Ingredients:
- 10 egg whites
- 2 tsp cornstarch
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1cup (175g) (prawns) or peeled shrimps
- vegetable oil for deep-frying
- 1/4 tsp MSG (optional)
- 1/4 cup (50g) ground cooked chicken
- 2 tbsp chopped chives
Directions:
- Beat 1 egg white, the cornstarch and salt together until they form a smooth batter.
- Put the prawns (shrimps) in the batter and gently toss to coat thoroughly.
- Fill a large saucepan one-third full with oil and heat until it is very hot.
- Arrange the prawns (shrimps) in a deep-frying basket and carefully lower into the oil.
- Fry for 1 minute.
- Remove from the oil and drain on kitchen towels.
- Set aside.
- Beat the remaining egg whites with the MSG.
- Pile half the egg whites on to a dish.
- Lay the prawns (shrimps) on top and, using a spatula, gently spread the remaining egg whites over the top.
- Carefully title the pan over the saucepan containing the oil and gently slide it into the oil.
- Fry for 3 minutes basting the top with oil if it is not fully covered.
- Remove the pan from the heat and, using a fish slice or spatula, remove from the oil and drain on kitchen towels.
- Transfer the mixture to a warmed serving dish and sprinkle over the chicken and chives.
- Serve at once.
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Ingredients:
- 1 1/4 lb large shrimp in shell (21 to 25 per lb), peeled and deveined
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
- 1 (14- to 15-oz) can diced tomatoes including juice
- 1 medium onion, finely chopped
- 1 green bell pepper, finely chopped
- 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1/2 teaspoon cayenne
- 5 tablespoons coarsely chopped fresh cilantro
- 1 cup well-stirred canned unsweetened coconut milk
- 1 tablespoon dendê (palm) oil
Accompaniment: cooked white rice
Directions:
- Toss shrimp with black pepper, 1/2 teaspoon salt, garlic, and lemon juice and marinate, covered and chilled, 20 minutes.
- Purée tomatoes with juice in a blender until smooth.
- Cook onion and bell pepper in olive oil in a 12-inch heavy skillet over moderately low heat, stirring, until softened, 8 to 10 minutes.
- Add cayenne, 1 tablespoon cilantro, and remaining teaspoon salt and cook, stirring, 1 minute.
- Add tomato purée and simmer briskly, stirring, until mixture is very thick, about 15 minutes.
- Stir in coconut milk and bring to a boil, then add shrimp mixture and cook, stirring, until shrimp are just cooked through, about 3 to 5 minutes.
- Stir in dendê oil and remaining 4 tablespoons cilantro and season with salt and pepper.
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Ingredients:
- 1 onion (medium), finely chopped
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
- 2 clove garlic, minced
- 1 lb round steak, cut into small cubes
- 2 Tbsp margarine or butter
- 1/4 cup flour
- 1 cup dry red wine
- 2 cups brewed coffee
- 1/2 tsp oregano, chopped
- 1/2 tsp rosemary, chopped
- 6 mushrooms (medium), quartered
- 2 carrots (medium), cut into thin rounds
- black pepper
Directions:
- Saute the onion in the olive oil over medium heat in a Dutch oven or a large sauce pan until they are soft but not brown (about 10 minutes).
- Add the garlic and cook for about 30 seconds.
- Remove and reserve.
- Raise the heat to medium-high and brown the beef cubes.
- Season with black pepper. Save with the onion and garlic.
- Lower the heat to medium and melt the margarine or butter in the pot and stir in the flour until it is well blended.
- Do not let it burn.
- Add the wine, coffee and herbs and stir with a whisk until it slightly thickens and is well mixed.
- Return the meat and onions to the pot and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 35 minutes.
- Add the mushrooms and carrots.
- Simmer 35 minutes longer.
- Serve with rice or noodles.
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Ingredients:
- 3 pounds beef chuck, cut into 1-inch cubes
- 4 tablespoons olive oil
- 6 large tomatoes, cut into wedges
- 1 large yellow onion, chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tablespoons fresh ginger, grated
- 1 can (12-ounce size) unsweetened coconut milk
- 1 tablespoon dried oregano
- 1 tablespoon red pepper flakes
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon pepper
- 1 can (9-ounce size) black beans, drained and rinsed
- 1/3 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
Directions:
- In a large cast iron skillet over medium-high heat, brown beef.
- Reduce heat to medium, and add the tomatoes, onion, garlic and ginger.
- Stir well.
- Stir in the coconut milk.
- Sprinkle with oregano, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper.
- When mixture comes to a boil, reduce heat to medium-low.
- Cover and simmer, stirring occasionally, until beef is tender, around 1 1/2 hours.
- Stir in beans, cooking for an additional 15 minutes.
- Taste and adjust seasonings.
- Stir in cilantro.
- You can plate this dish over egg noodles or rice, or serve it in a bowl with warm corn tortillas used as scoops.
Yield: 6 servings
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Ingredients:
- 14 ounces frozen puff pastry (or 14 oz flaky pastry, which is about 400 g)
- 1 whole chicken, 4 1/2 lbs (about 2.3 kg, do not use breasts only, see directions)
- 3 cups water (750 ml)
- 3 tablespoons instant chicken bouillon granules (45 ml)
- 1/3 cup sago (100 ml)
- 3 tablespoons flour (45 ml)
- 1 tablespoon garlic and herb seasoning, dried (or similar seasoning, 15 ml)
- 2 fresh garlic cloves, crushed and chopped
- 2 teaspoons fresh coarse ground black pepper (10 ml)
- 1 1/2 teaspoons ground nutmeg, fresh (7 ml)
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves (3 ml)
- 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (juice of 1/2 lemon, 45 ml, or use lime juice)
- 1 teaspoon of any seasoning salt, to taste (or ordinary salt, 5ml)
- 1 tablespoon fresh thyme leave (or 2 teaspoons dried)
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary (or use 2 teaspoons dried)
- 2 eggs
- 4 ounces good quality sliced ham (120 g)
Directions:
- About the chicken: it's hard to get a chicken larger than 3 lbs. Buy a nice chubby chicken, and make up the shortfall with a pack of chicken pieces. We prefer the brown meat, which is more flavourful than breasts).
- Defrost the pastry in the fridge or at room temperature, but make sure it stays cool. If you made My Gran's Sour Cream Pastry, keep in plastic wrap in fridge until needed.
- Use a large pot, like a soup pot. Add the water, and then the whole chicken, any extra fat removed. Add giblets as well, if available.
- Sprinkle over the stock powder or granules: please note that you use the stock powder itself, not a mix made with water!
- Put on lid. Bring to boil, turn down heat, keep lid on, and boil chicken gently until almost tender, about 45 minutes.
- Then soak the sago granules in a little warm water -- they swell a little -- and add, stirring it into the water around the chicken.
- Simmer with lid on until chicken flesh almost falls from bones, and the sago has turned into translucent little pearls.
- Take chicken out of the sauce and leave in a dish to cool down. Leave the sauce in the pot, but give the bottom a good scrape to loosen the bits that stick. Bits of meat can stay in the sauce, just lift out any bones with a slotted spoon: the wing tips often fall off into the sauce.
- When the chicken and sauce have both cooled down enough, take all the bones from the chicken, and cut up the meat. This is a messy job, but be careful to remove all small bones. Use ALL meat and skin. Don't cut up meat too finely -- bite-sized. Rub soft meat and skin off carcass and wings so you use it all.
- Then, with a slotted spoon, remove remaining meaty bits from the sauce in the pot, and add all edibles to the chicken meat, discarding small bones. Don't worry about the sauce in the pot: it will still have bits in it.
- Add the flour to the sauce, and whisk in smoothly. A wire whisk usually does the job with no lumps remaining. Add all the flavourings to the sauce, and taste the result -- chickens differ, flavourings differ. Adjust to your taste. Be especially careful not to oversalt, so taste before you add the salt. (Some chicken stock powders are salty, others not).
- Beat the eggs in a bowl, and add to the sauce.
- Now add the chopped chicken to the pot again. Stir through with wooden spoon. Taste again: you might want more seasoning at this stage, and you can also add a touch of chilli, if you like.
- Set oven at 220 deg C (425 deg F).
- On a floured board, roll pastry out thinner (if necessary) and to fit the top of your dish. Beat an extra egg in a small bowl.
- Using a suitable oven dish, scrape the chicken with its sauce into the dish.
- Slice up the ham, and scatter over the top. This filling should come up to within 1 1/2 inch, or 3 cm from the top of the dish.
- Paint the edges of the dish with beaten egg to help the pastry stick, then cover loosely with the puff pastry. Do NOT stretch: leave a bit of slack, as the pastry will shrink as it bakes. Press the edges neatly with your fingers all around the dish, then cut off excess pastry with scissors or a sharp knife.
- Brush the pastry with the extra beaten egg. Put into the hot oven. After 15 minutes, turn heat down to 180 deg C (350 deg F) and bake for about 1 hour or until pastry is puffed up and golden, and you can see the filling sizzling underneath (if using a glass dish).
- Suggested side dishes: South African Yellow Rice or roast potatoes, steamed green beans, sweet potatoes, and a tomato salad.
- Although the recipe sounds long, it's really worth making and it's a favourite with every age group.
Prep Time: 1 hr
Total Time: 2 hrs
Yield: 6-8 Servings
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Ingredients:
- 2 chickens, 1.5 kg each, cut into portions
- 375 ml oil
- 12 medium onions, finely chopped
- 12 medium potatoes cubed
- 600 g rice
- 250 ml red lentils
- 15 ml ground coriander
- 5 ml saffron
- 2 sticks cinnamon
- 4 bay leaves
- 10 cardamom seeds
- 5 ml cumin seeds
- 15 ml turmeric
- 15 ml chopped chillies
- 3 tomatoes, skinned and coarsely chopped
- 125 ml lemon juice
- 10 ml salt
- black peppercorns
- 8 cloves garlic
- 500 ml plain yogurt
- 2 pieces fresh root ginger, crushed
- 8 hard-boiled eggs, shelled and thinly sliced
Directions:
- Heat oil in a frying pan and brown onions. Remove and set aside.
- Add potatoes to pan and sauté until lightly browned. Remove, drain on absorbent paper and set aside.
- Cook rice in salted boiling water until almost tender but still firm.
- Boil lentils for a few minutes in salted water, then drain.
- Combine rice, lentils and a quarter fried onions.
- Rub salt into chicken pieces and place in a large mixing bowl.
- Combine coriander, saffron, cinnamon, bay leaves, cardamom seeds, cumin seeds, turmeric, chillies, tomatoes, lemon juice, salt, peppercorns, remaining fried onion, garlic, yoghurt and ginger in a bowl. Pour over chicken and leave for 30 minutes.
- Invert a heavy dinner plate in a large saucepan to cover bottom completely.
- Arrange ingredients on top of plate as follows
- half browned potatoes, sprinkled with 5 ml oil
- chicken and marinade
- hard-boiled eggs
- rice and lentils
- remaining potatoes
- rest of oil sprinkled over contents.
- Close tightly and simmer, without stirring, for 1½ hours.
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Ingredients:
- 8 lbs fish, firm-fleshed, weighed after filleting and frying
- 8 onions, very large, sliced thinly
- Cooking Oil
- 4 tbsp. curry powder
- 8 tbsp. cups vinegar
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 2-3 hot peppers, fresh, sliced open
- 1 tbsp. salt
- 1 tbsp. black peppercorns
- 4-6 tbsp. apricot preserves
Directions:
- First fry the fish in a large pan or skillet in the oil or lard, without seasoning.
- Remove fish to cool, but leave the pan on the stove.
- Fry the onions, stirring, in the same pan, without browning them.
- Add more oil/butter/lard if necessary.
- Remove onions with a slotted spoon to a bowl to cool. Add all the remaining ingredients.
- Decide how hot you'd like it: those hot peppers, or chillies, went into the mixture seeds and all!
- Leave them out if you like.
- Mix well and boil furiously for 6 minutes.
- Allow the mixture to cool.
- Using a deep dish OR clean canning jars, put some of the liquid in the bottom.
- Place a layer of fried fish on the sauce, and cover with more sauce and a layer of onions.
- Repeat layers until used up, trying to finish with a layer of onions.
- Cover and leave in fridge for 2 - 3 days before tasting.
- If in jars, close the jars tightly.
- Believe me -- in days of old this fish was not refrigerated. It can be kept for a long, long time, and therefore travels well!
- Some cooks added lemon or orange leaves to the final layering for a delicate extra flavour.
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