Author: Karen Claassen

The word melkkos directly translates to milk food. It may be so named as it probably evolved from the Malay dish Boeber, that is traditionally eaten to break the fast at the end of Ramadan. It is comforting and nourishes body and soul. It is an emotive food, it is warming and completely satisfying.

I make melkkos with “snyseltjies” which resembles Tagliatelle pasta. A simple dough from eggs and flour is rolled out thinly, cut by hand into strips no wider than half a centimetre and boiled in cinnamon flavoured milk. Served with sugar and extra cinnamon, this is my idea of winter pampering on a plate!

This recipe feeds six hungry people.

4 eggs

5ml salt

750ml cake flour

2 – 3 litres milk

2 cinnamon quills

ground cinnamon and sugar, to serve

Break the eggs into a mixing bowl, add the salt and give it a good whisk.

Add the flour to the eggs and mix together to form a kneadable dough.

Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead for 2 -3 minutes. You want a soft, smooth dough.

Shape into a disk, cover in plastic wrap and put aside to rest for 15 minutes.

Pour two litres of milk into a large, heavy bottomed saucepan, add the cinnamon quills and place on high heat. You want to bring the milk to boiling point …. do not leave it!

Dust a working surface and roll the dough to a 3 -5 mm thickness.

Cut into strips not wider than 0,5cm. Dust the strips with flour so that they do not stick together. Don’t worry about being too liberal with the flour as the extra flour will thicken the milk, adding to the lusciousness of the final dish.

Add all the strips to the boiling milk and give it a light stir with a wooden spoon.

Turn the heat down and simmer the melkkos for twenty minutes until the dough strips have absorbed some of the milk and are beautifully fat and puffed up.

Serve steaming portions with extra milk, sugar and ground cinnamon.

Ever heard of a no-knead Rye Bread?

I found the inspiration for this recipe on the back of a 2 kilogram Bio-Wheat Flour package. The original recipe is a light rye bread and belongs to the Fourie family.

This bread takes no effort to make and is truly delicious and filled with goodness.

350g Bio-Wheat Rye Flour

150g Bio-Wheat Course White Flour

30ml brown sugar

10ml salt

10g dry yeast

400ml lukewarm water

15ml honey

15ml oil

15ml vinegar

Sprinkle the yeast onto the water and stir until dissolved. Put aside.

Grease a medium sized bread tin.

Mix the dry ingredients together in a mixing bowl.

Add the honey, oil and vinegar to the yeast mixture and give it another stir.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix through with a spatula.

Spoon the mixture into the prepared bread tin and even out the surface with the back of the spatula.

Cover the baking tin with a clean tea towel and set aside for one hour.

Preheat your oven to 180℃.

Once the bread has proofed for an hour, bake it for another hour.

Cool on a cooling rack for 10 minutes before turning the bread out and allowing it to cool completely before slicing.

Serve with butter and jam!

I met Armand Aucamp from “Armand Kook Kaal” while helping him in the kitchen at the Stellenbosch Woordfees. We made some fabulous Banting and Keto recipes from his recipe book NUDE for the tasting kitchen at the festival.

This tall, dark and handsome man had me in his pocket after the first day! He is warm, kind, with his feet firmly on the ground and his generosity reflected in the food he makes. This recipe was inspired by his “French Toast with Brinjal” (read more about his book in the COOK & BOOK section of this blog).

You can get the crumpet/flapjack recipe from my recipes on this blog.

Chocolate cream cheese:

250g cream cheese

5ml vanilla extract

a pinch of cinnamon

50g chocolate, finely chopped

a handful of nuts, roasted and roughly chopped

15ml honey

Add the cream cheese to a small mixing bowl and beat it with a spatula until it becomes creamy and soft.

Add the rest of the ingredients and fold through.

Spoon onto the crumpets and serve warm.

This is an easy and delicious recipe to make any cut-out biscuits with, whether it is for a birthday party and you want hearts, cats or dinosaurs, or whether you need a tea-time biscuit decorated with edible flowers.

240g butter

360g caster sugar

2 eggs

10ml vanilla extract

440g cake flour

70g cocoa powder, sieved

5ml baking powder

5ml bicarbonate of soda

2,5ml salt

Add the butter and sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.

Beat until light and fluffy.

Add the eggs and vanilla and mix at high speed for 1 minute.

Sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt into a separate mixing bowl.

Now add a spoonful of this mixture with the engine running on low speed until all of the dry ingredients have been incorporated.

Scoop the biscuit dough into a plastic bag and put into the refrigerator for at least an hour to firm up.

Preheat your oven to 180℃.

Line a baking sheet with baking paper or a silicone baking mat.

Lightly dust a work surface with cake flour and roll the dough to a thickness of between 3 and 5mm.

Cut the biscuits with a biscuit cutter and place onto the baking sheet.

Bake in the preheated oven for 7 minutes.

Remove the baking sheet from the oven and allow the biscuits to cool on the sheet for 5 minutes so that they may firm up.

Cool the biscuits completely on a cooling rack before decorating.

This is a really easy dish to make and you will most probably have all the ingredients in your store cupboard. If you would like some spiciness you may add a chopped chilli to the sauce before adding the fried chicken.

6 – 9 skinless chicken breasts, cut into ±2cm X 2cm pieces

Batter:

125ml cornstarch

125ml cake flour

5ml salt

1 egg

30ml vegetable oil

125ml water

Add all the ingredients to a mixing bowl and whisk until you have a smooth batter without any lumps.

Add the chicken to the batter and stir through so that all the chicken pieces are coated in batter.

Set aside.

Sweet-and-sour sauce:

45ml oil

6 cloves of garlic, minced

15ml grated, fresh ginger

375ml water

75ml rice wine vinegar or malt vinegar, or any other vinegar you have

90ml honey

90ml tomato sauce

90ml soy sauce

1 tin of pineapple pieces or 250ml fresh pineapple cut into 1cm pieces

30ml cornstarch

15ml cold water

Heat a small saucepan on medium heat and add the vegetable oil to it.

Fry the garlic and ginger for one minute.

Add the water, vinegar, honey, tomato sauce, soy sauce, salt and pineapple and whisk while on the heat.

Bring to a light simmer.

Make a slurry by mixing the cornstarch and cold water in a small bowl.

Add the slurry in a steady stream to the simmering mixture, while whisking continuously.

Allow the mixture to thicken.

Keep warm.

Heat some vegetable oil for deep frying to about 170℃.

Fry the batter-covered chicken in batches until beautifully golden.

Once all the chicken has been fried, heat the sauce and place the chicken pieces into the sauce to warm through.

Serve with steamed rice.

These muffins are sinfully moorish! Buttery, cheesy and garlicky goodness at your fingertips!

50g butter

2 cloves of garlic, minced

Dry ingredients:

300g flour

7,5ml baking powder

2,5ml bicarbonate of soda

2,5ml salt

Wet ingredients:

1 egg

250ml milk

60g sour cream

85ml vegetable oil

1 clove of garlic, minced

250ml zucchini, grated

125ml feta cheese

125ml cheddar or any other small bits of leftover cheese you have

Preheat your oven to 180℃.

Melt the 50g butter and garlic in a small saucepan.

Brush a twelve-hole muffin tin with the mixture, but reserve some to brush onto the muffins once they come out of the oven.

Mix all the dry ingredients in a large bowl.

Add the wet ingredients to another bowl and whisk together.

Pour the wet into the dry and give it as few stirs as possible. You want to incorporate all the flour without over mixing the batter.

Add the zucchini and cheeses and stir until barely mixed through.

Spoon the mixture into the muffin tin and bake for 25 minutes.

Remove the muffins from the oven and brush the reserved butter and garlic mixture over the tops while still warm.

Serve as is.

One of the very best dishes I have ever eaten is the Pumpkin Risotto and Arancini by Chef Liam Tomlin. I can have it for breakfast, lunch and dinner and have it again the next day. ( See my COOK & BOOK section for more about his latest book TAPAS, where you can find the recipe.)

This recipe is for Arancini made with leftover mushroom risotto, but you may use any risotto to make these. It is a delicious and substantial canapé to have with that perfect glass of wine or alternatively, served with a salad as a starter.

cold, leftover mushroom risotto (recipe on this site)

±100g flour, seasoned with salt

2 eggs, lightly beaten

± 100g fine breadcrumbs

Mozzarella cheese, cut into 1cm X 1cm cubes

vegetable oil for deep-frying

Line a baking tray with baking paper.

Scoop about 15ml of the risotto into your hand (I use my measuring spoon for this) and push a cube of cheese into it. Manipulate the rice to cover the cheese completely and shape into a ball. Place the risotto ball on the lined baking sheet. Keep going until you have the quantity you want.

Line up 3 shallow containers.

Add the flour to the first container, the eggs to the second and the breadcrumbs to the third.

Now roll a risotto ball in the flour, dip it into the egg mixture and finally roll it in the breadcrumbs.

Make sure that each risotto ball is completely covered by each of the ingredients before proceeding to the next.

Place the coated balls back onto the lined tray.

Add enough vegetable oil to a heavy based saucepan to deep-fry the balls. The oil should be about 170℃.

Place a risotto ball onto a slotted spoon and lower it into the heated oil. Add about 4 -5 at a time, depending on the size of the saucepan, and fry until beautifully golden.

Lift out onto some kitchen paper to drain the excess oil.

Serve warm.

This is one of my all-time favourite cakes. It is not too sweet but wonderfully moist. It has the finest crumb but you get the texture of the zucchini. It is totally satisfying and extremely moorish. I really love eating this cake.

If you are a food snob, this recipe is NOT for you. I add local, ordinary milk chocolate to the cake and I make the ganache with local, ordinary milk chocolate. I believe it balances the tastes, but feel free to add a 70% cocoa chocolate if you wish.

240g flour

60g cocoa powder

15ml bicarbonate of soda

2,5ml baking powder

2,5ml salt

110g butter at room temperature

180g sugar

5ml vanilla extract

5ml coffee granules

3 eggs

350g zucchini, grated

150g milk chocolate, roughly chopped into chunky pieces

150g milk chocolate

300g cream

Preheat your oven to 180℃.

Grease a 23cm loose-bottomed cake tin.

Mix the flour, cocoa powder, bicarbonate of soda, baking powder and salt in a mixing bowl.

Add the butter and sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat until light and fluffy, scraping down once or twice.

With the machine on low speed, add the vanilla, coffee granules and eggs. Beat well in between each addition.

Now, reserve about 120g of the flour mixture and set it aside.

Add the rest of the flour mixture to the egg mixture with the machine on low speed.

Add the grated zucchini and chopped chocolate to the reserved flour mixture and lightly mix it through. The aim is to cover the zucchini and chocolate with flour. Break up any lumps that may form by pushing lightly onto it with a spoon.

Fold the zucchini mixture into the cake batter.

Spoon the mixture into the prepared cake tin and level the batter with the back of a spoon.

Bake for 40 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into the centre comes out clean.

Transfer the cake to a cooling rack for 10 minutes before running a sharp knife around the edge of the cake. Remove the cake ring and allow the cake to cool completely

Milk chocolate ganache:

Chop the chocolate into small pieces and add it to a glass bowl.

Pour the cream onto the chocolate.

Fill a small saucepan onto which the glass bowl can fit with 5-6 cm of water. Turn on the heat and bring the water to a simmer.

Now put the glass bowl onto the saucepan. Make sure that the bottom of the bowl does not touch the water.

Allow the mixture to warm up, stirring occasionally until the chocolate has melted completely.

Remove from the heat and put the bowl onto a dry tea towel.

Beat the mixture by hand so that it can cool down. If you become tired, leave the ganache to stand and return 5 minutes later to beat again. You need a thick, smooth, cool mixture to pour onto the cake. All lumps can be removed by beating the ganache vigorously by hand.

Once the ganache is cool enough and the cake has cooled completely, you may pour the ganache onto the cake.

The picture is of a sirloin steak with Chimichurri sauce. Below I offer tips on cooking the perfect steak, served with your favourite sauce.

• The quality of the meat you choose is very important. A steak that has been dry-aged for 30 days and is between 3 and 4 cm thick is perfect in every way.

• Bring the steak to room temperature at least one hour before cooking it.

• Generously salt the steak and rub the salt into the meat as this cures the surface of the meat, leaving you with a tender and flavoursome piece of meat. You may salt it 24 hours in advance but one hour before cooking is quite enough time.

• Preheat your oven to 180℃.

• Pat the steak dry and lightly salt it once more. You do not want to add pepper to your steak before cooking, it as the pepper will burn. Add pepper to an already cooked steak.

• Put a heavy-based frying pan onto a high heat.

• Add a knob or two of butter and rosemary/thyme/garlic, if you so wish.

• Wait for the pan to heat up.

• Add the steak to the pan and do not touch it for 2-3 minutes before turning it. Now hold the pan on a slight angle and baste the steak with the flavoured butter. Cook in this way for another 2-3 minutes to develop a golden colour and the most incredible aromas!

• Stick the pan into the preheated oven for 4 minutes so that the steak heats through. It will not cook further if you allow 4 minutes!!

• Remove the steak from the oven and remove it from the pan. Cover with tinfoil and a tea-towel. Rest for 10 minutes so that the meat can relax and absorb all the juices.

• Slice the steak against the grain.

• Serve with your favourite sauce.

This is one of my all-time favourite quick-breads when I have no time, a steaming pot of soup and am in desperate need of good, fresh bread.

250g wholemeal flour

250g cake flour

5ml bicarbonate of soda

5ml salt

420ml buttermilk

Add the wholemeal and cake flour to a large mixing bowl.

Add the bicarb, salt and then mix in the buttermilk to form a sticky, stiff dough.

Tip the dough onto a work surface that has been floured. Now roll and fold the dough for two minutes or so, but do not knead it.

Shape it into a round and flatten slightly with the palm of your hand.

Line a baking sheet with baking paper and place your bread onto it. Dust the bread with cake flour.

Divide the bread into quarters by cutting across, turning and cutting once more. Once you’ve pushed the knife through, wiggle it slightly from side-to-side to separate slightly. When the dough rises and bakes it will join up again.

Let the bread rest on the work surface for 30 minutes.

Preheat your oven to 200℃.

Bake for 30 minutes.

The bread should sound hollow when tapped on the bottom.

Transfer the bread to a wire rack to cool.

Soda bread is best eaten on the day it is baked.