My First South African Recipe: Sean's Bobotie

What happens when people who were your boyfriends family suddenly become yours? Something definitely, definitely happened to me. It's not quite like suddenly you're happy to lie on a couch in your pyjamas with them, but this gorgeous familial affection definitely takes root inside of you.

I don't know if Ralph felt the same way about my family, but there was definitely something tangible that changed in my relationship with his family the day we got married. Even though we had technically been family for years, together on Christmas, birthdays and visits, now we're solidly so.

One of the family members I gained that wonderful day was Sean, my brother in law. I don't know if he knew quite what this gift of a simple recipe would end up meaning to me. I made this one evening while waiting for Ralph to get home. When he did the first thing he said was "I was hoping that smell was coming from here". Could I ask for more?

Bobotie

From Sean, copied almost directly

25ml olive oil

12.5ml butter

2 medium onions, chopped

2 garlic gloves, chopped

1kg beef mince

2 tblsp medium curry powder

10ml turmeric

25ml smooth apricot jam

3 slices white bread

3 eggs

375ml milk

2 eggs

180 ml milk

1) Preheat the oven to 180 C.

2) Melt the butter in the oil in a deep pan.

3) Fry the onion until translucent, then add the garlic and fry for a couple of minutes.

4) Add the mince, and brown nicely. 

5) Add salt, pepper, curry powder and turmeric. (Add a bit less curry powder if you don't like hot food)

6) Soak bread in water, squeeze out and crumble (more like mashing.)

7) Beat the eggs and milk together, and add, together with the bread and jam, to the mince. Stir thoroughly.

8) Pour into a greased baking dish.

9) Bake for 30 minutes.

10) Whisk together eggs and milk for "custard" topping. Pour over mince.

11) Bake for another 30 minutes. Serve with or without rice to hungry loved ones on cold nights.

Mom's Super Moist Silky Chocolate Cake

A few months ago, I went to my friend Joe's wedding. It was the sweetest wedding, and his wife Zeldine looked so amazingly gorgeous and happy it was like an advertisement for marriage! 

Their cake, instead of the usual tall fondant-covered detailed showpiece, was a discreet yet stylish looking cake encircled with sheets of chocolate. My first thought was - bah! I could do that! I was being a complete idiot.

When it was time to cut the cake I was the first in line for a slice, curiosity having gotten the best of me. It was the kind of cake I would buy and guilt eat by myself. It was a tall gooey chocolate cake, layered with chocolate ganache and hazelnuts. It was fireworks, and clouds and dreamy bliss and no more troubles. It was true love.

I swore I would work on replicating this cake until I got it right! I remembered a cake of my mom's from when I was little that I thought might be similar to Joe's one. I finally got her to dig up the recipe for me, and made it just a couple of days later.

What happens here is, you bake a very simple cake, that is quite dry, then soak it with an evaporated milk mixture. The cake soaks it up like a big sponge, and there's just enough to make it super moist without going gooey.

I can't think of a better way to tell someone you love them than this cake. This one is very similar to Joe's cake- no wonder it was chosen for a wedding. You know "falling in love pie" from Waitress? I'm sure that this is the cake version of it..

Chocolate Cake
From My Mom

250 ml (1 cup) cake flour
60 ml (1/4 cup) cocoa powder
250 ml (1 cup) sugar
10 ml (2 tsp) baking powder
1 ml (1/4 tsp) salt
125 ml (1/2 cup) oil
125 ml (1/2 cup) boiling water
4 eggs, separated
5 ml (1 tsp) vanilla extract

1 can (410 g) evaporated milk
125 ml (1/2 cup) sugar
1 tblsp bourbon (or a chocolate, coffee or cream liqueur)(optional)
200 g wholenut chocolate

1) Preheat oven to 180 C. Prepare a 8-9 inch cake tin.

2) Whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking powder and salt.

3) Whisk together the oil, boiling water, egg yolks and vanilla extract in a separate bowl.

4) Add the wet ingredients to dry and mix thoroughly.

5) Beat egg white to stiff peaks. Add one large tablespoon of the egg whites to the egg mixture, and gently stir in with a large metal spoon. Add the rest of the egg whites, and fold them in gently.

6) Bake for about 40 minutes, or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.

7) About 15 minutes before the cake comes out, take 3/4 of the evaporated milk, sugar and bourbon and heat them gently in a small saucepan until the sugar has dissolved.

8) Take the cake out, take it out of the cake tin, place on your serving plate. Gently pour spoonfuls of the evaporated milk mixture on top of the cake, letting it absorb.

9) Heat up the rest of the evaporated milk with the chocolate in the same saucepan until the chocolate is completely melted. Pour over the cake.

Simplest Chicken A La King

Sometimes things are exactly as they seem. Not like low fat cream cheese, or chocolate covered raisins both of which I occasionally eat because, even though I know better, they seem healthy. But sometimes that cake you see in the window really does taste as good as it looks, a book is as good as its cover and that sweet looking girl smiling at you really does become your best friend.

This recipe is like that. One day, I was heading home from work, and even though in general I'm not a fan of onions, mushrooms or peppers, I was craving chicken a la king. So I bought the obvious components, went home, and made an amazing meal. I've since made this multiple times- even without chicken as a pasta sauce. It's so simple, not too unhealthy, and an easy pleaser.

I had a friend, Sarah, over for supper and I wanted to make a nice stewey meal that goes down so well on these cold evenings. This went down really well, so I hope she'll let me feed her again!

Chicken a la King

4 boneless and skinless chicken breasts, cut into pieces

1 onion, chopped

2 green peppers, sliced thinly

250 g white mushrooms, sliced lengthways

60 ml cream

about 1 tsp corn starch

1) Put about 2 tablespoons of olive oil into a pan, and add the chicken pieces. Fry them until they are fully cooked, and browning. Season generously and set aside.

2) Using the same pan, add the onions. Cook until softened.

3) Add the peppers, cook until softened again.

4) Add the mushrooms, cook until reduced and softened.

5) Add the chicken, stir through.

6) Take the pan off the heat momentarily, and add the cream. Cook for a while to absorb the different flavours. Taste and correct seasoning.

7) Take a pinch of corn starch, and sprinkle it gently on top of the dish, stir through and check how think the sauce becomes. If it's not thick enough, repeat.

8) Serve with pasta or with a healthy alternative. Await complements.