Yuppie Chef’s Enkosi Cookathon – A Week of South African Recipes

When we heard that Yuppie-Chef was having a Cookathon. A whole week of South African Recipes we knew we had to join in. Our Celebrity Chef really got stuck in with this project and loved every single step of it!!! Thanks Yuppie Chef for a week of distraction and fun:

As usual what happens in our family when we try something new…Our celebrity chef dives in and cooks and cooks and cooks until he gets it right… thereafter the rest of us follow mastering our own skills in his wake… Here you go Se7en + 1 South African Recipes… The photographs say it all… if you want to try a recipe just click on the link and you will be transported there!!!

1. Enkosi Cookathon: Bobotie We make Bobotie quite often – it is easy and can be made in advance – I am all for recipes like that!!! Bobotie has to be eaten with yellow rice and as you can see this recipe was more than enough to feed our family and a couple of guests.


2. Enkosi Cookathon: Phutu and Relish I usually ignore a recipe that says peel tomatoes – the laziness factor!!! But this one cried out for it… I drew the line at grating the tomatoes and settled for chopping up finely. The relish had a good bite to it but the pap softened the blow!!! Most of my kids loved this, especially as it was the kind of food that they had seen their friends eat in a recent trip to Lesotho… And it was so quick and easy to put together!!!


3. Enkosi Cookathon: Lamb Curry with Brinjals This was the recipe we totally adapted. Firstly I cannot get many members of my family to eat brinjal… they will try it but they won’t eat it, so we left that out. Secondly who can afford lamb shanks in the last week of the month!!! So we replaced the lamb with filleted chicken breasts. Curry is a great dish to serve with friends, it is a great dish to eat for leftovers… somehow the day after it is alway so much better. It is also a greta recipe for kids to help with – lots of little add-ins: a sweet tomato and onion relish, yogurt and cucumber raita, pompadoms… endless fun!!!


4. Enkosi Cookathon: Milk Tart We usually make a crustless milk tart, it is my quick dessert to pop in the oven when visitors arrive for super… Well this one has a crust and the recipe is a whole lot more work… but it was so worth the effort. My kids absolutely loved grating the butter for the pastry in this one!!! This was the hardest recipe of them all… because every time we made it, it was eaten before I could photograph it. So slopping cascading yummy dollops of milk tart custard – because there was absolutely no waiting for it to cool and set. Eventually I settled for photographs as it came steaming out of the oven… What else can a mother do!!!


5. Enkosi Cookathon: Koeksisters Oh don’t know why but I forget that we love these!!! And we do!!! The first time we made them and discovered just how easy they were to make we vowed never to buy them again… And then forgot to make them ourselves!!! But they are super easy and so impressive… And we really need to remember to make these more often.


6. Enkosi Cookathon: Malva Pudding Okay – where have I been, and why oh why have we never made Malva pudding before… I had this idea that it was complicated. How wrong I was, it is as easy as easy can be!!! It is a spongy cake with a delicious syrup that seeps into it when it is warm. Add a dollop of cream and you are good to go!!


7. Enkosi Cookathon: Spicy Chicken Livers My Celebrity Chef is mastering the pestle and mortar at the moment, so he loved this recipe that called for a lovely concoction to be bashed and smashed!!! This recipe turned out great and is definitely on the list of keepers. Totally quick and easy and it would make a fabulous gift – if it could last that long. Notice while I was photographing the last photograph a bite actually vanished – right under my nose!!!


And the Se7en + 1th Recipe… because all our posts have se7en + 1… And what could be more South African than a braai…


8. Justin Bonello’s Roosterkoek: When we braai we usually make little roosterkoek rolls and pop a piece of chocolate in the center for dessert… but with ALL the Milk Tart that was flying around this week we used the recipe to make a giant flat bread… with rosemary from the garden and garlic and general yumminess.
   
   And when it comes to a braai we always have more than one chef!!!
   

Thanks Yuppie Chef and Spatula Magazine for a week of fun.