid and cook for 2 minutes.
6 Remove the pot from the stove, and whisk in the sugar, salt, spices and cream cheese.
7 Dissolve the gelatine in boiling water until smooth. Add to the isijingi mixture in the pot and set aside.
8 Pour the isijingi mixture onto the crust in the spring form pan, cover with clingwrap and refrigerate for 6 hours, preferably overnight.
9 Release the side of the pan, gently remove the cheesecake and place on a serving plate. Slice into wedges.

Raspberry Compote
1 In a small saucepan, combine the raspberries, water, sugar, lemon juice and rind.
2 Heat to boil on a hot stove and then reduce the heat to allow the mixture to simmer for about 5 minutes or until a syrup is formed.
3 Remove from the heat and set aside to cool. Serve the cheesecake slices with raspberry compote and garnish with fresh raspberries.

Text and image: Thuli Gogela and Nederburg Wines