For this week’s Woolworths MasterChef SA Spice Challenge, I delve into the wonders of Zanzibar the Spice Island and make a Parsi dish, a prawn dhansak. Freddie Mercury was born in Zanzibar and was Parsi- did you know? Dhansak uses a variety of spices, lentils and in this case mango and pineapple pulp and lime juice. Serve with a mango and pineapple salsa.

A ballotine is traditionally a deboned leg of chicken or duck, stuffed, tied and rolled and steamed, poached or baked. Nowadays chicken breast and various cuts of red meat are also used to make a ballotine – really a fancy way of saying a stuffed and rolled piece of meat. I stuffed chicken breasts with Mediterranean Delicacies basil pesto and topped with their Olive Tapenade and bread crumbs.

These are a healthy version of nachos that I make at home, often to snack on while watching the football. I was given the challenge of preparing dishes with combinations chosen by Mediterranean Delicacies. In this instance their avocado hummus with their caramelised onion dip. I chose to use both as dips that I lavished over the hot-out-the-oven nachos.

This challenge paired Medi Deli’s Sun Dried Tomato pesto with their Basil Pesto Mayo – I combined the sun dried tomato pesto into a savoury scone (you can add some Parmesan cheese on the top if you prefer) and served with the basil pesto mayo instead of butter. A really lovely combination and look at the colours!

In this recipe I used the Sasko Flour Quick Treats Bran Muffin Mix in combination with grated sweet potatoes to make a rosti. I think this combination would also work well using peeled, mashed sweet potato with the mix to make a fat flap jack, also to be served with smooth, salty snoek or smoked snoek paté or even a thick dollop of creme fraiche. I served this with lemon zest which always adds such lovely lift to dishes sweet and savoury.

When Woolworths gave me the challenge of preparing a meal for four for R150, a “budget” meal, I knew three things should into play so that the eater (and the cook) would not feel deprived in any way: flavour, easily available ingredients and there had to be dessert!

I was given the challenge of preparing dishes with combinations chosen by Mediterranean Delicacies. For this recipe, their chicken liver pate peri-peri combined with their tzatziki. I must admit, I read the brief a few times to see if I’d made a mistake. I was stumped at first. I knew I didn’t want to mix the two ingredients directly. Then the idea emerged: make the pate into a warm pastry wheel sprinkled with cayenne pepper and offset it with a cool, creamy dollop of tzatziki. The result: fun to serve and eat finger-food!

Kedgeree has always been a versatile dish to use up left overs. In the Cape it is served with a fish (often smoked) like haddock, flaked and boiled egg. The rice is spiced with masala fried with onions. In this recipe, I teamed the Mediterranean Delicacies Peppered Mackerel with their hummus that I spiced using cayenne pepper. A spicy, satisfying meal that showcases the lovely smoked peppered mackerel fillet.

I was given the challenge of preparing dishes with combinations chosen by Medi Deli. In this case, their anchovies with their biltong dip. I combined the salty anchovies with onion to make a deeply savoury beer bread and served thick slices of it with the creamy biltong dip. It’s really fitting I think, to post these recipes right now, as Medi Deli foods have a predominately Greek origin and I am currently in Greece, enjoying not only the warm Greek hospitality but the range of foods and flavors too.

Gooey Beetroot & Pomegranate Chocolate Squares – a Food and the Fabulous endorsed project for Sasko Flour.