Recipes

Overcome by the unexpected dinner-time arrival of the hungry multitudes demanding something warm to fill their bellies? Here’s what you do to provide a splendid combination of fish flavours and pasta, without the need to bait a hook and visit the dam.

Unusually, I’m going to spend most of my five-hundred words converting you to wok science. If you intend stir-frying regularly, get yourself a wok and a gas ring if you don’t have these. A frying pan, with its flat, shallow design, is an awkward substitute. Here is a simple and delicious oyster beef recipe to practise on.

The thing about South-East Asian food is that you find it everywhere in that region, regardless of the country. This recipe, a good basic winter’s meal, lies between a soup and a stew, and has delicious familiar accents such as nam pla (fish sauce), coriander and lime juice.

About a million years ago when I was in Std 7, my parents sent me to my tweetalige oom in Kroonstad to improve my Afrikaans, this being impossible in Durban. The oom in question was a weekend hunter and this is what I remember of his uitstekende marinade for game steak.

Take a break from regular roast fowl with this flavour-packed version of oven-cooked chicken thighs. Your grateful guests will shower you with compliments.

So you’re somewhere in the Bronx and a big deal is going down with your fellow mafiosi. Never mind the details. The big issue is: what are you eating? The serious bets are on spaghetti and meatballs in a highly seasoned tomato sauce. It’s an offer you can’t refuse.

This superb side-dish is a cinch to make. Baked in the oven, it leaves the rest of the kitchen free for whatever delights you are planning to add to the menu. Like an inch-thick sirloin steak per diner, for example. Alternatively, served on its own, it makes a tasty, satisfying light meal for four.

This Durban boykie has chilli, jeera, elachi and high-octane dhania running in his veins. But recently, other elements such as lime juice and fish sauce have begun to enrich his bloodstream. Add these to a rare beef fillet, and Vietnam makes its victorious arrival in the kitchens of our grateful nation.

Tradition says eggs make a breakfast. But what about adding some roasted vegetables? And a freshly made roti in place of toast? The only thing better than tradition is progress, believe me.

An important celebration deserves food that’s a feast for the eye as well as the more usual parts of the body. Apple Tarte Tatin certainly plays its part: it looks superb and tastes like a few slices of heaven.

In one of my other lives, I write a weekly television review. US swamp-related documentaries grab my attention from time to time, and it was from these that I learnt about chicken-fried steak, a delicious Southern-style beef dish. Let’s get cookin’, folks…

This delicious dish is melt-in-the-mouth, and is a superb way to mark any occasion.

I come from an ancient family tradition in which we never ate pork. But when I became a man, I cooked like a man, and pork found a minor but significant role in my diet. Pork belly gets its best attention in the cooking of Asia, specifically the south-east. Here’s a delicious meal that will satisfy a hearty appetite – and, if you choose, set your tongue on fire.

Most of us spend time and effort on making dips, rather than on the dip vehicle, call it what you will. This results in first-class dips smeared on sometimes stale, industrially made dip chips made of 90% salt and 10% very old oil. Here’s the best dip chip in the history of the world.

A banana cake is just like banana bread, only better, and it’s one of the best ways to begin your personal adventure into baking. Not only do you get a brilliant cake in a pretty short time, but the opportunity to modify and enhance the basic recipe is just begging for your good ideas.

Penne pasta is designed to convey the most flavour from plate to mouth. These palate-tempting ingredients allow the flavours to come through rich and strong.

This, fellow kitchen mechanics, is a gazpacho. It is not simply a soup; it is a new way to combine the freshest vegetables and herbs to produce a memorably delicious meal.

Stir frying is the quickest way to make food that will please almost anyone. Here’s a starter recipe using only three main ingredients.

If detective stories set in New York are true, every second NYPD policeman lives on a diet of spaghetti and meatballs. This Italian-influenced American dish is one of the many examples of the internationalisation of food.

‘Vindaye,’ say my Friends Of Mauritian Origin (FOMO), ‘is not just another KZN fish curry.’ I think a Durban fish curry is a marvellous thing, but FOMO disagree. So here is an island take on a great series of tastes and aromas.