Creamy Chicken Salad with Mango and Almonds

As my friends and family in the Northern hemisphere languish in the icy grip of winter, we in Cape Town are enjoying enduring a heat wave. The country is in the strangle hold of the worst drought in 10 decades. People all over South Africa are donating bottles of water to be delivered to the towns were there is just no more water left.

Amazing pictures of truck loads of animal feed being delivered in convoy. While we are a country in distress, it is beautiful to see how people are standing together.

Cooking and eating big hot meals is about as far from my mind as the memory of rain is in Cape Town.

This creamy chicken salad, with mango and almonds was a huge winner - As we always say "Winner Winner Chicken Dinner"!!

Creamy Chicken Salad with Almonds and Mango
Serves 2

4 chicken breasts sliced into 1"chunks
1 Onion sliced
15ml Tomato Paste
10ml Curry powder
80ml Chutney
80ml Mayonnaise
5ml Sugar
20ml Apricot Jam
125ml Plain Yoghurt
10ml Lemon Juice
Salt and Black Pepper
Oil for frying

Salad for Serving
Salad leaves
1 disk Feta Cheese
1 Mango peeled and cut into bite size pieces
40g Toasted Flaked Almonds (I toasted them myself in a dry pan)
Fresh coriander or basil for garnish (optional)

Fry the Chicken in a little oil until turning golden, but not cooked through.
Remove the chicken from the pan and set aside.
Add the onions to the pan and more oil if necessary.
Fry onions until soft.
Add the tomato paste and the curry powder and fry for 1 minute.
Add rest of the ingredients (except the salad ingredients).
Stir the sauce and let it simmer for 5-8 minutes.
Add the chicken and cook until chicken is cooked through.
Check seasoning and adjust.
Turn off the heat and allow to cool.

Place the salad leaves on the plate.
Place the chicken coated in the sauce on the leaves.
I didn't use all the sauce but add as much as you would like to your salad.
Place pieces of mango around the plate.
Sprinkle with feta and almonds.
Top with garnish and black pepper.

Serve and enjoy

Fish Cakes Again

If you have followed my blog for more than a month, you will undoubtedly know that I love fish cakes. I love to make them, I love to eat them and best of all my family love them too.

To actually give you "my fish cake recipe" would be almost impossible. I make them differently each time, depending on what fish I have on hand and what flavours I fancy that day.

One of the wonderful things about fish cakes, is that they taste as good hot on the day you make them as they do cold the next day. You can splash out and use expensive fish like salmon, or go on the cheap and use tinned pilchards - both are equally good in my eyes mouth!

I know many of you will baulk at the idea of using instant mash, but I find it gives great consistency and holds the fish cake together beautifully. You are welcome to use your own real mash, just make sure that it has no lumps, is very dry and is perfectly smooth.

Butter Fish Cakes
Serves 2

150g Butter Fish
4 Cloves of Garlic
1 Big Handfull of Parsley, with stalks (for Steaming)
15ml chopped Fresh Parsley for the fish cakes
50g Instant Mash Potato
Salt and Pepper to taste
Breadcrumbs for rolling the fish cakes before frying
Oil for Frying

In a steamer place the parsely on the base and top with the fish and then the chopped garlic.
Steam the fish until just done.
Reserve the liquid.
Flake the fish in a bowl, together with the as much of the garlic you steamed it with to taste.
Add the chopped parsley, the mash, salt and pepper.
Mix together and add enough of the steaming liquid to get firm but workable mixture.
Place in the fridge or freezer until well chilled.
Shape the fish mixture into patties, roll in breadcrumbs and fry in shallow oil until golden on both sides.

I served my fish cakes with the great home made tartar sauce. I would only suggest you thy this if you have a food processor, as beating mayonnaise by hand is a long and tiring job.

TarTar Sauce

1 Fresh Egg
300- 400ml Sunflower Oil
2 Pickled Gherkins
30-45ml Pickling Juice from the Gherkins
Lemon Juice
Salt and White Pepper
1 Small Onion peeled and roughly chopped

Place the egg in the food processor bowl.
Start the processor on high.
Add about 20ml of gherkin pickling juice.
Add the oil in a very thin stream while the motor is running.
After each 100ml of oil, check the mayonnaise until you have the correct consistency.
Once your mayonnaise is thick and creamy, add the salt and pepper to taste.
Add the gherkins and the onion and whizz until smooth.

Check the taste, you might need to add more pickling juice or lemon juice to help even out the taste.


Store in the fridge for 3-4 days.

My Easy Cooking - Homemade Heaven Thai

I have been blogging for the last 2 years and 11 months (yes I'm counting) and it's been a journey of pleasure and learning. 

The first pleasure is when things go all my way, the lighting is perfect, the food is styled to look like it wants to jump off your screen and into your mouth and the story along with the recipe is not only grammatically correct, but well written.

The most lasting pleasure is the friends I have made. One of the first blog friends I made was Nina, from My Easy Cooking.  Nina is a blogger extraodinaire and I have blogged about her cooking, photographic and styling talents on many occasions. Nina can make a cheese and Marmite sandwich look so good, you'll offer your first born for a bite.

Other great thing about blogging are the "events". You get to make something, post about it and sometimes the organiser will offer prizes. Enter left stage Nina...with this challenge.

Click here for more details

What an incredible opportunity for me to get Keith out of his comfort zone (cheese and bread), spoil him with some fresh Thai inspired spring rolls for lunch.

Thai Inspired Spring Rolls

Rice Paper Spring Roll Wrappers (Soaked in warm water until pliable)
Carrot cut into julienne
Spring onions chopped fine
Rice Vermicelli Noodles cooked as per packet instructions
Avocardo cut into thin strips

Lay the pliable wrapper on a flat surface.
Place a little of the other ingredients in the middle of the wrapper.
Fold the wrapper in half.
Fold in the outer edges.
Roll the entire roll tightly into spring roll.

Thai Dipping Sauce

Freshly squeezed Lime Juice (SOUR)
Fish Sauce (SALTY)
Fresh Chopped Chilli (HOT)
Palm Sugar (SWEET)
Fresh Garlic Cloves
Fresh Chopped and Peeled Ginger

Starting with  half a  fresh chilli, 2 cloves of garlic, 1" piece ginger and 10ml of palm sugar - pound together.
Add the juice of 1 lime, 15ml of Fish Sauce and mix together.
Taste - adjust the first 4 ingredients until you have a flavour combination and quantity to suit your taste and needs.
Serve with the spring rolls.

This Little Piggy went to Market

In a life filled with work, family and more distractions than a fairground, being continually inspired to make fantastically delicious meals, which are styled to perfection is hard going.

I read a lot of magazines with advice on everything from "being more appreciated at work" to "keeping you brows shaped" - none of which help me at all when I am roaming the supermarket last thing Tuesday afternoon, together with 100 other women, frantically looking for something other than mince or box fish to cook for dinner.

I really admire those super women out there who manage to create a weekly menu (and shopping list) and  stick to it. I have tried it before and it really works but I  have the self discipline of heroin addict when it comes to sticking to lists. This being the case, I  often find myself in supermarkets searching for inspiration in the chocolate aisle!

Yesterday I found my self in this situation, but before I got to the chocolate aisle, I found a reasonably priced piece of roast pork belly and impulsively took it, thinking perhaps I could create a Chinese roast pork dish I've been thinking about and putting off for almost year.

Roast Pork Belly with Sweet and Sour Sauce

Crispy Roast Pork Belly

1 Pork Belly
4" Piece of Ginger cut roughly
2 Star Anise
1 teaspoon Whole Black Pepper corns

Boil the above in a large pot for about 20-30 minutes, depending on the size.
The meat should be cooked about 80% through.
Remove from the water, and leave to cool and dry out.
Score the fat diagonally in two directions.

Basting for the Belly

2 Green Chillies
2 teaspoons of Sugar
2 teaspoons of Sea Salt
3 Garlic Cloves

Preheat your oven to 220ºC
Pound the above into a smooth paste.
Run the paste into the flesh of the belly, avoiding getting any on the fat side.
Turn over and rub the fat side well with salt only.
Roast for about 20-30 minutes until the meat is cooked and the fat is crispy crackling.
Leave to rest for 5 minutes before serving with stir fry noodles and sweet and sour sauce.

Sweet and Sour Sauce

1 Cup Rice or Apple Cider Vinegar
1½ Cups of Sugar
2" Piece of Ginger, peeled and cut into fine dice
1 Green chilli left whole
½ teaspoon of Sea Salt
50g Tomato Paste
1 Star Anise (optional)
½ Red Pepper (seeded) sliced into thin strips

Boil the above at a simmer for about 1 hour, until reduced and thickened.
Take out the chilli and serve hot.

Fools Gold - All that glisters is not gold

When I was about 8 or 9 years old, I acquired a piece of "fools gold", which is actually iron pyrite. I was so excited; I had a real lump of gold! I proudly presented my treasure to my folks and it was then I learned the lesson: "All that glisters is not gold"!

South Africa is a country that has rich gold reserves, so I wasn't so far off the mark in thinking I had the real thing.

The first European prospectors found alluvial gold in Limpopo Province (South Africa's most Northerly province) between 1840 and 1870, but the first major gold rush only started in February 1873, at Pilgrims Rest, which is in Mpumalanga further to the East.

Legend has it that when Alex "Wheelbarrow" Patterson discovered his major strike, he shouted "Now at last, a pilgrim can rest!", within a year 1500 prospectors were there, having staked 4000 claims.

By 1898, the gold production was in the Witwatersrand (which stretches from Johannesburg to Welkom), part of the Zuid Afrikaanse Republiek and had exceeded the entire production of the United States of America! It was this discovery which led to the city of Johannesburg, which is aptly named by the locals as "Egoli" (The City of Gold). Within 10 years of finding gold in Johannesburg, the city had already grown larger than Cape Town, which was more than 200 years older.

It was only in 2007 that South Africa was surpassed by China as the world largest gold producer. It is estimated that 40% of the world's gold reserves are held here. The Witwatersrand basin, has produced more than 41 000 t of gold and remains the greatest unmined source of gold in the world. As of 2009, the deepest mine in the world is TauTona (Great Lion) in Carletonville, South Africa at 3.9 kilometers deep (2.4 miles).

The first claim (with the then government of the ZAR) was registered by an Australian, George Harrison. He sold his claim for £10 and was never heard of again. It is thought that he was forced to sell and leave the country, and then killed before he got home!

The Witwatersrand Gold Rush was a major contributing factor to the Jamison Raid and the outbreak of the Second Boer War. This war lasted from 1899 -1902, and it saw the introduction of the Scorched Earth policy.

This policy is where everything that might be useful to the enemy is destroyed by fire. The British systematically destroyed crops, burned homesteads and farms and poisoned wells. The Boer women and children were imprisoned in concentration camps, instituted by Lord Kitchener. Over 26,000 women and children were to perish in these concentration camps.

Towards the end of the war, British tactics of containment, denial and harassment began to yield results against the Boers and made it harder and harder for the Boers and their families to survive.

By May 1902, to prevent further bloodshed, the last of the Boer troops surrendered, mourning the deaths of mainly women and children who died in British internment camps. The independent Boer republic of the Transvaal was no more - the region became part of the British Empire . In 1910 the Transvaal became a province of the newly created Union of South Africa, a British Dominion. The war ended with the Treaty of Vereeniging signed on 31 May 1902.

The gold in South Africa was a prize far too tempting to the British Empire, and so the South Africans lost their independence and some would only regain it again in again in 1934. It would be another 60 years, almost to the day, before all South Africans could participate in a democratic general election.

So, back to the Fools Gold and Homemade Heaven Kitchen.

I didn't manage to manufacture gold bars (or Fools Gold) in my kitchen, that would be Alchemy, an ancient practice focused on the attempt to change base metals into gold. But I did make a pretty good cheats mayonnaise, which is worth more than a wheelbarrow of Fools Gold. And judging from the heartache that came from the discovery of gold in our country's history, I think I'll stick to making mayonnaise.


Quick and Easy Homemade Mayo
With a Stick blender

1 Egg (fresh as possible)
Juice of Half a Lemon
Salt
White Pepper
½ Teaspoon Mustard (I like English)
± 125ml Sunflower Oil

Place the first 5 ingredients in a jug (I use the plastic jug that came with my stick blender)
Place the stick blender in the jug and start whizzing.
Pour in enough oil until you have the consistency you wish.
Using a stick blender means you don't have to pour the oil in drop by drop, you can add it quite fast.
Check the seasoning, and serve.
Keep refrigerated and use within 2/3 days.

If you Can's Stand the Heat....

If you can't stand the heat, add less chili!

I have great admiration for the people who write newspaper headlines and billboards. I never buy a newspaper, and have absolutely no interest in reading or watching the news. I have enough news about my life and the people I know to keep me busy. If there is something of interest, I usually pick up a snippet from Keith. Otherwise I am a total ignoramus!

Billboards on the other hand, I always read. I drive down Main Road slowly, due to the traffic, and catch all the juicy bits. I can then decide for myself exactly what the story is about!

Some priceless ones after the Tiger Woods debacle: " More babes in the Woods" and " Tiger : Birdie count up to 11!" - You really didn't need more than that to know exactly how his life was unfolding.

When I came up with my heading / billboard for this post, I was very proud of myself. It has a 2 fold meaning, which makes it twice as clever! Firstly we had a blisteringly hot weekend in Cape Town and secondly I was in the kitchen all weekend cooking with chillies.

I firstly made Mild Red Pepper Jelly. Great recipe from Brownie, as always. Mild tasting and suitable even for children.


I then upped the ante, and moved on to Chili Jam. Not that hot (by my standards), but leaves you with a warm glow and pleasant sweetness.

Lastly I made Peri Peri sauce. A wonderful mixture for those who can stand the heat, but still appreciate god taste and not just good burn. Made with roasted red pepper and long hot red chili blized together with lemon juice, olive oil, garlic and salt.


Here is the Chilli Jam (adapted from Nigella's recipe)

200g Long Red Chillies (de-seeded and de-vaned)
150g Sweet Red Peppers (de-seeded)
2 inch Knob of Ginger (peeled and cut into 3)
3 Garlic cloves (Peeled and slightly bruised)
250ml Apple cider Vinegar
350ml Red Wine Vinegar
1kg Jam Sugar (available at any good supermarket)

1.	Sterilize your jars and keep hot.
2.	Put the chillies into a food processor and pulse until they are finely chopped. Add the chunks of red pepper and pulse again until you have a vibrantly red-flecked processor bowl.
3.	Dissolve the sugar in the vinegar in a wide, medium-sized pan over a low heat without stirring.
4.	Scrape the chilli-pepper mixture out of the bowl and add to the pan. Bring the pan to the boil, then leave it at a rollicking boil for about 10 minutes, until setting point is reached (105°C).
5.	Take the pan off the heat and allow it cool.
6.	After about 40 minutes, or once the red flecks are more or less evenly dispersed in the jelly (as the liquid firms up, the hints of chilli and pepper start being suspended in it rather than floating on it), ladle into your jars. Seal tightly. If you don't wait for it to cool before bottling, the chillies will float in the jelly, which will not effect the taste, but the presentation.

Silver and Red

Yesterday I was catching up on food blogs and reading how the girls (and boys) in the Northern hemisphere are enjoying their summer. It's amazing how only a few short months ago I was complaining about how hot it was and crying for a respite. Now I'm sitting under my blankets and my fingers are blue with cold. How difficult I am to please!

All the dreaming about summer, got me thinking back to a summer camp I attended as a teenager. It was in the middle of summer, in one of the hottest areas in South Africa - Beaufort East, on the banks of the Orange River. Every day the temperature would rise well into the late 40's (°C). It was wonderful, we would go swimming in the river and then laze around all afternoon.

The one session I remember was the "Colour me Beautiful" course. We took all our clothes and the instructors showed us which combinations of colours best suited our complexion. I was told to wear red and silver, which in the 80's was not what I wanted to hear- we were into bright pink and dark purple (wore together). Lucky for me, I out grew my purple dungeree's and BIG shoulder padded pink shirt, with matching pink shoes and belt!

So, what exactly did I learn? Silver and red are a great combination when you talking grilled Silvers and Red pepper sauce, which is exactly what I made for supper last night.


For the fish I took Silvers fillets and brushed them with olive oil, dusted with Jenny Morris Zesty Fish spice and rubbed in some peri-peri sauce. I then grilled them for 15 minutes under a hot grill until just done.

The sauce is very easy. Take one red pepper and roast until the skin is starting to blacken. Place the peppers in a plastic bag for 5 mintues and then rub the skin off. In a blender, place the peppers, the juice of half a lemon, 1 garlic clove, ½ teaspoon of Jenny Morris Chilli and Lime Spice and a little olive oil - blend until smooth and creamy. Serve the fish with char-grilled pak choi (with black sesame seeds) and roasted potatoes - That is a real "Colour me beautiful" plate of food.

Addiciton to Food

When I hear the word addiction I always have a negative mind picture. It can be anything from a heroin addict lying in an alley, to a designer label, over their head in debt yuppie, addicted to spending. But I never think of a thirty-something (more something than thirty) mother and wife spending her life looking for recipes!

I guess it is always easier to see the faults in others and ignore the fact that you have 4 very large over-filled files, 100's foodie magazines (growing monthly), six bookshelves filled with cook books and the food channel running 24/7 - all in the hope that you'll find "just one more perfect recipe"! I even get at least 5 daily recipes emailed to me from various sites, as well as the countless hours spent visiting blogs.

But sometimes you can actually find "the one." You will have all the ingredients and the time - this is my drug of choice!

Yesterday, while reading another cookbook and watching the Food Network (at the same time), I heard them say "Spiced Rubbed Pork Fillet"! They were speaking my language, a secret code that only foodies understand. I quickly grabbed my pen and started writing down the ingredients - and would you believe it - I had everything on the list. So I rushed into the kitchen and produced "The One"!

James Tanner's Spiced Rubbed Pork Fillet - This is a perfect summer dish.

I also made the "Romesco Sauce", but I'll give you my version - "Rose- esco Sauce".

2 Red Peppers - Cut and quartered, seeds removed
1 Onion (I used a plain white one) - peeled and quartered
4 Fresh Green Chillies - remove the stem
2 Large red Tomatoes - Stem removed and quartered
10 -15ml Dried Red Chilli
5 -7ml Smoked Salt
60ml Toasted ground Amonds
Olive Oil
10-15ml Apple Cider Vinegar

Put all the vegetables in a roasting pan, with the smoked salt and a little olive oil and roast for 60 minutes at 140°C.
Place all the ingredients in the blender, together with the almonds and the vinegar.
While the machine is running add a little olive oil (about 15 -30ml) to form a creamy sauce.
Check the seasoning and adjust to taste.

This is a great sauce for any meat and will work especially well for braai (BBQ) meat.

Sword Fighting

When ever I feel like treating myself to excellent service I visit my fishmonger! Yesterday, not only did I feel like being treated like a princess, but I was also craving fish, something gamey with a nice salty sauce!

As I arrived, the sign outside showed I was in the right place - Marlin and Swordfish, both on special and I love specials!

I settled on the swordfish (my favourite), as well as some monkfish for another day.

The sword fish needs very little advance preparation. I simply marinated it for 20 minutes in lemon juice, Jenny Morris Chilli and Lime (you can use plain chilli pepper if this is not available) and a little olive oil.
I then heated my griddle pan until smoking, cooked the one side for about 3 minutes, turned the fish and switched off the heat and then left it for another 4 minutes. It is very important not to over cook fish - you want it soft and juicy. I served it hot on a bed of grilled courgettes.

The green sauce is super easy and very good with fish. The qualities are a little vague, you will need to adjust to your personal taste.

Green Sauce

5-8 Green Olives (pitted)
3-4 Anchovy fillets
15 -20ml Sliced Jalapeño chillies (the ones that are pickled in a jar)
Juice and Zest of 1 Lemon

Pound all the ingredients together, taste and adjust to your liking.
Serve with fish.

Summer Heaven

I love this time of year! Everyone is still relaxed after the holidays, school hasn't started so the traffic is minimal and the weather is absolutely gorgeous. I can't wait to get out of bed in the morning to start enjoying the day - okay maybe that's a little exaggerated, but you get the idea.

After playing it safe with the bolognese yesterday, I decided to venture into the wide side and try my hand at crab claws!

I love crab, even though it can feel like you going 10 rounds with Oscar de la Hoya to get the good bits, the rewards are high when you have that soft sweet flesh melt in your mouth. I'm drooling just thinking about it.

I prepared them very simply - boiled until just done (I do the shelling for my family) and then serve it with my favourite Secret Seafood Sauce.

(No longer my) Secret Seafood Sauce.

½ Cup good quality Mayonnaise (or make your own like I did)
30ml Tomato Sauce (Ketchup)
½ teaspoon Smoked Paprika (please buy the best quality you can find)
1 or 2 Green chillies finely Chopped
Squeeze of Lemon juice

Mix all the ingredients together and adjust seasoning to taste - more chilli, lemon or paprika.
Leave to rest in the fridge for about an hour before serving.

This is a great accompaniment to any seafood - and is especially good in a prawn cocktail.

I had mayonnaise left over, so I made some potato salad - sinfully good when made with home made mayonnaise.

Peri Peri Easy

The presenters on the radio were discussing, when do you start feeling the holiday fever? Things like Boney M, Christmas lights and peaches were mentioned. This got me thinking, what makes me start getting the feeling? The answer was relatively simple - my Dad's birthday.

Before Dad's birthday, the Christmas decorations and carols (which appear in October), really don't mean anything to me. I have however, already started thinking about presents (my wish list is at 2 pages and counting).

This year I plan to give more home made cheer than usual. So much is lost over Christmas, the meaning and the love, that giving things which have taken lots of time, rather than lots of money, seems to make more sense.

In preparation for these gifts, I have started experimenting with things which I can include as treasures for those whom I love (and like).

This fresh peri-peri sauce is better than any shop bought one I have tried (and I have tried plenty) and it lasts in the fridge for at least 2 weeks. It is great to take along as a hostess gift, especially if they braai (BBQ) often, and who doesn't in this great weather?


Peri Peri Easy Sauce

20 Red Thai Chillies (Roasted for 15 mins)
3 Garlic Cloves (poached for 5 mins)
Salt ( I used smoked salt which added a lovely smoky flavour)
Juice of 1 Lemon
Olive Oil

In the food processor place the chillies, garlic, salt and lemon juice and process.
While the machine is running, slowly start adding the olive oil, until you have the desired consistency.
Great served with chicken, fish, roasted vegetables, beef or just about anything.
It also makes a good marinade.