Lemon Polenta Cake

I’m not a great cake fan.  In many ways, I’m happy about this, because if I were a fan of anything else edible, I think I might be in very serious trouble.

But I am a lemon fan – so this is another  wonderful way to serve that glorious fruit. And my kids love it, which is always a surprise!

You need:

1 ¼ cups cake flour (if you want to use Spelt Flour, which is gluten free, then that is also fine.)

1 ¼ cups sugar

½ cup polenta

½ t Bicarb

½ t salt

170ml Buttermilk

¼ cup Olive oil

2 large eggs

1 t vanilla essence

Juice and grated peel of 1 lemon

Mix the flour, sugar, polenta, bicarb and salt together in one bowl.  In another bowl mix Buttermilk, Olive oil, eggs, vanilla essence and lemon rind and juice well together.  Add the wet mixture to the dry and mix well. 

Pour the batter into a well-greased 20 – 22cm spring-form baking tin and bake for 30 – 40 minutes (depending on your oven).  The cake should be browned, but not dry.  Let it cool for about 10 minutes in the pan before allowing it to cool completely on a wire rack.

I put some home-made Lemon Curd on mine.  You could also make an icing  by mixing the juice of half a lemon with about 1 ½ cups of sifted icing sugar and then adding as much water as you think is necessary.

Masala Chick Peas

This really delightful dish has even got my children asking for more - this is a rare feat, believe me!  The recipe is an adaptation from one I found in my favourite curry book of all time - Healthy Indian Cooking by Shehzad Husain and Manisha Kanani (Hermes House, Blackfriars, London, 2007).  It is really quick and easy to make and extremely rewarding.

You need:

1 tin chick peas (drained)
50 g tamarind stock
1/2 cup boiling water
2 T olive oil
1/2 t cumin seeds
2 onions (fairly large), chopped
2 cloves garlic (crushed)
10 cms green cabbage, finely sliced
3 cms ginger (grated)
1 or 2 green chillis, depending on taste
1 t ground cumin
1 t ground coriander
1/4 t turmeric
1/2 t salt
1 tin chopped tomatoes
1/2 t garam masala
5 roti for serving (you can buy these ready made, if you don't make your own)

Break up the tamarind and soak in boiling water for about 15 minutes.  Rub thr mixture through a sieve and discard the stones and fibre.

Heat the oil in a large wok or heavy based saucepan and fry the cumin seeds until they start to pop.  Add onion, garlic, ginger and chilli and fry for about 5 minutes

Add cumin, coriander, turmeric and salt and cook for 3 minutes.  Add tomatoes and bring to the boil.  Simmer for around 5 minutes.

Drain chick peas and add to the tomato mixture, together with the garam masala and tamarind.  Add the sliced cabbage and simmer for about 5 - 10 minutes.  The cabbage should still have some crunch, so don't overcook.

Serve in warm rolled roti.  It's fabulous!

Pear and Cranberry Chutney

I recently bought some pears which just refused to ripen, for some reason.  They sat there, steadfastly solid and then started to turn a bit gooey here and there.  They were obviously never going to be eaten, so I turned them into this really lovely chutney.  Cranberries are easily obtained in tins, so you shouldn't have a problem, if you cant get them fresh.

This is very good on cheeses and veggies.  It has a fairly subtle sweet/sour taste.

The yield is not huge.  You will get about 3 or 4 jars, depending on size.  You can eat immediately, but it gets better with a bit of standing.

Pear and Cranberry Chutney

1 kg firm pears cored and chopped (Don't bother to skin them.)
2 large onions chopped
1 can cranberry sauce
1 1/2 cups moist brown sugar
1/2 t each of ground ginger, allspice, cloves,white pepper
1 t dried crushed chilies (or as much as you like, including chopped raw if you prefer
1 t salt
2 1/2 cups cider vinegar

Place the whole lot in a non-reactive sauce pan and bring to the boil covered, for about 10 minutes.  Then uncover and cook on a low heat for about an hour, or until you see the chutney thickening.  Stir it every once in a while to stop it sticking to the bottom.
Ladle into sterilized glass jars ( I do this by putting them in the microwave, empty, for three minutes - remember to remove the lids!). Seal tightly when cooled.  Store in a dark cupboard for up to four months.

Based on a recipe in Jan Berry and Rodney Weidland, The Art of Preserving, Ten Speed Press, Berkeley Calif, 1997.  (This is an amazing book.  I have used the recipes in it over and over again. Each one is a guaranteed success.)

Wild Rocket and Walnut Pesto

If you are not growing wild Rocket, you should be!  It grows terribly easily.  At the end of each season, I pinch off all the little yellow flowers to keep the plant producing leaves, but still it manages to seed itself closeby.  At the end of the season, you just cut it down to ground level and wait for the leaves to appear again in the spring.

Here is my own recipe for Rocket and Walnut Pesto.  Naturally, you can use Rocket bought in a plastic tub, but the wild kind has much more peppery bite to it.

The Pesto can be used almost anywhere.  A dolop mixed into pasta or on a slice of toast in the morning.  Its a wonderful thing!


Wild Rocket and Walnut Pesto

An ice-cream tub full of wild Rocket leaves
100g Walnuts
Up to 3 quarters of a cup of Olive Oil - more if you like
About a cup of finely grated Percorino or Parmesan cheese
Half a teaspoon of salt
Half clove of garlic (if you insist).

Put the dry ingredients in a blender and blitz, adding the oil gradually and to a consistency of your liking.  (I prefer it like a paste.  Others more runny.  It is up to you).

Transfer to an airtight container and store in the fridge.

Eat in about 10 days.

Apple and Plum chutney

This is a recipe from a book I have used over and over for the past 12 years. It is the first present I bought for Leon. True to form, he never looked at it ever again, and I used it constantly. Try it, this is a really good chutney.

Apple and Plum Chutney


With some adaptation, from I. Berry and R. Weidland : The Art of Preserving, 10 Speed Press, Berkley, 1997.

You can use slightly unripe apples and plums for this recipe. And any variety of plum. This is a sweet chutney. I like to give it a bit of a kick by adding some chillies. If you don’t have any, Cayenne pepper will also do.

Ingredients

1 kg firm green apples
2 kg plums
3 large onions
2 cloves garlic
2 cups sultanas
2 cups white wine vinegar
3 cups brown sugar
2 t salt
1 t Allspice
5cms fresh ginger (chopped finely)
½ t ground nutmeg
¼ t ground cloves
¼ t freshly ground black pepper
1 t mustard seeds
3 or 4 dried Birdseye chillies

Peel, core and dice the apples and place in a large (I emphasise LARGE) nonreactive pan. Halve, pit and dice the plums and add to the pan. Peel and chop the onions and garlic and add to the pan together with the remaining ingredients. Stir for 5 minutes over a medium heart. Bring the mixture to a boil and then simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until the chutney thickens (about 1 ½ hours). Ladle into warm sterilized jars, cool and then seal.

Siena cake

This is an extraordinary recipe, (also called Panforte - or "strong bread") which started out by not turning out as I expected it to - and then DID turn out as I had expected after waiting a while - you have to trust the process! Don't be disheartened when what comes out of the oven resembles a piece of chip-board. It does somehow change after a while. The end result is very Christmas-sy, very chewy and very showy. Not to mention quite exciting to make!

Apparently it is originally a medieval recipe,from Tuscany. It keeps for anything up to three weeks. This version comes from Great Italian food and was published by the Australian Women's Weekly.

I would imagine it would be great with strong coffee - which I don't drink. But if you do...

Siena Cake
120g (3/4 cup) blanched almonds, toasted and coarsely chopped
1 cup hazelnuts coarsely chopped and roasted
¼ cup glacé apricots finely chopped
¼ cup glacé pineapple finely chopped
1/3 cup mixed peel
100g (2/3 cup) cake flour
2T cocoa powder
1 t ground cinnamon
1/3 cup (75g) Castor sugar
½ cup (175g) honey
60g dark chocolate – melted

Mix the nuts, fruit, peel, flour, cocoa and cinnamon together well.
Line the base and sides of a 20 cm diameter sandwich cake tin with baking paper.

Mix the Castor sugar and honey in a saucepan and stir over a low heat until the sugar has dissolved and boiling point is reached. When the mixture boils, leave it to simmer for about 5 minutes on a reduced heat.

Add the syrup and melted chocolate to the fruit and nut mixture and mix well. (Work quickly, because this starts to set fast, so expect it and don't be alarmed as the thing starts to take on the consistence of setting concrete!). Spread the mixture quickly and evenly into the prepared pan. (Use your hands. It should be cool enough at this point.)

Bake uncovered in a preheated over at 150°C for about 35 minutes. Leave it to cool in the pan. Turn it out, remove the baking paper and wrap it in tin foil. Leave it in the foil for a least a day before cutting it into squares.

Dust with icing snow (or not...)

Soetkoekies

I have been looking for a good recipe for this traditional South African biscuit for quite some time now. The first few I tried were total disasters. They are interesting biscuits which call for both spices and Port wine, or Sherry.

The taste is memorable - and certainly brings back smells and memories of childhood for me. The only pain about them is that they have to rest for a minimum of 2 hours in the fridge - so you can't just whip them up in a jiffy. But I keep getting told about the joys of delayed gratification (something I have very little - I lie - NO experience in), so I suppose this is an instance to hand.

Soetkoekies

4 cups Cake flour
1 t salt
1 t ground cloves
1 t ground cinnamon
1 t ground ginger
1 t Bicarb
1 cup sugar
250g butter
100g ground almonds
2 large eggs
50 ml Port or Sherry


Sift the flour, salt, spices and bicarb together. Add sugar and rub in butter. Add the ground almonds. Mix in the eggs and the Port. Mixture should form a stiff dough. Place in a plastic bag and leave for a minimum of 2 hours in the fridge – preferably overnight. Roll out onto a floured surface, about 5mm thick. Cut the biscuits using a biscuit cutter and place on a greased baking tray. Press half a peanut, or slivers of almond into the middle of each biscuit. Bake in a preheated oven for about 10 minutes at 200° C. Cool on a wire rack and store in an airtight container.

Lettuce soup

A lot of people, including those nearest and dearest to me, recoil from this. "Lettuce soup!" they screech and won't even try it. Well, trust me, it is a wonderful soup. And unbelievably quick and simple. Put aside your prejudice. Live on the wild side! Try it!


Lettuce Soup

3 large lettuce leaves (they don't need to be in mint condition)
1 medium onion chopped
1 T olive, canola or avocado oil
Juice of half a lemon
2 lt water
500 ml chicken or vegetable stock
4 T plain yoghurt (or cream if you insist - and sometimes I don't use either)
1/2 t nutmeg (or a bit more if you like the taste)
Salt and pepper to taste


Brown onions using in a little oil. Add the stock, lettuce and nutmeg. Bring to the boil and let it simmer for about 20 minutes. Add lemon juice. Blend. Add salt and pepper. Wait for it to cool a little. Stir in the yoghurt, a spoonful at a time and serve.

Crayfish Curry

The Kreef - Rock Lobster - Crayfish season opens fairly soon in South Africa. This recipe is, without any doubt, the best crayfish curry recipe I have ever tasted. It is really easy to do and the results are amazing!

One word of caution - check that your supplier actually has a licence to catch them and that they are not under-sized. Last year, a work colleague of mine offered to get me Crayfish. I thought the price was rather good (but I'm new to Cairp Tahn - so what did I know?). When they arrived - I saw why. They looked like Langoustines! I will never do that again! I repent in dust and ashes!


Crayfish Curry

1 kg Crayfish tails
2 large onions – finely chopped
2 ripe tomatoes
1 green pepper
10ml crushed garlic
1 chilli
2 t Seafood masala
1t turmeric
1t cumin
1t coriander
Pinch nutmeg and cloves
½ t cinnamon
½ t black pepper
120 ml coconut cream
15 ml lime juice
5 or 6 curry leaves
1t sugar
Salt

Fry onions in a little oil until soft. Puree green pepper, tomato, garlic and chilli. Add to onions and cook for 10 minutes. Add all the other spices, curry leaves, lime juice and sugar and cook for another 10 minutes. Take off heat and add coconut cream. Stir into mixture. Add crayfish in shells into the mixture and cook with lid on over medium heat for 15 minutes.

Serve with rice as follows:

Boil 1 cup of rice with 2 cinnamon sticks, 4 cloves, pinch nutmeg and 5ml turmeric. When done, add drained 250 ml lentils. Salt to taste.

Bacchus Cake

This is not, by any means, the easiest recipe in the world. It was originally created the French Chocolatier Robert Linxe. And OMG is the result fantastic!

You know when recipe books say that "a little effort" is required? Well - a little effort is required here. But don't be daunted. The result is really worth it. Dazzle those friends! Confound those enemies! All it takes is ... a little effort!

(PS, read the whole recipe from start to finish in one sitting - it really helps, I found.)

Bacchus Cake

4 eggs, separated
85g castor sugar
20g cocoa, sifted
25g flour
100 dark Couverture chocolate

Macaroon

6 egg whites
Pinch of salt
150g icing sugar
100g ground almonds
50g pistachios, roughly chopped

Tea and chocolate filling

60g raisins, roughly chopped
100ml Earl Grey tea
150ml Crème fraiche
60g butter, softened and chopped
370 dark Couverture chocolate, finely chopped

Marmalade Cream

90g orange marmalade
300 mascarpone

Preheat oven to 180˚ C. Line a 28 x 32 cm Swiss roll tin with baking paper. Using an electric mixer, whisk egg yolks and castor sugar until thick and pale. Add the cocoa and flour and then the chocolate as well as two tablespoons of hot water. Stir.

Whisk the egg whites to soft peaks and fold it into the chocolate mixture. Spoon the mixture into the tin and smooth the top. Bake 12 – 15 minutes. Leave to cool in the tin.

For the Macaroon:

Preheat oven to 180˚ C. Line a Swiss roll tin with baking paper. Using an electric mixer, whisk the egg whites, a pinch of salt and 50g icing sugar to stiff peaks. Then add the remaining sugar, almonds and pistachios and fold to combine. Spoon the mixture into the tin and smooth the top. Bake 20 minutes. Leave to cool in the tin.

For the filling:

Soak the raisins in the tea for 15 minutes. Drain. Bring the cream and butter to the boil, add the chocolate and stir until smooth. Cool to a spreading consistency.

For the marmalade cream:

Combine the ingredients in a bowl

To assemble:

Invert the cake and macaroon from the tins and remove the baking paper. Trim the edges and cut both the cake and the macaroon into three rectangles. Thinly spread some of the filling over one rectangle of the cake, scatter it with some of the raisins and top it with a macaroon rectangle and half the marmalade cream. Repeat the layers, finishing the cake. Spread the remaining filling over the top and sides of the last rectangle of cake. Refrigerate for one hour, or up to three days.

Indian Stir Fry Vegetables with Monkfish

This is my favourite recipe of the moment. Monkfish, in my day, used to be cooked to hell and back and then smothered with a seafood dressing of mayonaise and tomato sauce and served up as "mock crayfish". (We did live, I have to say, in the Transvaal, you understand - where anything could be cooked smothered in a mixture of mayonaise and tomato sauce and served as "mock crayfish"!) But Monkfish is really good for this dish, because it is fairly tough. You can use prawns, if you like, or even calamari. But if they are frozen, they need to be defrosted and not overcooked.

You need either an electric wok, or one of those ordinary wok pans, which are much easier to manage and do a single or double meal very well.

This recipe is from my absolute fave cookery book of the moment -

Healthy Indian Cooking, by Shezad Husein and Manisha Kanani, Hermes House 2007

Indian Stir Fry Vegetables with Monkfish

2T Oil - use olive or canola
2 medium onions sliced ( I also like to use leeks)
1t garlic pulp
1t ground cumin
1t ground coriander
1t chilli powder
175g Monkfish cut into cubes
2 t fresh fenugreek leaves or 1t fenugreek (methi)
2 tomatoes, sliced into fairly slim wedges
1 courgette, sliced
salt
1t limejuice

Method

Heat the oil in a wok and fry the onions over a low heat until soft. Meanwhile mix together the garlic, cumin, coriander and chilli. Stir into the onions and cook for about 1 minute.

Add the fish and continue to stir for about 3 - 5 minutes until it is cooked through.

Lastly add the fenugreek, tomatoes, courgette and salt to taste and cook for a further 2 minutes. Sprinkle with lime juice just before serving.

Vegetarian Rissoles (if you don't count the egg)

I think I may just have found the ultimate Veggi burger/Rissole recipe I have been seeking for the past few years. I really love this one! It works and the consistency of the patty is really good.

Veggi Rissoles

1 ¼ cups mushrooms, finely chopped
1 small onion chopped
1 small courgette chopped
1 carrot chopped
¼ cup chickpeas
2 cups breadcrumbs or oats
1 egg
2 T chopped fresh parsley

1t mixed herbs
1t marjoram
1t tyme
1t marmite
1t dry vegetable stock
Oatmeal for shaping
Salt and black pepper


Cook the mushrooms for 8 -10 minutes, so that no moisture remains

Put the onions, courgette, carrots nuts and marmite in a food processor, until the mixture starts to bind together.

Stir in mushrooms, breadcrumbs or oats, herbs, stock and egg.

Chill for 30 minutes in the fridge

Fry in a little olive oil until brown. Can also be grilled, but in a pan.

Red Bean and Mushroom Burgers

I really like veg burgers. I probably prefer them to meat burgers, if I'm honest. But to get the right kind of mixture has been a bit of a mission. Here is one I really enjoy. The mixture is quite soft, so you need to be a bit careful, but the taste, as well as the result, is really good!

RED BEAN AND MUSHROOM BURGERS

1 small onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 t ground cumin
1 t ground coriander
½ 1 turmeric
1 ½ cups finely chopped mushrooms
400g can red kidney beans drained and rinsed
2 T chopped coriander
Wholemeal flour for forming the burgers
Salt and pepper

Fry onion and garlic until softened. Add cumin, ground coriander and turmeric and cook for a further minute, stirring constantly.

Add mushrooms and cook, stirring until softened and dry. Mash the beans with a fork and add to the mushroom mixture. Add fresh coriander, salt and pepper and mix well.

Using floured hands, form mixture into 4 flat burgers. If the mixture is too sticky, add flour.

Brush with oil and grill for 8 – 10 minutes, until golden brown.

Stella's Cabbage Bredie

Bredies come in every shape and form in the Cape. This was one I grew up with and must come from my mother's Cape heritage. It is really simple, but the result is fabulous.

CABBAGE BREDIE

1 large onion, sliced
1 cabbage, sliced
4 potatoes, chopped
1 kg lamb’s neck
Salt and pepper
Oil

Brown the onions in a little oil. Brown the lamb’s neck in the onions. If you are using a pressure cooker, add water to the pot and pressure cook for about 20 mins (after the pot reaches pressure). If you are not, you will need to braise the lamb’s neck for about 1 ½ hours (possibly 2!) until it is tender. Only when it is tender, add the chopped potatoes and sliced cabbage, on top of the meat in the pot, place a lid on it and cook on a medium temp until both the potatoes and the cabbage are tender.

Cook until dry, and allow the bottom of the pot to burn a little. (This gives the Bredie its taste). When all is tender (and you should test this) mix it all up. Take it off the heat and allow to stand for about 15 minutes – then stir it again. The browning at the bottom of the pot will now be soft and be willing to be mixed into the dish. Add salt to taste (and it might need quite a bit).

Serve on rice, with Worcester sauce.

Sweet Potato Bread

I went through a phase, some years back, when baking bread was the major thing I wanted to cook. I even had a bread-maker given to me as a present - which is an amazing thing indeed and which is guaranteed to put on as many unwanted kilos as you can imagine! You put all the ingredients into it, switch it on, set the timer and bread comes out when you need it, piping hot and perfect.

There are two draw-backs. Firstly, don't ever lose the recipe book which accompanied the bread-making machine, because then you are really buggered. You can't just put any recipe into it. The recipes are utterly specific and if you are not exact in your measurements, all hell breaks loose.

Secondly, I really like working with the dough. With the bread-maker, there never is a dough - (unless of course, that is the setting you put it onto, but then I don't quite see the point!). So, back to the old tried and tested...

Here is a really simple, and really delicious recipe for Sweet Potato bread. It is virtually idiot proof:

Sweet Potato Bread

1 medium sweet potato
4 cups of brown bread flour
1 t ground cinnamon
1 t dried yeast
1 ¼ C warm milk
Salt and ground black pepper
(optional) 2/3 C walnut pieces


Boil sweet potato in water for 45 minutes. Pour off water and cool in cold water.

Sift flour and cinnamon into large bowl. Mix in dried yeast.

Drain and peel sweet potato. Mash and mix in with flour with a rounded knife into a rough dough. Knead on a floured surface for 5 minutes.

Return to the bowl, cover with cling wrap and stand in a warm place until doubled in size – approximately 1 hour.

Grease 900g loaf tin with non-stick spray.

Knock back dough and shape into the size of the tin. Cover with a cloth and let it rise until doubled in size.

Preheat oven to 200°C

Bake for approx 20 mins

Turn out onto a wire rack to cool.

Bobotie and Yellow Rice

This is a really good Bobotie (pronounced approximately"Baboowati") recipe. For those of you who don't know, this is a traditional South African delight, which I have stolen, in this instance, from my mother-in-law, Shirley. It's from Annette Human's Seasonal Menus (Human and Rousseau, Cape Town 1998). She says it was puiblished in a newspaper "years ago". Wikipedia says ACTUALLY, it comes from Britain - but isn't that what the British think about everything??? We are used to that kind of stuff in the Colonies.

Anyway, it is a great recipe. Leon made it on Sunday for guests.

Bobotie and yellow rice

Group A

3 medium onions
3T Olive oil
2T brown sugar
2T ground ginger
1T curry powder
1 ½ t Turmeric
¼ t pepper
2 t salt

Peel and chop the onions coarsely. Braise in a heavy-based saucepan until softened. Add the rest of Group A ingredients to the onions and fry lightly.

Group B

3T chutney
2T smooth apricot jam
2T vinegar
2T Worcestershire sauce
2T tomato paste

Mix all the ingredients in Group B and add them to the mixture in group A.

Group C

2 thick slices of brown bread
1kg lean minced beef
5 Bay leaves
1 ½ cup milk
2 eggs

Soak the bread for a while in cold water. Press out most of the water and mash the bread. Mix the mince and bread lightly with the onion mixture. Stew for 15 minutes over a moderate heat, stirring often.
Preheat the oven to 180° C and grease a 2lt oven proof dish.

Spoon the mixture in the dish, press the bay leaves. Beat the milk and eggs together and pour over. Bake for about 1 hour until the egg on the top is golden brown and set.


Yellow Rice

3C boiling water
1 C rice
2T butter or margarine
1T sugar
1t salt
1 cinnamon stick
½ C seedless raisins

Heat all the ingredients except the raisins, slowly to boiling point and boil until the rice is almost dry.

Add the raisins to the rice, stir lightly with a form and simmer over a low heat until dry.

Tandoori Prawns

You need

1kg peeled prawns tail- Lemon wedges for garnish, oil

Tandoori Marinade

3 teaspoons crushed garlic
2 teaspoons finely grated ginger
3 cups of plain yogurt
2 chilies crushed or whizzed in the blender
Juice of 1 lemon
4 tablespoons Tandoori masala powder
Salt and pepper

The process

In a large bowl, combine all of the marinade ingredients and mix until well combined. Add the prawns and mix to coat each prawn well, Cover and place in the fridge for about 4 hours. You can also use a plastic, sealable bag to marinade. Marinating for a long period is very important in this recipe, the flavor permeates the prawns beautifully.

Remove the prawns from the marinade and allow the excess marinade to drain away. Use a sieve.

Grill the prawns under a hot grill (as hot as possible), turning to ensure they are cooked through. You can cook them on the braai or in a grill pan on the stove, each method will give it a slightly different taste.

Pile them up on a plate, garnish with fresh mint or coriander and a good squeeze of lemon juice.

From: www.cookbook.co.za

Spicy Apple Chutney

This is one my most successful chutney recipes. The peeling and coreing of the apples is what takes the time, but otherwise, you just dump the ingredients together in a large saucepan and stir occasionally. The taste is quite strong, but the chutney goes with virtually everything and lasts forever.

1kg cooking apples (Granny Smith will do well)
2 large onions
2 chillies chopped
3 cups brown sugar
2t allspice
2t cloves
1t salt
½ t pepper
1t Cayenne pepper
2 t curry powder
2T chopped ginger
3 cups cider vinegar (don't use wine or spirit vinegar)

Peel, core and chop apples (you can whiz them in a blender). Peel and finely chop onions Place all ingredients in a non-reactive saucepan and bring the mixture to the boil. Cook over a medium heat for 40 minutes, stirring occasionally. Spoon into sterilized jars and seal.

Sugar Twists

These are the most amazing sweet pastries. I remember them from my youth, when my mother would bake them for special occasions. The cutting of the butter into the flour is a bit of a schlepp, but the result is fantastic! Try to work fairly quickly with the dough, while it is still cold.

3 cups flour
250g butter or margarine
½ t salt
2 beaten eggs
1 ½ cups of sugar mixed with 3 or 4T vanilla essence
1 pkt dry yeast
½ cup milk

Cut in the butter or margarine into flour and salt and dry yeast. Add beaten eggs and milk and form into a soft dough. Leave in fridge for 2 hours (don't miss this step!).

Roll out dough and layer with sugar/vanilla essence mixture. Fold over and cut into strips, twist and bake on a baking sheet at 180˚C until just turning brown.

Sabieda's stunning chicken curry

Sabieda Jappie worked for us as a replacement housekeeper/childminder when our regular flew off to Venda for her annual leave. Sabieda is an amazing person. Full of energy. Full of opinions. Full of easy laughter. She plays rough with the kids - and they love it.

But she is also a wiz in the kitchen, and she taught us how to make this really good curry, amongst other things. Over the next while I will share some of her wonderful and authentic recipes. Sabieda is not shy with neither the oil, nor the salt - you can reduce or eliminate either.

I like to use a method of frying onions called Dry frying, adapted from a now rather old book called, The X diet cookbook (Zebra Press 1999) by Tabitha Hume. (Hume first makes a kind of stock made out of disolved dry chicken stock, mixed with a little white wine, but I find water works just as effectively with the method).

What you do is you cut up the onions, and start frying them on a moderately high heat in a saucepan - with no oil. You keep stirring them, to prevent sticking - and they start to turn an orangy, pinky brown. Keep stirring. Keep adding about 3 T water and stir the onions once or twice and then place the lid on the pot. Repeat this process with a little water each time (so that the effect is steam, not boiling) until the onions are the desired softness and brownness.

Sabieda's stunning Chicken Curry

Ingredients

3 T cooking oil (or use the dry frying method I have indicated above)
2 Onions – chopped finely
8 Chicken breasts - skinned and deboned and sliced into strips
1.5 T All-in-One (or 11 in one) Masala (more if you want it more than mild)
1 T garlic and ginger mix
.5 tin tomatoes
5 medium potatoes peeled and cut into quarters
Salt
Fresh Dhania, washed and chopped

Method:

Simmer chopped onions in the oil. Cover pot. Do not allow onions to stick to the bottom of the pot. Cook on a high heat, stirring occasionally, and adding water to ensure that the onions get very soft. They should turn light brown and be extremely soft at the end of this process.

Turn the heat down.

Add the Masala, garlic and ginger to the onions. Continue to simmer for a while. Add the chicken and tomatoes and mix well with the onion mixture.

Add salt and last potatoes and simmer with lid on, stirring occasionally, until cooked.

Sprinkle generously with chopped Dhania and allow it to stand for some time, before serving on Basmati rice.