From masonja & rice to 'car crash' chicken: 5 times Tito Mboweni cooked and was dragged

Finance minister Tito Mboweni not only captured the attention of South Africans in parliament when delivering important speeches about the country's state of finances, but he also kept his more than 900,000 Twitter followers glued to his timeline for some recipes.

The finance minister clearly has a way with numbers, but the same cannot be said about his cooking skills — well, that's according to Twitter “chefs”. 

His excessive use of veggies, specifically garlic, had many offering free lessons to the minister. But he remained unfazed throughout.

Remember that chicken? The one that, according to one Twitter user looks like it had a claim with the Road Accident Fund? And that pot full of garlic? Yup, we're revisiting all the times the minister gave us laughs in the kitchen.

Here are five meals by “à la Mboweni”:

That RAF chicken

Shame, this creature got grilled twice - in the minister's oven and on Twitter. The minister's meal scored him an invite to lunch with celebrity cook show host Somizi Mhlongo and a mention from Springbok captain Siya Kolisi.

Masonja and rice ... wait for it ... with a fork and knife!

Who can ever forget the one time the minister made masonja with rice? Cooking is an art, yes, and sometimes breaking some rules is allowed, but going as far as eating this never-seen-before combo with a fork and knife deserves an appearance at the Zondo commission.

When all else fails, there's a mealie 

Those who camped on the minister's timeline for a good laugh at his meal were in for a surprise when he posted that he had a single mealie for dinner. The national chef ran out of ideas, OK? 

Decisions, decisions, chicken or beef?

The minister not only makes big decisions in parliament, he makes them in the kitchen too. Here's the one time he called on his Twitter force to help him decide between good old pilchards, chicken or beef stew.

Fried eggs and ... well, let's call it chutney?

Six fried eggs at a time. Yup! For a snack!