60ml olive oil 1 x 400g can chickpeas, drained 150g – 200g aubergine, cubed 3 cloves of garlic, minced 5ml sumac lemon juice pomegranate seeds 8 – 10 small flatbreads, about 8cm diameter
Pour the olive oil in to a pan and set it over medium to medium-high heat. Add the chickpeas, aubergine cubes, garlic and sumac and cook for about 10 minutes, until the aubergine is soft. Take from the heat and roughly mash together so that you have mashed chickpeas with texture. Smear the mixture on to the flatbreads, drizzle with lemon juice and sprinkle over some pomegranate seeds. Serve as a canapé with drinks.
Preheat your oven to 180℃. Place the bread on a wooden board and place a wooden spoon on either side of it, in its length. Slice the bread on the diagonal, into 1,5cm thick slices WITHOUT slicing through – the wooden spoons should prevent this. Now turn the bread and slice again so that you are left with squares that are attached at the bottom. Place the sliced bread on a large piece of aluminium foil and then onto a baking sheet. Set aside. Add the cheese spread, butter and garlic to a small saucepan and set it over a medium-low heat. Stir every now and then until the mixture has melted and is amalgamated. Remove from the heat and stir in the parsley. Spoon generous amounts of the cheese mixture in between the sliced bread. Push the biltong slices between the bread squares and cover with the aluminium foil. Bake in the oven for 30 minutes. Serve immediately as a casual starter.
1 onion, chopped 2 cloves of garlic, minced 500g prawns, cleaned 375ml mashed potato 125ml grated cheddar cheese 2 eggs about 500ml panko breadcrumbs vegetable oil to fry
Place a saucepan over medium-high heat, add a splash of cooking oil and the onion and cook until soft. Add the garlic and stir-fry for one minute. Add the prawns and cook until pink – about 3 minutes. Spoon the mixture into a food processor and pulse until roughly chopped. Add the mashed potato and cheddar and pulse until the mixture is evenly incorporated. Season with salt. Beat the eggs together in a shallow bowl. Add the breadcrumbs to another shallow bowl. Scoop 30ml of the prawn mixture into you hands and shape it into a log. Dit into the egg and then roll to cover in the breadcrumbs. Refrigerate the shaped croquettes for a minimum of 30 minutes. Heat the vegetable oil and fry in batches for 3-4 minutes. Serve warm with a tartar sauce on the side.
1 onion, finely chopped 2 cloves of garlic, minced 100g mature cheddar, grated 15ml salt 120g maize meal 30g butter 200g panko breadcrumbs 1 egg vegetable oil for frying cooked boerewors, sliced into 3 cm lengths
Place a frying pan on medium-high heat, add a splash of oil and cook the onion and garlic until soft. Set aside. Pour 750ml water into a saucepan and add the salt. Wait for the water to come to a boil. Add the maize meal slowly while whisking. Keep whisking until smooth. Turn down the heat and cook until you have a stiff consistency. Add the onion, garlic, grated cheddar and butter to the pap and stir through. Cover with a lid and set aside to cool. Add the breadcrumbs to a shallow dish. Add the egg to another shallow dish and beat. Scoop 15ml of the pap mixture into your hands and roll it into a ball. Keep going until you have no pap mixture left. Roll each ball in the breadcrumbs, then dip into the egg and roll in the breadcrumbs again. Heat the vegetable oil and fry the pap balls until golden. Skewer a pap ball, then a piece of boerewors and another pap ball onto a wooden cocktail skewer. Serve the pap and wors skewers with a chakalaka sauce on the side.
500g chicken, ground 1 egg 10ml oregano, chopped 3 cloves of garlic, minced a good handful of parsley, chopped 60ml + 250ml breadcrumbs 2,5ml salt
Sauce: 45ml olive oil 45ml butter 2 cloves of garlic, minced 125ml white wine 60ml lemon juice (about 2 lemons) grated rind of 1 lemon 60ml capers
Add the ground chicken, egg, oregano, garlic, parsley and 60ml breadcrumbs to a bowl and mix together. Sprinkle over the salt, a few grindings of pepper and 15ml olive oil. Mix again. Add the 250ml breadcrumbs to a shallow dish. Now scoop up about 20ml ov the chicken mixture, shape it into a ball and coat it in breadcrumbs. Keep going until you have no chicken left. Set a large pan over medium heat and pour in enough vegetable oil to coat the bottom. Wait for the oil to heat up and then add the chicken balls. Space them so that they do not touch and crowd each other. Do more than one batch if necessary. Cook for about 3 minutes, turn them over and cook another 3 minutes. Remove from the pan and set aside. For the sauce: Add the 45ml olive oil and butter to the same pan, set over medium heat. Add the garlic and stir-fry for 1 minute. Pour in the white wine, lemon juice, lemon zest and capers. Season with salt and bring to a simmer. Add the meatballs to the sauce and cover the pan with a lid. Cook for 10 minutes. Serve immediately.
This recipe is not mine to give out as it belongs to the South African chef Jan Hendrik van der Westhuizen BUT you should make these for your next drinks party …. delicious just got so much better!
These tomatoes are incredibly tasty and the balsamic toffee perfectly balances with the toasty sesame brittle on which it sits. Easy and quick to make EXCEPT on a rainy day! The moisture in the air prevents the toffee from “sitting” on the tomato…
You can find this recipe in Jan Hendrik van der Westhuizen’s book The French Affair (Struik; 2013) (p. 19).
This spread or dip is packed with protein as edamame beans are green soy beans. Enjoy it on toast, crackers, as a dip or stirred into roasted veg.
250ml edamame beans, thawed 30ml tahini paste 30ml lemon juice 30ml olive oil 1,2ml salt 2 cloves of garlic, minced 30-60ml water
Add all the ingredients to a food processor and blend for one minute. Add the water a little at a time and keep blending until the hummus is smooth and creamy. Taste the hummus and adjust the seasoning – often it needs a pinch of salt and some lemon juice. Serve on crostini or crackers as a canapé or simply spread on toast.
about 16 ripe, fresh figs 1 large burrata cheese 100g prosciutto 45ml honey thyme leaves, chopped
Preheat your oven to 200℃. Cut off the stem at the top of each fig, stand it upright and cut a cross in the top of each one, but don’t cut through to the base. Slice the Burrata into slices with a serrated knife ….. as best you can .. Put about half a slice of cheese into the cross you have cut – you can piece it together as it will melt. Now lay the prosciutto flat and half each slice in its length. Thread the ham through and around the fig and place in an ovenproof dish. Drizzle the honey over once all the figs are done and scatter over the thyme. Roast the figs for 8-10 minutes until the cheese has melted. Serve immediately as a canapé or an indulgent treat.
3 potatoes, cooked (about 250 – 350ml cooked potato) 60ml butter 250ml cheese, grated (I use parmesan and cheddar) 5ml salt 5ml garlic salt 15ml chives, chopped 250ml yoghurt 375ml self-raising flour butter
Mash the cooked potato while it is still warm and mix in the butter, cheese, salt, garlic salt and chives. Set aside to cool. Add the yoghurt and flour to a bowl and combine. Knead until you have a smooth ball of dough – add a small amount of flour if the dough is too sticky. Divide the dough in two balls. Roll out into a circle of 1cm thickness. Add half the potato mixture, flatten into a smaller circle and gather the edges of the dough around the filling. Pinch together the dough to seal the potato filling. Flip the filled dough and gently roll it out to a disk shape that will fit your pan. Pan-fry on both sides on medium heat, until golden, brushing with melted butter. Serve the bread warm.
10 sheets rice paper 10 slices ham 200g mozzarella cheese, cut into 1cm logs that are about 6cm long 250ml panko bread crumbs 2 eggs vegetable oil for frying
Lay the rice sheets in water for one minute to soften. Place a rice paper sheet on a work surface and top with a slice of ham. Place the cheese on the ham and fold the rice paper over. Roll up into a cylinder. Whisk the egg together in a shallow dish and add the bread crumbs to another shallow dish. Dip the rice paper rolls into the egg and cover with the bread crumbs. Place a saucepan on medium-high heat and add 1cm oil. Fry the rolls until golden and crisp. Serve with a dipping sauce.
My Whisk and I 