Cold Lemon Papaya Soup

Oh, my soul. I asked my dada (cleaning lady, fairy, nanny, cook....) to prepare some peas, rice and chicken for Moo and myself yesterday.

I came back and had the most delicious meal in a LONG time. I was really expecting, boring old peas and rice, with proper fried chicken ( I even tried to tell her, NO MAFUTA (oil) just KIDOGO olive oil (a little bit!)

We were pleasantly surprised when the meal consisted of: cardamom - and might I add perfectly fluffy - brown basmati rice with coconut peas and a Swahili Chicken Curry, with the most exquisite spices. WOW. I should ask her to cook more often!

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So I thought I'd go through one of my many Swahili cookbooks and find this recipe for the peas so that I could share this with you, but alas, nothing. (will have to wait for that!)
So I chose a recipe I found in the "Swahili Kitchen" cookbook written and photographed by Javed Jafferji and Elie Losleben, my mouth just watered when I read through it! Enjoy with a cold glass of white wine on a warm, tropical afternoon....

Cold Lemon Papaya Soup

1 large ripe papaya
1 cup lime or lemon juice
1 cup orange juice
3 cloves of garlic finely chopped
1 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp powdered ginger
1/2 tsp chilli powder (or half a small fresh chilli finely chopped)
Black Pepper and salt
Chopped fresh coriander and croutons to garnish

Mix all the ingredients in a blender until smooth. Chill and serve topped with chopped fresh coriander and croutons!

Happy Cooking!

~desert rose~

Ode-to-Sakkie-se-Potjie

                                     

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Gotta love a potjie!! My inner bush girl is tagging at me in "whale language" - yyyooouuuu neeedddd tttoooo ccccoooookk ooonnnnn aaaa ffiiiiirrreeeee.....

I miss it, oh my soul, I miss the bush. There is nothing like the smell of fire. Even food cooked over an open fire just tastes better for some reason.

I know I've done a recipe of a potjie before, but this one is also a complete winner!!

This is a Chicken & Sweet Potato Potjie

- Grab your bottle of wine (and a glass, it won't look professional if you drink out of the bottle infront of your guests, you need them impress them)

Ingredients:

10 chicken pieces - pan fried in a bit of olive oil, salt, pepper the whole rigmarole
10 baby potatoes - halved
3 big sweet potatoes (the red ones) cut in thick slices
lots of garlic chopped
2 onions chopped roughly
dried apricots

- Splash a swig of olive oil and add a knob of butter in the potjie
- Then pack everything in layers and cook for about 30 - 40  mins......
- Watch that it doesn't burn - pour wine in if you are in doubt, can't go wrong

Sauce:

1 cup chutney - MRS. BALLSSSSSSSS
1/2 cup tomatosauce
4 pieces star anise
2 - 3 tsp sugar
1 tbsp turmeric
1/2 cup Worcestershire sauce
1/2 cup mustard seeds

- Combine all the ingredients in a jug and pour over your potjie which is simmering on the fire.
- Let this simmer for about 10 - 15 mins - DON'T STIR!

Enjoy your wine (and remember season with salt and pepper) and enjoy this lovely dish!


~desert rose~

Starters and Changes

The past year...

From the askari peppered streets of Dar, to the seriously manicured plains of the Serengeti, to the mountains  in the cape, and this evening to looking after a sourdough starter.  I was recently in absolute dire need of bread preparation - sour dough bread in particular.  Finding myself with a bit of time on my hands, I began the long journey of sour dough bread making.  This, it seems, is only for the faint hearted.  Anyone with a bit of gall and guts will get seriously frustrated with the starter (in bread terms - a flour and water mixture that is the living stuff that makes it rise).  They are incredible things, alive and all that.  But they are a bit wussy-like too??  I feel like I have to pussy foot around it - lest the bubbles stop.  And then, after nursing the starter for a few weeks I expect a teeny bit of give back - in the form of a loaf of bread (sorry, I am not asking for a lot here... not quite turning water into wine...).  So for two days, I slog over the dough-making (intensive labour, this part not for the faint hearted) and then leave it to rise.  Only thing is: the bugger doesn't rise!  A tired bubble here and a minute bubble there and thats it.  Nada.  Nothing else.  I turned on the under floor heating for crumbs sakes?!  I'm a little out of love at the moment... and just wonder whether sour dough starters should harden the fuck up???

It's a debate - feel free to disagree (she smiles hoping that few MTM followers will be sour dough bakers).  I will make sure there is more information on the new blog, and so will let you know of the progress (God willing there is some) in the next couple of weeks.

So Hibiscus will be quiet for a while as I hope to open up my own little page somewhere out there, and as always when one something ends it's a certain good time for reflection.  And a glass of wine.

Over and out

xxx

~ hibiscus

How to be Nice & Roast chuck

Its pretty simple, most of the time.  Reflective in the great simplicity of the word - 'nice'.  But sometimes it feels like all you're doing is talking a lot of talk and walking a lot of walk and not reeeeally getting the message through.  Apart from misleading other nice walkers it can fustrate even the most patient of us.
So in order to be straight, I reckon sometimes you have to bend off the little path of nice.  And be straight.  And say it:
"Ah, (straight talk inserted here), thank you".

This is a recipe - which in my mind is straight.  It ain't no chicken in goose down - it just is.  Don't think about it, just cook it.   Although do bear in mind who you cook it for - this is a good dish for friends and Sundays.  And Mondays actually...

Roast Chuck

1 large chicken - about 2kg in weight - the absolute best your money can buy.  Organic, free range, open aired - anything close to having it come straight from your back yard
1 lemon
salt and pepper
drizzle of honey (if you can get your hands on local eg Iringa honey that has a whole lot of florally sugarness - do!!!)

2 carrots, peeled and cut into chunks
2 onions, sliced into wedges
garlic pieces - not peeled


1.  Preheat the oven - 160C.
2.  So take a nice large roasting tin - this bird needs breathing space - and lay down the the onions and carrots.  We'll throw the garlic pieces in later so they don't burn.
3.  Wash and dry the chicken with paper towel - its a little fussy but a dry skin cooked is a crisp skin.   Sit the bird happily on the layer of onions and carrots, and squeeze over the juice of the lemon.  If you like a lemony roast, nows the time to put those lemon halves in the cavity.  Feel free to tie the legs together.
4.  Grind over the pepper and salt, and place in the oven.
5.  Baste the chuck every 30 minutes - there should be lots of juices in the pan.
6.  After 1.5hrs, add the garlic pieces - a handful or so - and drizzle over the honey.
7.  Place the bird back in the oven for another 30 mins - a total cooking time of 2 hours at this temperature.
8.  Remove from the oven and allow to rest for 10 minutes before carving.
9.  Whilst you are waiting, make the gravy by removing the carrots and onions from the pan (if you want to eat them, if not, leave them in for a more robust flavour), then whisking in the flour.
10.  Add enough liquid to the pan to get enough gravy for your bunch, and taste for seasoning.  Whisk for about 5 minutes, then serve.  (In winter I have been known to add a bit of cream to the gravy.  'Alo soldier.)

11.  Frangipani, please test and review recipe. ;)

Right, just off to work hard and be nice.

~ hibiscus

Mooshi Malva Pud

Ayoba to you all!  What has grabbed (and I use the word because I find it difficult to describe it any other way) all of us here in South Africa, from townships to tea parties, is nothing short of a very infectious fever.  The maddening sound of the vuvuzela that you loathe to hate because it's drenched in patriotism, along with everything else - it's a new experience for me, for South Africa, and Africa.  I like it.  I could go as far to say I love it.
Along these lines, I was thinking of a terribly patriotic dish.  The vuvuzela of the kitchen.  Desert rose has covered the bobotie - and a fine cover that was of finger licking deliciousness - so it left me with the thought of sugar.  Something sweet to follow the spiced mincy meal... why it has to be melva...!
If you havent made the bobotie yet - do it, and then make this to follow.

  The always present in SA recipes - apricot jam - (somebody bless the stuff) in the soft, spongey mixture, which is then drowned in butter, cream and sugar.  Happy everyone?

180g sugar
2 eggs
1 tbsp apricot jam
1 tsp bicarb
pinch of salt
15g butter
1 tsp vinegar
100ml milk

For the sauce:
250ml cream
100g butter
150g sugar
100ml water

1.  Beat the eggs and sugar well in a food processor until thick and creamy, add the jam.
2.  Sieve together the flour, bicarb and salt.  Melt the butter and add the vinegar,  Add this butter/vinegar mixture to the milk, and then fold into the egg mixture alternately with the flour.
3.  Pour into an oven proof dish, and cover tightly with foil.
4.  Bake in a hot oven (180C) for 40 minutes.
5.  Melt together ingredients for the sauce and pour over the pudding as it comes out of the oven.
6.  Serve - and yes I'm sorry but you have to - with generous splashes of cream.

~ hibiscus