Recipes for Love and Murder (42 page)

• Heat the oil in a heavy ovenproof pot. Coat the meat in flour and then brown it in the hot oil, frying only a few pieces at a time and being careful not to burn the flour. Once the meat has all been browned, take it out of the pot.

• Fry the onions in the butter in the same pot for a few minutes. Add the whole spices and cook until the onions are soft. Add the ground spices, garlic and ginger, and fry for another minute. Return the meat to the pot and add the chopped tomatoes, tomato purée, salt and sugar, and bring to a simmer.

• Prepare your hotbox or oven. (See instructions above on using a hotbox.)

• Either put the pot in the hotbox for the day, reheating every 4 hours if possible and returning to the hotbox, or cook covered in a preheated oven at 120°C for 4 hours. Remove from the oven and let it stand.

• Boil the chopped potatoes in very salty water until cooked (15–20 minutes).

• About an hour before serving, add the cooked potatoes, take the lid off the pot, and put it in the oven at 180°C or simmer it on the stove until the sauce is thick. If you are using the stove, be careful not to let the bredie catch on the bottom of the pot. The meat should be very soft now (falling off the bone). Just before serving, stir in the vinegar, according to taste. Now taste again and see what it needs. It will probably enjoy a good sprinkle of salt and freshly ground black pepper.

• Serve with rice and green beans.

Tip

• I usually use sunflower oil for frying and baking, but you can use any oil that doesn't have a strong flavour and gets nice and hot.

VETKOEK MINCE

This is the curry mince that you make to eat with vetkoek. The recipe for vetkoek is on
VETKOEK
.

3 T butter

500g minced beef steak

1 medium onion, peeled and chopped

½ t ground turmeric

1 t ground coriander

1 t ground white pepper

4 whole cloves

1 bay leaf

2 large tomatoes, peeled and chopped

1½ t salt

2 cups water

¼ cup green tomato chutney or any other tart fruit chutney

• Melt the butter in a heavy pan over medium–high heat. Add the minced meat and stir to separate any lumps. Cook the mince, stirring the whole time to stop it from sticking.

• When the mince is a lovely deep-brown colour, add the onion and cook until soft.

• Turn down the heat to medium and add the spices. Cook for a few minutes and then add the rest of the ingredients.

• Simmer the mince for about half an hour or until thick and delicious.

• Taste it to see if it needs a little more salt or maybe a squeeze of lemon juice.

Tips

• Browning the mince properly at the beginning does take a while but it is worth it. It gives the dish a special flavour and richness.

• Cut halfway through the vetkoek and then use the tip of the knife to cut the rest of the way without cutting through the crust. This makes it easier to eat once you have filled it with the delicious mince. You can also add a little more chutney into the mince-filled vetkoek.

SWEET

APRICOT JAM

1kg firm, unripe apricots

1kg white sugar

Juice of 1 lemon (optional, if fruit is ripe)

10 apricot kernels (removed from the pips)

• Cut the apricots in half, and take their pips out before you weigh them. Measure exactly the same weight of fruit to sugar and mix together. Leave overnight.

• Put the fruit in a large, heavy-based pot. Add the lemon juice (if your apricots are a bit ripe) and the apricot kernels. Put the pot on the stove over a low heat and stir until all the sugar has dissolved. Then bring to the boil.

• Put the lid on for 3 minutes to dissolve any crystals on the side of the pot, then take the lid off and boil over a medium heat until the jam starts getting clear and reaches ‘setting point' (20–25 minutes). Stir the jam every now and then to stop it from sticking on the bottom, but not too often or it will crystallise.

• To test if the jam has reached setting point, put a drop on an ice-cold plate. Make sure it is thick and sticky, not runny. If you hold the plate at an angle the jam should make a little blob that does not run. When you have made jam a few times you will see by the way it falls off the spoon when it is ready.

• Pour the jam into sterilised jars, making sure each jar has a few apricot kernels. Once it has cooled a little, seal with hot, melted candle wax and screw the lids on tight. You do not have to use the wax, but it will help the jam stay fresh for many years.

Tips

• The apricot kernels give the jam a nice almondy flavour. Use a hammer or a half-brick to break open the apricot pips to get to the kernels. You can also buy apricot kernels from health shops. The almond flavour takes a month or two, and just gets better and better.

• Use unripe fruit for the best jam. It has the most pectin and its flavour will last the longest. If your fruit is a bit ripe, add lemon juice (which has extra pectin).

• To sterilise jars: wash them in hot soapy water, then put in the oven at 100°C for 20 minutes to dry out. Put the jam in the jars while they are both hot.

TANNIE KURUMAN'S MELKTERT

Crust

1¼ cups cake flour

⅓ cup icing sugar

¼ t salt

½ cup cubed butter (125g), softened

2 egg yolks

• Sift the flour, icing sugar and salt together.

• Add the butter and egg yolks, and cut them into the flour with a knife. Using your fingers, knead very gently until the butter is mixed in. Wrap the dough in cling film and leave to rest for 30 minutes in the fridge.

• Roll out the dough on a floured surface and fit into a well-greased 24cm pie dish.

• Prick the base with a fork.

• Bake for 15–20 minutes at 200°C.

Filling

Ingredients A:

2 cups milk

1 T butter

Pinch of salt

⅔ cup sugar

Ingredients B:

1 cup milk

2 T cake flour

¼ cup corn starch

Ingredients C:

2 eggs

1 t vanilla extract

Topping

Cinnamon sugar

• Heat ingredients A (milk, butter, salt and sugar) in a saucepan, stirring until the sugar has dissolved.

• Mix ingredients B (milk, flour and corn starch) in a bowl, and pour A onto B. Mix well and return to the saucepan.

• Cook the mixture, stirring all the time, for about 5 minutes until it has thickened and the floury taste has gone.

• Beat ingredients C (eggs and vanilla extract) in a bowl. Slowly whisk the hot mixture into C and mix well. Return to the saucepan and cook gently until thick (2–3 minutes).

• Pour the custard into the baked pastry crust and let it cool and set. Sprinkle on lots of cinnamon sugar before serving.

Tips

• To make cinnamon sugar, mix equal parts of ground cinnamon and brown sugar.

• You can dust the top of the milk tart with just cinnamon instead of cinnamon sugar.

MANGO SORBET

2 sweet, ripe mangoes, peeled and chopped Yogurt or lime juice (optional)

• Freeze the mango flesh for 3 hours or until quite hard, but not rock solid.

• Blend well with an electric beater and put back in the freezer.

• You can add a spoon of yogurt or a squeeze of lime juice before serving.

Tips

• This recipe depends on the mangoes being very delicious. If they are only average you may want to add cream or yogurt to your mixture before freezing, or drizzle a little honey on top.

• If the mango has frozen rock hard, wait a few minutes before you blend it.

THE PERFECT BUTTERMILK CHOCOLATE CAKE

Cake

¼ cup water

220g butter

½ cup cocoa powder (60g)

1¾ cups brown sugar

2 eggs

1¾ cups buttermilk

1 t vanilla extract

2 cups cake flour (240g)

1 t bicarbonate of soda

1 t baking powder

½ t salt

• Preheat the oven to 180°C. Line the bottom of a 28cm cake tin with baking paper and grease the paper and the sides of the tin with butter.

• First, put the water into a saucepan, and then add the butter and cocoa powder. Heat until hot but not boiling.

• Beat the sugar and eggs together, and mix in the buttermilk and vanilla extract. Then add the hot cocoa mixture and mix well.

• Sift the flour, bicarbonate of soda, baking powder and salt together, and add to the cocoa mixture. Mix well again.

• Pour the mixture into the cake tin and bake for 50–55 minutes. Let it cool in the tin.

Icing

1½ cups sifted icing sugar (200g)

½ cup butter (125g)

¼ cup sifted cocoa powder (40g)

¼ cup buttermilk

¼ t salt

½ t vanilla extract

1 T rum

• Heat all the icing ingredients, except the rum, in a saucepan over a medium heat, stirring all the time and whisking out any lumps. Bring to the boil and remove from the heat. Add the rum.

• Let the cake and the icing cool completely before spreading or pouring the icing.

Tips

• Make the icing when the cake is in the oven so it has time to cool completely.

• The warm icing also makes a delicious chocolate sauce that you can put on ice cream.

• If you don't have rum, you can use brandy, but rum and chocolate do make a special magic.

THE MECHANIC'S CHOCOLATE MOUSSE CAKE

240g dark chocolate

½ cup butter (125g)

1 t vanilla extract

4 eggs

¼ cup caster sugar

Pinch of salt

Grated zest of 1 orange

• Melt the chocolate, butter and vanilla extract in a bain marie. (I put the ingredients in a small heatproof bowl rested over a pot of boiled water, off the heat.)

• Beat the eggs, sugar and salt until very thick and silky. This will take at least 5 minutes with an electric beater on high speed. This is very important and must not be rushed. The mixture will get thick and foamy, about five times its original volume.

• Add the orange zest and then fold in the melted chocolate butter.

• Pour the batter into a lined and greased 23cm spring-form cake tin and bake at 160°C for 35–45 minutes or until the top of the cake begins to crack.

• Leave in the tin to cool, then take out and fill the hollow bit on top with whipped cream and berries or nuts.

Tips

• Use dark chocolate with about 35–40 per cent cocoa solids. Do not use very dark chocolate or chocolate with more than 45 per cent cocoa solids, as this will make your cake dry, bitter and heavy.

• This cake may look a little flat, but this is so you can fill the middle with delicious whipped cream and berries or nuts, or even poached kaalgatperskes (nectarines).

HONEY-TOFFEE SNAKE CAKE

Dough

½ cup milk

2 T sugar (30g)

1 T honey (20g)

1 t instant dried yeast

2 cardamom pods

2 cups cake flour (240g)

¾ t salt

Pinch of ground nutmeg

1 egg, beaten

100g butter, softened

Honey-Toffee Topping

3 T butter (45g), softened

75g icing sugar

1 egg white

2 T honey (40g)

30g almonds, chopped

• Put the milk, sugar and honey in a saucepan and gently heat until warm. It must be slightly warm, not hot, or it will kill the yeast. Add the yeast and set aside.

• Crack the cardamom pods with a mortar and pestle. Remove the pods and grind the seeds, with a little sugar, into a powder.

• Sift together the flour and salt, and add the nutmeg and powdered cardamom.

• Add the yeasty milk and the beaten egg to the flour and work together for a few minutes. Add the soft butter and knead the dough for about 10 minutes until very smooth.

• Put the dough into a clean buttered bowl, cover with a cloth and set aside in a warm place to rise for an hour and a half or until it has doubled in size.

• In the meantime, make the topping by putting everything into a bowl and mixing well.

• Line a roasting tray or wide shallow cake tin with baking paper. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knock out the air. Gently begin to roll and pull the dough into a long sausage. You can let it rest for a few minutes if it begins to fight back. Once your dough sausage is about 70cm long, or 2–3cm thick, coil it into a loose spiral on your lined tray or tin. Do not let the coil touch itself – leave about 2cm between the coils of your dough snake, except for the tail, which you can tuck in underneath.

• Pour the topping evenly over the cake and leave it to rise for another 20–25 minutes.

• Bake the cake for 30–35 minutes at 190°C or until deep golden and cooked through.

Tip

• The cake is most delicious on the day it is baked, but it can be warmed in the oven or toasted to make it just as tasty again.

KOEKSISTERS

Syrup

1kg sugar

2½ cups water

½ t ground ginger

2 cinnamon sticks

3 T lemon juice

½ t cream of tartar

Dough

4½ cups cake flour (560g)

1 t salt

4 t baking powder

½ cup butter (125g)

2 eggs, beaten

About 1 cup milk

2 litres sunflower oil for deep-frying

• First prepare the syrup by mixing the sugar, water, ginger and cinnamon in a heavy pot. Place over medium heat and stir until the sugar has dissolved. Bring to the boil and let it boil for about 5 minutes to make a syrup. Remove from the heat and add the lemon juice and cream of tartar.

• Once the syrup has cooled slightly, put it in the fridge or freezer.

• To make the dough, sift the flour, salt and baking powder together. Rub the butter into the flour with your fingers. Add the eggs and enough milk to form a stretchy dough that is easy to work. Knead very well – for at least 10 minutes – until smooth and elastic.