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.
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.
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.
Squid or cuttlefish ink takes me to the Mediterranean and remind me of travels to Italy and Spain. I am always on the look-out for unusual or indigenous food items when we explore - sometimes repeat visits yield new items afresh each time. I picked up a box of fine short squid ink vermicelli in Andorra three weeks ago, and with careful packing it made the journey . more or less unscathed. I made this dish with it.
I was asked to contribute to the Summer Memories Food Section in the December issue of Oprah Magazine South Africa, featuring 6 food personalities. (I'm a food personality?!) I chose a South Indian Crab Curry, that despite the heat and complex spiciness, is one I always enjoy with my family during the summer December holidays, each year without fail. This is my version - inspired by my mother's Crab Curry and Rick Stein's Coconut Chilli Crab.
Cooking stews in a three-legged cast iron pot or potjie (very much like the witches' cauldrons in Macbeth) over coals or open flame is a South African tradition, as local as eating naartjies (mandarins) at a rugby game or giving biltong (dried, salted meat) to ex-pat South Africans as gifts. I purchased our very first potjie pot earlier this year, and for all the pride and delight I felt, you would have thought I was in the le Creuset store and not the local Builder's Warehouse. It was large, and large was what I was looking for to feed 16- 20 guests for our house's first National Braai day (Heritage day) celebrations.
Albert Camus once said, that life is a sum of all your choices. While you ponder that, I share an angelfish pie with double mash, crowned with the season's beautiful asparagus
By combining prawns (sweet and delicate), mange tout (or bok choi /baby spinach leaves if they're in season) (crisp and bursting with a pop of colour), along with roasted cashew nuts (crunch and creaminess), you've got the perfect starting point for creating an Asian dish with complex but harmonious elements. Piled onto thin rice or glass noodles and jazzed up with a zingy dressing, this makes for a slurp-worth meal. So much more than just a salad.
Prawn Madras Curry prawn madras I know there still remains a mystery shrouding Indian cooking, even amongst many of the accomplished cooks and foodies that I speak to. I can hear the sitars playing evocatively as you read this... Now, I'm not saying it's all very easy for me and that I'm mixing my [...]
