Zoku Slushie Makers- the best for summer

Portuguese style baked Kabeljou

Kabeljou baked with a home made onion, potato and tomato relish. Wish I had some peppers to add. 

Once baked drizzled with olive oil.  Side of fried okra stuffed with spices.

Thai style whole fried fish

Using fresh ingredients for the sauce

Creating the curry paste with chilli coriander garlic and lemon grass and rough salt

Gravy is made after roasting chilli paste and adding in fresh tamarind and chopped tomato. Fried Fish is coated in sauce and topped with lots of sprouts chopped chilli coriander and lemon. Serve with rice 

Birthday breakfasts

Scrambled Eggs and Salsa crispy tacos. Beetroot Carrot and Apple Juice 

Forty minute after work dinners

Chilli Garlic Grilled Kabeljou, spicy mushroom rice and Vindaloo spiced Tomato Gravy

Stuffed potato buns

Chicken version soon!!! 

Best Coffee shop in Jozi

Motherland Coffee- Zone Rosebank - never disappoints, best JHB coffee house

Homemade Carrot Cake with sugar cinnamon crust

Diwali Mendhi Sugar cookies

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Asian spiced chicken wings in Phillips Airfryer

Clean 8 chicken wings. I removed half of the skin.

Marinade with 1 tsp salt, pepper, 1tsp crushed garlic and 1 tsp red chilli paste. Mix In about a tablespoon of oil. All spices added to your taste.

Leave to rest for an hour.

Dust wings in flour and place in heated air fryer tray. Fry at 180 •c for 15 min. Toss and then another 15 min until crispy and brown.

While the chicken wings are cooking. Make the sauce : 

Chop three shallots. Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a non stick pan. Fry shallots and 2 tsp crushed garlic and dry chilli flakes. 

Add to the browned shallots, the following ingredients to taste:

tomato sauce

a good splash of soya sauce

vinegar

Brown sugar/ honey

Asian barbecue sauce from woolworths

Salt

Paprika

Water to thin sauce

Once the sauce thickens,coat chicken wings in it. 

Ostrich stir fry and noodles

Cut ostrich fillet into strips. Prepare the marinade. Use Woolworths sticky BBQ marinade as a base. Add Chinese five spice. Sugar, Soya, red chillies, chopped lemongrass, chopped spring onions, tamarind paste.

Marinade ostrich for an hour. 

Head a griddle pan. Barbecue ostrich for about 3 min on each side and add extra sauce just before removing from heat. Rest for a few minutes and serve with noodles which have been stir fried in same marinade. 

Vietnamese Chicken Pho

One of our favorites and something you can't get in South Africa so I have no option but to make it at home. All the effort is worth it! 

First you have to make the broth. There are many recipes out there but I have used a few short cuts to get there. 

Making the broth is not an exact science, adjust ingredients to your taste. My measurements are a guide

In a soup pot. Add about two table spoons of oil.  Add two star anise when the oil is hot. Chop an onion and add to hot oil. Stir until onion is browned. This is when you can add a few kafir lime leaves,  chopped lemon grass, chopped ginger, crushed red chillies. 

Then add chicken pieces. Leg and thigh pieces are recommended. This is the chicken you will use to assemble the pho. So I would say about 5 pieces maximum. This time I used chicken breasts because I didn't have the correct portions.

Brown the chicken. When browned, add a box of woolworths chicken stock and about a liter of water. Add two table spoons of fish sauce, good amount of soya sauce, lemon juice, teaspoon of sugar and salt to taste. Continue to boil for about 45 minutes. 

Once boiled, strain broth into another pot. Keeping chicken aside and allowed to cool. 

Taste and add flavoring ingredients to taste like lemon, sugar, soya to the broth.Boil for another 15 minutes. 

Boil rice noodles or vermicelli. 

To assemble the pho. In a bowl add noodles, shredded cooled chicken  and then Broth.

Garnish with chopped spring onions, chilli, moongh bean sprouts, basil. Sauces to add : chilli and hoisin and lemon juice. 

Homemade hot wings- American style

Need to find a healthier way to make these, but for the first attempt, the flavour and texture was all there! 

Chicken with marinade
12 cleaned and dried chicken wings
1/4 tsp paprika
1/4 teaspoon crushed garlic
1/4 teaspoon chilli powder
1/4 teaspoon Robertsons Barbeque seasoning
1/3 teaspoon of salt

In a bowl, marinade chicken wings with seasoning above. Cover and refrigerate for an hour

Basting sauce
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup tomato sauce
2 tab Worcester Sauce
2-3 tablespoons hot sauce (according to taste, I use Tabasco Sauce)
1-2 tablespoons vinegar
1/2 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp garlic
Pinch of salt
Heat the above ingredients until all incorporated.

Adjust above quantities according to your taste

Cooking the wings
Dust each wing in cake flour. Deep fry the wings for 10 minutes.
Drain and cool until its cool enough to touch
Coat each wing in the basting sauce and place in a non stick oven tray
Bake at 200 degrees for 15 minutes until crispy

Serving
Serve with Blue Cheese dipping sauce and celery sticks.

Poached eggs in potato nest

Microwave 2 large potatoes for 10 minutes.

Rest for few minutes until it's cool to the touch

Peel potatoes and grate

Season potatoes with butter garlic salt and pepper

Mould little bowls on upside down muffin trays. 

Bake in a preheated oven until crisp and golden

Poach eggs and serve in nests with hollandaise sauce

Homemade Baked Empanada's

Tried on the streets of New York City

and tried at home

my take on a baked Empanada

Shopping in Soho New York we stumbled across this street food cart called Nuchas. We never tried an empanada before and we were pleasantly surprised!! Such a delightful treat. The experience and taste remained in our mouths and with no similar take out in South Africa, I tried to make it and to my surprise, almost got the taste exactly.
The pastry

Sift 1 cup of flour and one teaspoon of baking powder

Add quarter teaspoon of salt and about 1 tablespoon of sugar

Melt a table spoon of butter and add to mixture. Mix so that it forms a breadcrumbs texture. Add ice cold water to make dough and set aside for about 15 minutes.

The chicken filling

In a non stick pot, add about 1 -2 tablespoons of butter. Then add chopped onion and cook until it just starts to brown. Add about a teaspoon of cake flour to the mixture. 

Then add finely chopped chicken breast to the onion mixture and keep stirring to brown sides. Chicken should be about half cooked.

Add some (less than half a cup for one chicken breast) a tomato based mexican sauce (I used a Woolworths cook in sauce, You could use any fajita or enchilada sauce). Add a splash of milk. Perhaps 40-50ml or according to your taste.

Simmer until sauce thickens to a pie filling consistency

Add salt and pepper to taste.

Assembly

Knead dough once it has rested. Roll it out on a floured surface. Roll to a thickness of about 3-4mm.

Cut  circles, 10-12cm diameters. Add filling and then seal into half moon shapes. Using water to seal edges. Brush tops with milk.

Bake in a preheated oven at 190 degrees celcius for 20 min or until golden brown and pastry is crisp.

The above makes about 8 empanadas

Cape Malay Style Pickle Fish- South African traditional Good Friday Food

Recipe
3 Onions cut into rings
10 pieces white fish 6x4cm blocks
1 egg whisked
Cup of Cake Flour
2 Tablespoons Mazeina
Salt
Madras Curry Powder
Rajah Curry Powder
1 heaped teaspoon of tumeric
6 black pepper corn kernels
5 bay leaves
2 table spoons oil
1 cup sugar
1.5 cup vinegar
2-3 cups water

Frying the fish
The idea is to make a battered fish. Like fish and chips style.
Marinade fish with salt pepper and curry spice
Coat in whisked eggs and then dust with cake flour
Shallow fry in oil until crispy and cooke.
Set aside on paper towel while you prepare the sauce and onions

The Onion Pickle
In a deep pot, heat the two table spoons of oil
Add pepper corns and bay leaves. 
Once it starts to  sizzle add about 1 table spoon of Rajah Curry powder and 1 table spoon of Madras curry powder. Add the teaspoon of tumeric as well. 
Roast spices for about 30 sec. 
Add onions and coat with spices
Add 1 teaspoon of salt to taste
Cover and simmer for about 5 min stirring occasionally
If you prefer soft texture to onion cook for longer
Add the sugar, vinegar and water and bring to boil
Mix Mazeina in water and add to Mixture
Boil for about 20 minutes , Taste to see if you need any extra ingredients, ie salt, sugar and water.

Layer fish in a separate dish and then add pickle to it. Soak for about an hour, Serve with hot cross buns

Chilli Barbecue Ostrich fillet with jenga potatoes and baby vegetables

Quick and easy. 

Marinade Ostrich fillets in Woolworths Sticky BBQ marinade. I would add extra flavouring - black pepper, chilli and extra salt

Marinade in fridge for half an hour

Heat griddle pan and a sear fillet on each side for 3.5 minutes. Add extra marinade for flavour and sauce to pour over steaks. Remove from heat and let it rest for 5 minutes. serve with mash or roast potatoes and veggies

Chicken Wonton Noodle Soup

Been wanting to try this out for ages! Finally plucked up the courage to. 

To make the wontons

Mix chicken mince, salt, crushed black pepper, chopped spring onions, crushed chilling, soya sauce and chopped coriander and a dash of olive oil. Cover and let it marinate in fridge for about half an hour. 

To make the soup. 

Braise a chopped onion with cinnamon sticks, star anise, garlic and ginger. Once the onions start to brown, add a box of chicken stock 300 ml and extra water ( about two cups) Add two table spoon fish sauce, juice of half a lime, soya sauce,salt, chilli, 3 tsp sugar. Boil for half hour. Strain and then add extra seasoning to taste. Fish sauce and salt

To assemble wontons

Place about half a teaspoon on a wrapper. Seal with water. Boil wontons for 3-5min. Remove with sieved spoon and immerse in cold water to stop cooking process.

Prepare egg noodles or rice noodles. 

To assemble 

In each bowl, add noodles, wontons, broth. Top with lots of chopped coriander, sprouts, chopped spring onion and red chillies. Add sauces like hoisin and chilli to taste.

Definitely worth all the effort 

Cherry milkshake

Whizz together some fresh cherries, vanilla ice cream, cherry syrup and a bit of milk.