23.12.10

Microwave Mealie Bread - Shiela Dale

Ingredients:
1 cup Iwisa Maize Meal
1 cup Snowflake Cake Flour
1 Tin Creamed Sweetcorn
2 eggs
25ml sugar
3/4 cup milk
3tsp Baking Powder
pinch salt

Method:
Mix ingredients together
Put mixture into a microwaveable bowl
Cook on high (600W) or Medium High (900+W) for 9mins
Let stand. Serve soon after.

12.12.10

Curried Peach Salad

Ingredients:
750g onions finely chopped
1kg canned sliced peaches in syrup
125ml white wine vinegar
1tbs Rajah Curry Powder
1tbs Robertsons turmeric / borrie
1ml salt
oil for frying

Method:
Brown the onions in the oil
Add the vinegar and simmer for 1 minute
Stir in the curry powder, turmeric and salt and simmer for 2 minutes
Add the sliced peaches and as much syrup as the mixture will hold
Mix well
Allow to cool before serving
Serve with meat or fish

Sousboontjies

Ingredients:
500g sugar beans
water
50ml vinegar
125ml sugar
salt and pepper to taste

Method:
Soak beans overnight in water
Add fresh water, bring to the boil, reduce heat and simmer for about 1.5 hours until beans soft
Rinse in cold water, drain and remove skins
Add the vinegar, sugar, salt and pepper and bring to the boil again. Boil for 5mins and remove from heat
Allow to cool before serving

Chicken a la king

Ingredients:
4 Chicken joints, cooked, skinned and coarsley chopped
120g mushrooms, thinly sliced
1 green pepper, seeded and thinly sliced
5tbs butter
1tbs flour
2 egg yolks
275ml chicken stock
150ml milk
150ml single cream
salt and pepper to taste

Methods:
Fry the green pepper in the butter until soft
Add mushrooms and fry until tender
Remove pan from heat, blend in the flour and then gradually stir in the chicken stock and then the milk
Return the pan to the heat and bring mixture to the boil, stirring continuously until thickened
Add salt, pepper and chicken and heat through, about 10 minutes
Beat cream and egg yolks lightly in a bowl, stir some of the hot sauce into it, then stir mixture into the sauce and heat, but do not boil.
Serve immediately with boiled rice.

Bredie - Tomato, Pumpkin, Cabbage, Cauliflower

Ingredients:
1kg Fatty mutton/lamb
2 large onions, thinly sliced
400g diced potatoes
2 chillies or 1 green pepper finely chopped
2tsp salt
25ml oil

Tomato Bredie:
Add 1kg tomatoes, skinned and coarsely chopped
1tsp sugar
2ml dried thyme

Pumpkin Bredie:
Add 2.5kg pumpkin
2cm piece ginger
few sticks cinnamon

Cabbage Bredie:
Add 1 Cabbage, shredded
250ml finely chopped celery
grated nutmeg

Cauliflower Bredie:
Add 1 cauliflower broken up
250ml finely chopped celery
grated nutmeg

Method:
Fry onions in oil until golden brown
Add meat and brown quickly
Add the potatoes, salt, chillies/green pepper, above chosen vegetables and flavourings
Simmer, covered until the meat and potatoes are tender
Add water if bredie becomes dry
Serve with boiled rice.

Fish Bobotie

Ingredients:
340g cooked white fish
5tbs butter
1 large onion coarsely chopped
2 large eggs
1 thick slice white bread crusts removed
300ml milk
juice of 1 lemon
2tsp Rajah Curry Powder
2tbs seedless raisins
2tbs finely chopped blanched almonds
2 bay leaves
salt and pepper to taste

Method:
Flake the fish and place in bowl
In a separate bowl, soak the bread in the milk
Fry the onions in the butter
Add the onions, almonds, raisins, curry powder, lemon juice, salt and pepper to the fish
Squeeze the milk from the bread and keep it
Add the bread to the fish and mix
Beat the eggs and kept milk together
Pour the fish mixture into a greased oven-proof dish, pour the egg mixture over it and place bay leaves on top
Bake in the oven at 190C until egg and milk mixture has set - about 35mins
Serve hot with boiled rice

Back in Cape Town - Cape Town International

Arrived at Cape Town International Airport on Friday morning, 10 December. We disembarked to glorious sunshine and that Cape Town breeze. We left negative temperatures in London boarding the plane and arrived to mid-20's the next morning.

Cape Town airport has changed so much, thanks to the World Cup. We had no forms to fill out, didn't have to stand in passport control queues that snaked all the way to the door (as we do now landing at Heathrow), and actually had pleasant banter with the officer stamping the passports. OK, so the luggage collection wasn't as efficient as what it could be, but going through the green exit was the easiest I've seen it for a long time. Usually the 6 tables are packed with open luggage and Customs officials elbow deep in the bags, but not this time. There were officials looking official, but not looking to catch out the unsuspecting tourist.

After being met by excited family with lots of hugs and kisses, I was desperate for a coffee. The arrivals hall isn't small and there are quite a few people milling about, but absolutely no place to grab a coffee or a quick bite to eat. Apart from the family coming to pick us up, the place was pretty uninviting or inspiring to say the least. As we had decided to wait for other family arriving from London on another flight, I went looking for that illusive cup of coffee. There is a little walk from the arrivals hall to the departure hall where all manner of shops are located: Woolworths (SA's version of M&S), chemists, bookshops, fastfood joints etc. But there was nothing in between. In fact, the airport looked like it wasn't quite finished.

Surely there is money to be made in the arrivals hall for the right businesses? There are always people waiting for flights.

We left the building via the departure hall and I was quite impressed - it looks like an international airport. Pity about arrivals. Overall I thought Cape Town International was somewhere in between a small town airport and a proper international airport - it has some growing up to do.

The parking bill for a 2 hour stay was R12 (£1.10 give or take), which is far cheaper than the £2.50 for half an hour at Heathrow. I heard people complaining that they had to pay R8 for an hour's parking.