Recipes

This over-the-top piece of Euro-cuisine has a lot going for it. Firstly, lots of flavours. Secondly, lots of colour. Thirdly, its surprisingly easy to cook. Finally, its a dinner party on one platter. No additions necessary, apart from a crisp, white wine.

Call it what you will, this meatball veld fire with its powerful Indian flavours will bring tears of homesickness to the eyes of KZN citizens exiled elsewhere in this great Republic of ours. Here is great flavour, character-building chilli heat, and an easy cooking all-in-one splendid recipe.

Apple pie is the beginning of all fruit-based pies. American songs and movies are full of it. So here, in partial salute to apple pie, we have an apple tart, a tart being a pie without a lid. The pastry is a cinch and the caramelised sugar a new skill just waiting to be mastered.

They say travel broadens the mind. My travels tend to broaden my waistline, which is how I discovered my first tabouleh in Hong Kong (quite a distance from Lebanon!). There are many tabouleh recipes, but none have tasted as good as that first dish...until I got this recipe.

The magic word here is ‘crustless’ – it promises the beginner cook the capacity to make a killer quiche that will knock the socks off their guests. Quick, tasty and good for you, this dish is a meal on its own for some, and a stunning side dish for my fellow carnivores.

For some people, this writer among them, a meal without chilli or a chilled litre of Tobasco is a tedious and cheerless thing. So here’s another salute to chilli and Africa’s meat of choice, in glorious combination with coconut and crisp papadums.

For first-timers, this over-the-top ultra-spicy Sichuan-influenced meal can be a challenge. Most of the strong flavours are unfamiliar, the colour of the sauce is a deep magenta, and one of the key ingredients – tofu – is not part of the South African diet. But man, the taste! The aroma! The astonishing look of it all on the plate! But enough with the foodie raving. Let’s get that wok smoking.

Some call this dessert millefeuille but I never cook anything I can’t pronounce. But custard slices? There’s a joyous childhood memory! Try this classic version, culled from some good friends’ personal cookbooks.

Cilantro, coriander, dhania: only the name is different. Here is a fragrant soup loaded with flavour, that’s easy to prepare and even easier to drink. Make this colourful dish an integral part of your next dinner party.

It’s seems that Baron Stroganoff, inventor of this recipe, was a real person and not some fairy tale Russian chef. But something tells me that this version is even better than anything the late baron ever cooked in his castle’s kitchen.

Every so often my adult children demand gnocchi for dinner. “Not again!” I say, and then I actually make the stuff and wonder why I ever object. The taste, the texture, the look of the little devils: it’s impossible not to love gnocchi. As a vehicle for strong flavours, gnocchi can’t be beaten.

With a power failure without end at my sister-in-law’s Drakensberg timeshare, we had to take a meal with us from Durban that could be easily reheated over a camping stove. The answer, which was a long time coming, was fish head soup. And the result was truly a moveable feast.