Recipes

Strangely, chillies are not everybody’s idea of a good time. The veldfire in the mouth is held in low esteem, despite the endorphine lift that so joyously follows. Here we have a curry in which chillies are only an accent, that exalts the battery of spices that thrust this outstanding menu item into the culinary stratosphere.

Also known as spicy buns, these teatime favourites can be enjoyed any time of the year. What makes them so special? Two things: the spicy bite that enlivens every mouthful and the simple delight of baking them yourself. These buns are ready the moment you choose!

Is this not just totally, excessively marvellous in every way? There is literally nothing else your guest will be able to say, except … may I have some more?

Now that eating butter has been decriminalised, all the old favourites are coming back into fashion. Béarnaise is very nearly the best thing you can add to a superb grilled or braaied steak.

Here's our take on the traditional trifle, mixed with the secret ingredient... Amarula Cream. Try this delicious recipe now.

So, you’ve bought a pork fillet. Should you haul out the trusty wok and go for the old sweet-and-sour pork standby? No, my fellow kitchen mechanics, it’s time for something rather different: spicy, slightly Portuguese, and totally marvellous. May I present vindaloo?

Assume you’re planning your favourite classic roast, be it poultry, pork, lamb or beef. The next question is: what should you cook as an accompaniment to equal its grandeur? The answer, fellow kitchen mechanics, is roasted carrots with a dhania-chilli sauce in yoghurt.

One of the enduring charms of Italian cooking is its capacity to provide a basic tune upon which any musician can create a symphony. Add this recipe to your collection of great cooking staples.

To live forever and retain your faculties, including the strength to repeat your high school shot-put record, follow a Mediterranean diet. So say the scientists. Here’s a culturally mixed way to start.

Despite every effort to be careful, most of us burn food from time to time. Here is a rare opportunity to be careless, on purpose. We are actively seeking the burnt, smokey flavour that this spendid Middle Eastern dish provides.

You’re watching a sitcom in which everybody is enjoying a Chinese takeaway out of cartons. You wish you were eating the same food. Here’s what you do.

Tame cooking takes place in the kitchen. Wild cooking you do outside. A classic example of the latter is a braai, which leaves the cook as smoked as a kipper and with singed eyebrows. A lesser-known example is deep frying, in which meat and fowl meet boiling oil to dramatic effect.