“Eating is spiritual. And eating food with loved ones is truly communion with God. Do your best to eat the food you love with people you love :) it makes it taste better.” ~ Munachi Abii

SAMP AND SWEET CORN RISOTTO

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Celebrating one of South Africa’s hero ingredients, samp! Cooked until tender with sweetcorn until a risotto consistency is achieved. With a generous amount of Parmesan and cheddar from Gourmet Greek here in the KZN Midlands, and a good dollop of cream and fresh herbs.
Enjoy this dish as a substantial veggie main, or serve as the accompaniment to your favourite protein.
https://wearefood.co.za/collections/vegetarian-range/products/samp-sweetcorn-risotto-serves-1-300g

Cranberry and Rosemary Pavlova

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Serves: 6-8
Prep time: 1h30-2hrs

never be too intimidated making meringues, it’s really not that bad and if you really want to know if you whipped your egg whites properly, place the bowl over your head and if the egg whites fall on you, it wasn’t whipped really well. Try again.

Meringue ingredients:
6 Egg Whites
1 1/2 C Castor Sugar
2 tsp Corn Starch
1/2 Tbs Lemon Juice
1/2 Tbs Vanilla Extract

Preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius. Line a baking sheet with baking paper. Draw a 4 inch circle with a pencil on the baking paper.
In a mixer, beat egg whites until foamy, gradually add sugar. Whisk on high speed for 6-7 mins until stiff and glossy.
Add lemon juice and vanilla. Sift in corn starch and whisk until blended.
Transfer meringue onto baking paper inside the circle.
Bake for 1hr30 mins, then turn the oven off and with the door closed, leave the meringue in the oven overnight to cool completely. Remove from the oven and cover using cling wrap and leave to rest.

Cranberry Mascarpone Cream ingredients:
1/2 C Cranberries
1/3 C Pomegranate Rubies
1 Tbs Castor Sugar
1/2 C Apple Juice
1 C Whipping Cream
1/2 C Mascarpone Cheese
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
Rosemary Springs and Pomegranate Rubies to garnish

In a saucepan, combine cranberries, pomegranate, sugar and apple juice and bring to a boil. Stir until the mixture has thickened. Pulse in a blender until smooth and strain the mixture into a jug. Leave to cool completely.
In a bowl, beat the cream, mascarpone and vanilla for 3 mins until soft peaks.
Fold the cream with the cooled cranberry mixture.

Topping:
1/3 C Cranberries
1/2 C Sugar and 3 Tbs extra
1/2 C Water

Boil water with 1/2 cup sugar until the sugar has dissolved. Leave to cool in a bowl.
Drop the cranberries into the sugar syrup and stir, freeze for 30 mins. Drain and reserve the syrup for later. Dump the cranberries into the remaining castor sugar. Make sure the cranberries are completely covered in sugar.
Leave to dry on the counter.

Assembling:
Dollop the mascarpone mixture into the pavlova. Garnish with the cranberries, pomegranate rubies and rosemary sprigs.

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Mussel Broth with Mini Fatcakes

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If you notice throughout the entire cookbook, we try to add a South African twist to every dish, that’s our style of cooking. We guess it’s a little reminder of where we come from, no matter where we are. Fat cakes are truly South African, best enjoyed during the winter season and this broth is so hearty, definitely one of our favorite winter dishes.

Ingredients:
Fat cakes:
1C Cake Flour
1/4 tsp Salt
1 Tbs Sugar
2 tsp Baking Powder
1/2C Lukewarm Water
Oil, for frying

Mussel Broth:
2 Tbs Sesame Oil
2 Red Chilies, finely chopped
2 Cloves Garlic, chopped
3 Spring Onions, finely sliced
2 Tbs Lime Zest
2 Sticks Lemon Grass
1/2C Coriander, chopped
1 Lime
1 Tbs Fish Sauce
1 Tbs Brown Sugar
300 ml Chicken Stock
1C Coconut Milk
1 1/2 kg Black Mussels

Method:
Fat cakes:
Combine all the fat cake ingredients together and mix well.
Heat oil in a pan on medium heat.
Drop spoonfuls of the batter into the oil. Fry until cooked and golden brown on both sides.
Mussel broth:
In a heavy based saucepan, add sesame oil, lightly fry the chilies, garlic, spring onions, zest and lemongrass.
Add in the fish sauce, brown sugar. Stir and cook on low heat for about 5 mins.
Add in the stock and mussels. Simmer for 10-15 mins.
Add chopped coriander and adjust seasoning. Stir in the coconut milk.
Simmer for another 5 mins, simmer till the mussels are cooked and the broth is aromatic.

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Coconut Curry Noodle Bowls

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Serves: 4
Prep time: 50 mins

Just know that anything that has coconut milk, coconut cream or coconut flakes tastes amazing, no doubt. You can easily impress your guests with this simple dish, just pretend you slaved over the stove for hours, don’t worry, it’ll stay just between us.

Ingredients:
2 Tbs Vegetable Oil
1 Small Onion, finely chopped
3 Tbs Red Curry Paste
2 Spring Onions, finely sliced
1 Tbs Fresh Ginger, chopped
1 C Asparagus, tailed
1 C Broccoli Florets
1 C Purple Cabbage, thinly shredded
1 C Carrots, julienned
2 Tbs Fish Sauce
2 Tbs Soy Sauce
3 Tbs Brown Sugar
1 Tbs Chili Flakes
2 C Rice Noodles, uncooked
1/2 C Vegetable Stock
1 C Coconut Milk
Handful Basil
Sesame Seeds, to serve

Method:
In a wok, heat oil, fry the onion and curry paste for 1-2 mins. Add in the spring onion and ginger and stir.
Stir in all the vegetables. Coat them in the curry paste.
Add in the fish sauce, soy sauce, brown sugar and chili flakes. Stir for 2-3 mins.
Add in the noodles and vegetable stock. Simmer on medium heat for 15-20 mins.
Add in the coconut milk and basil and simmer for another 20 mins till noodles are al dente and veggies are cooked.
Divide into bowls. Sprinkle with sesame seeds.

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Brown Bread with Antipasti

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Serves: 8-10
Prep time: 45 mins

When making bread make sure you put a timer on for 10 mins, knead the bread for the entire 10 mins, don’t stop even when your hands get tired. Trust us, it will all be worth it. If your bread is sticking to the counter, avoid adding more flour (it will dry it out), add a bit of oil, it should work like a charm.

Ingredients:
2C Brown Bread/Wholewheat Flour
1/2C Cake Flour
1 Pkt Instant Yeast
2 Tbs Sugar
1 tsp Salt
1/2C Lukewarm Water
1/2C Lukewarm Milk
2 Tbs Olive Oil

Antipastos:
Cured meats
Olives
Anchovies
Cheese
Tepanade
Chutney

Method:
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celsius.
Mix all the dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Mix the wet ingredients into a jug, stir gradually into the dry ingredients.
Beat with a hook paddle for 2 mins on high speed. Place dough on a floured surface and knead for 10 mins until soft and pliable.
Cover the dough and leave to rest until double its size.
Knock down and shape into a loaf tin or desired shape.
Cover with a kitchen cloth and leave to rise for about 20 mins.
Bake in the oven for 30 mins.
Once done, leave to cook on the rack before serving.
Serve with the Antipastos.

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Sweet and Sour Pork

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Serves: 4-5
Prep time: 25-30 mins

This is definitely one of those dishes in this book that might make you cry, it’s that good!! Don’t waste time with this one, make sure the sauce is ready by the time the pork comes out of the fryer. Straight from the fryer, into the sauce, the pork will soak up all the goodness. Boy oh boy… Enjoy!!

Ingredients:
500g Pork Butt/Shoulder, cubed
1 C Flour
Salt and Pepper
200g soda Water
Oil for Deep fryer

Season the flour with salt and pepper.
To the flour Whisk in the soda water until loosened, into a nice lumpy batter.
Dip the pork into the batter, shake off access batter before frying.
Heat oil at 160 degrees celcius and deep fry pork until golden brown.

Glaze:
1 C Tomato Sauce
1/2 C BBQ Sauce
2 Tbs Harissa
2 Tbs Soy Sauce
1/4 C Lemon Juice
1/4 C Honey
2 Tbs Chili Flakes
2 Tbs Chopped Mint

Mix all the ingredients together. Add in the deep fried pork.
Roast in the oven at 220 degrees celcius for 15-20 mins.
Serve with a bell pepper salad (yellow, red, green peppers, julienned. Sesame seeds, soy sauce, rocket).

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Sweet Chili-Ginger Beef Wontons with Soy & Sesame Dipping Sauce

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Prep time: 20-25 mins

the only tough part about making wontons is the folding of the pastry to make it look perfect but please don’t stress yourself, fold them how you feel comfortable because what matters most is the taste as well as the love that went into making the dish. Seal your pastry with egg wash, double check that it’s completely sealed.

Ingredients:
Wonton pastry
Flour and water paste
Oil for deep frying

Filling:
400g Beef, cooked and shredded
1/2 C Pasata
2 tsp Chili, finely chopped
1 tsp Oyster Sauce
1 tsp Honey
1 tsp Ginger, finely chopped
1 Tbs Fresh Mint, chopped

Sauce:
3/4 C Soy Sauce
3 Tbs Honey
1 tsp Harissa Paste
1 Tbs Toasted Sesame Seeds
1 tsp Parsley, finely chopped

Method:
Heat deep frying oil to 160 degrees celsius.
Mix all the filling ingredients together. Place 1 tsp of filling in the center of each wonton pastry. Brush the sides with flour paste.
Make a parcel by squeezing all the sides together to resemble a Chinese hat.
Deep fry the parcels until golden.
In a saucepan, heat the soy sauce, honey and Harissa together and let it cool down.
Stir in the seeds and parsley.
Serve with the wontons.

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Naked Spicy Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

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Serves: 8-10
Prep time: 1hr30 mins

Ingredients:
4C Flour
4 tsp Bicarbonate of Soda
4 tsp Ground Cinnamon
4 tsp Mixed Spice
1 tsp Nutmeg
1 tsp Salt
6 Eggs
1 1/2C Buttermilk
1 1/4C Oil
3C Castor Sugar
2 tsp Vanilla paste/essence
4C Grated Carrots
2C Desiccated Coconut
2C Pistachio Nuts, chopped
2 Cans crushed Pineapple
1 1/2C Raisins

Cream Cheese Frosting:
2C Cream Cheese
1C Softened Butter
2C Icing Sugar
Zest of 1 Orange

Method:
Preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius.
Sift all the dry ingredients together(except fruit, nuts and coconut).
In another bowl mix the buttermilk and oil together. Thoroughly mix the wet and dry ingredients together.
Then mix the rest of the ingredients together and gently fold into the batter.
Spoon into a prepared cake tin. (You may divide into 3 tins to make 3 layers).
Bake for 1 hour or until testing pin comes out clean when inserted.
Cool completely before icing.
For the icing, beat all the ingredients together until light and fluffy.
Lightly ice all the layers together to create a cake sandwich then dirty ice the entire cake. Pipe the rest of the icing on top and garnish with edible flowers bad chocolate.

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Strawberry Mango Smoothie Bowl

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You’ll get to know by the end of this book that we are very simple cooks, easy peezy, lemon squeezy and straight to the point. We don’t spend too much time in the kitchen because we don’t really like waiting long for our meal. This is the perfect smoothie

Ingredients:
1/2 Banana, frozen
1 C Strawberries, frozen
1 Kiwi
1 C Mango, frozen
1/2 C Mixed Berries, frozen
2/2 C Coconut Water

Topping:
Fresh Strawberries, halved
Mangoes, sliced
Kiwis, sliced

Method:
Put all the ingredients together in a blender. B.end till smooth.
Divide into bowls and garnish with toppings.

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Raspberry Coconut Smoothie Bowls

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Serves: 2
Prep time: 5 mins

This is the perfect smoothie for Sunday morning or Sunday evening after the ITIS you’ll be recovering from.

Ingredients:
1 Banana, frozen
2 C Mixed Berries, frozen
2/3 C Coconut Milk

Topping:
1 Tbs Chia Seeds
Fresh Bananas, sliced
Toasted Coconut Flakes
Fresh Raspberries
Chia Seeds

Method:
Hydrate Chia seeds in the coconut milk for about 5 mins.
In a blender, throw all the ingredients in and blend to a smooth consistency.
Divide into 2 bowls and garnish with toppings.

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