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.

Whalemeat Rissoles

In her younger days, my cousin was a very elegant woman indeed. She tells me now, aged 87, that she always had an inferiority complex about the way she looked – which is odd, because she always looked extremely elegant. But complexes aren’t based on fact, usually – anyway, I digress.

She is about to move into a frail care unit and so she is turfing out a whole range of stuff she once used but now no longer needs. To me came two cookbooks “The Royal Hostess – South Africa’s own cookbook”, the first version (dated 1953), calls itself. The second, the 10th edition revised – is dated 1978.

It was recipes for Whalemeat, which caught my eye. The book does a little preamble to the recipes which reads as follows:

“During the War years, whalemeat (sic – no capital even!) was introduced in England to supplement the very meagre amount of animal protein supplied by the few ounces of weekly meat ration. With proper handling and cooking, British housewives found they could produce nourishing and tasty meals from Whalemeat. South Africa too has had to fall back on whalemeat during the severe meat shortages we experience each winter...”

The preamble continues:

"The following suggestions and recipes may tempt housewives to try whalemeat for themselves, and, if they follow the instructions carefully”, the writer assures us, they will be “agreeably surprised at the appetizing results”.

Just in case you may have wondered about it, the taste of Whalemeat is described as “a blend of steak and liver” which is hard to distinguish from “ordinary meat” if correctly prepared.

So that is what the fuss is about in Japan! That is why they need as much Whale hunting as they do “for scientific purposes” of course. For the “blend of steak and liver” taste.

If any Japanese readers (or indeed other Whale eaters) are looking for the “proper methods of handling, and suitable recipes for the preparation of this cheap yet valuable protein food”, just let me know. I will be happy to share with them Whale meat recipe tips from the Royal Hostess.

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.