YOTV BIG BREAKFAST

INTRODUCING SA

It’s International Women’s Day on 8 March and we’re so here to celebrate the fierce hard-working women out there who work tirelessly to make ends meet, to feed their families and raise their tribe! We salute you all … and to celebrate we’ve searched the country for some of our treasured Insta-sisters!

 

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BRAND SOUTH AFRICA

As the world celebrates International Womens Day on 8 March 2021, Brand South Africa shines a spotlight on 27 year old Tebogo and Lebo Ndala, self–labelled coffee lovers and critic twin chefs, published authors, township cuisine specialists and in my view, South Africa’s next celeb chefs who will represent the country beyond its borders.

 

Read the full article here

TWIN TALK with CENTTWINZ

 

FAIRLADY MAGAZINE, March 2020 feature

Inflight magazine feature

A doubly delicious cookbook to savour | Sowetan Live

Click here for the feature

www.sowetanlive.co.za/good-life/2019-12-03-a-doubly-delicious-cookbook-to-savour/

 

 

Tebo and Lebo Ndala’s South African Jollof | Daily Maverick

While Tebo was in the freezing state of Massachusetts, I lived in New Jersey with a Nigerian family – from the Yoruba tribe – who were then residing in the US.

Nigerians tend to stay true to their culture wherever they are in the world and that’s especially true of their food. That’s how I got introduced to the taste of palm oil, peppers, dried fish and cassava – the works. Then there was yam, a staple to almost all Nigerian dishes. Pound it or boil it, have it with your eggs in the morning or with your stew in the evening. It just works.

Plantains … glorious plantains, a side dish for any meal! When deep-fried, it’s called ‘dodo’; or you can have it as plantain chips when it’s dried.

Whenever Tebo came to Jersey, my host mom cooked for us. She’d be in the kitchen frying puréed tomatoes and chilis as the base for her rice. You couldn’t be in the kitchen if you couldn’t handle the heat; all those spices would send you into a sneezing frenzy clearing your flu as soon as you walked in. It all looked so complicated and intimidating to make, so I only learnt how to make these delicious flavours later on.

A personal favourite had to be tomato stew with chicken, and jollof rice served with a side of dodo. Yum! I can taste it right now.

We also used to snack on a lot of chin-chin: yummy, crunchy, cake-like biscuits that moonwalk like angels on your tongue. Serve these at the end of your meal with some good coffee; or, better yet, serve your guests some delicious puff-puff, a fried dessert popular in the winter.

We have to mention the street food. Among the most popular is suya, a spice rub for chicken, turkey, beef or whatever meat you feel like.

We had a very funny chat with our friends one day. It was a heated argument: which country made the best jollof rice? Nigeria or Ghana? LOL, it’s a real dilemma …

So, we reckoned we should try our own take on it. Who knows? Maybe South African jollof could be up for the prize.

Baked Jollof Rice with Chicken 

Serves: 6–8 Prep time: 1 hour

At first we thought jollof rice was overrated. After we had it, we understood what the hype was all about. We reckon the best way to serve jollof rice is with chicken and dodo (deep-fried plantains). Let’s try the South African jollof. You never know, it might be in the running for the best jollof rice!

Ingredients: 

4 tbs palm oil

6–8 chicken thighs

2 red onions, finely chopped

2 tbs crushed garlic

2 sprigs thyme, leaves picked

2 bay leaves

6 habanero peppers, crushed

1 scotch bonnet jalapeño pepper, deseeded and diced

1/2. tsp ground ginger

1/2. tsp ground nutmeg

1/2. tsp garlic powder

1 tsp ground coriander

1 tsp chili flakes

1/2. tsp salt

1/2. tsp dried thyme

1/2. tsp pepper

1/2. tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp dried ground prawn

1 tbs tomato purée

1 can (400 g) tomatoes

100 ml chicken stock

300 g Basmati rice, uncooked

Chopped coriander, to serve

Method: 

01 Preheat the oven to 180°C.

02 In a heavy-base saucepan, add a little oil.

03 Brown the chicken thighs on each side and set aside.

04 In the same pan, add the rest of the oil and the onions. Sauté until soft.

05 Add the garlic, thyme, bay leaves, habanero and scotch bonnet peppers. Gently fry for 2 min. Add the spice mix and stir well.

06 Add in the tomato purée and canned tomatoes. Mix well. Cook for 10 min.

07 Add the stock and blend until smooth.

08 Add in the rice and chicken.

09 Bake covered in the oven for 30-40 min until the rice and chicken are cooked.

10 Scatter with fresh coriander and serve.

Spicy Garlic Turkey Suya

 

Suya is a spice mix created by the Hausa people from the north of Nigeria. Good luck finding the original recipe … all we know is it can be very, very spicy. It’s normally served with raw, sliced onions or cabbage to help with the heat (that didn’t help us at all the first time we tried it, but – hey – each to their own). With this recipe, feel free to adjust the heat to your preference.

Serves: 4–6 Prep time: 2 hours 15 min

Ingredients:

For the Suya Spice Rub:

1 tsp chili flakes

2 tsp cayenne pepper

4 tsp smoked paprika

1½ tsp ground ginger

1 tsp ground nutmeg

2 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp ground cloves

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp salt

3 cloves garlic, grated

1 sprig of thyme, leaves picked

For the turkey:

500 g turkey, cubed

2 tbs palm oil

3–4 tbs dry spice rub (suya)

Method:

01 Mix all the suya spice ingredients together in

a bowl.

02 Mix the suya spice rub with the oil.

03 Rub the paste on the turkey to tenderise the

meat.

04 Leave in the fridge for 1–2 hours, or overnight.

05 Grill the turkey over medium coals for

7–10 min on each side, until well cooked.

Charismatic twins Tebo & Lebo Ndala are set to become SA’s next celeb chefs | Times Live

“Twins in the kitchen? It’s always double trouble. We have so much fun – we sing, we dance, we make jokes, but we always get the work done,” say Tebo and Lebo Ndala.

Hailing from Pretoria, these 26-year-old siblings decided to turn their passion for cooking for their family and friends into a profession. They run a private chef business, freelance as assistant food editors and stylists, and are ambassadors of Laager Rooibos Tea.

They’re also recently launched their first cookbook, Food Stories: Our favourite recipes with love from the twins (Human& Rousseau, R350).

They tell us more about their food journey, their new cookbook and more:

From Mamelodi, where we were born, to Los Angeles in the US. That’s where we attended a cultural programme as well as studying at UCLA. We taught the Americans about our braai culture and learnt a lot about Thanksgiving festivities and the traditional dishes for the celebration.

We live, cook, eat and socialise together and it really helps that we really have the same interests.

We are both equally skilled in the kitchen. We think it’s because we take time to teach each other and improve each other’s skills.

When we aren’t cooking and eating we are avid readers and love visiting cute restaurants and tea shops.

Our cookbook, Food Stories, is our journey of our life and represents different things for each of us:

  • Lebo: The most important part of the journey is the beginning, where we came from and where we grew up.
  • Tebo: For me it’s the journey we have travelled – getting to experience different cultures and connecting through food – that means a lot to me.

If home was a person, it would be our grandmother Koko. She’s amazing. Yes, she supported our quest to go to chef school and has been our biggest fan ever since. She taught us how to make the more traditional dishes and how to make pap properly.

Our biggest influence as well has been our mom, Dimpho. She’s an amazing cook too and she sparked that passion for sure.

 

Of all the recipes in our recipe book three favourites stand out:

  • The creamy samp with spinach and corn that reminds us of home and Koko;
  • The oxtail pepper soup – it means a lot because it’s a blend of Western and South African cultures; and
  • The chilli chocolate brownies, because that’s the best combination we’ve come across so far.

Disasters in the kitchen? Yes, of course. We had a disaster hosting a flatbread pop-up by using the wrong pans and the breads got stuck in the pan! We had to redo everything with very little time to spare.

What’s next? We really want to become a household brand, travel the world and reach different people. And open a With Love From The Twins cooking school one day.