Vinegar šašlõkk

Original recipe in Estonian here 

1kg pork shoulder, cut up into roughly equal-sized chunks (4x4x1.5cm is the recommendation from the original recipe)

112 ml 8% vinegar (or 30 ml 30% vinegar - you should have 9ml of acetic acid, if I calculated correctly. You can do the conversions based on that volume, depending on the concentration of your vinegar)

4-5 large onions, cut into thin rings

2-3 cloves garlic, minced

2 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

1 tsp sugar

Add everything into the same bowl. Mix and massage the vinegar into the meat for around 15 minutes, then leave to marinade in fridge overnight. 

Thread meat and onions onto skewers, cook on the braai, and enjoy.

Royal potato salad a l'Ottolenghi

800 g new potatoes, washed 

150 g frozen peas

20 g parsley leaves

20 g basil leaves

60 g pine seeds

60 g parmesan

2 cloves garlic

200 ml olive oil

1 tsp white wine vinegar

handful of mint leaves

5 boiled eggs (or 15 quail's eggs)

salt and pepper

Wash the potatoes, boil for around 20 minutes until soft but firm. Boil the eggs until ready (I reckon about 4 minutes is enough), then refresh in cold water. Blanche the peas for 30 seconds in boiling water, then rinse and refresh in cold water.

While the potatoes are boiling, add the parsley, basil, pine seeds, garlic and parmesan to a food processor and blend. Add in olive oil bit by bit until you have a runny pesto. 

When the potatoes are cooked and have cooled enough to handle, cut them in half or quarters, then mix in with the pesto, mint leaves and vinegar. Season with plenty of salt and pepper.

Peel and quarter the eggs, mix in gently with the potatoes, and serve. Add extra mint or parsley as garnish if you want.

Peri-peri chicken livers

A cheap and easy meal or snack for all occasions. Spiciness can be adapted according to taste. Based on this recipe.

500 g chicken livers, cleaned
butter for frying
3 cloves of garlic, minced
3-4 tbsp peri-peri sauce, or to taste (I have it on good authority that you can use sweet chilli sauce too. Alternatively, peri-peri sauce is quite easy to make at home)
juice of 1 lemon
125 ml cream
salt and pepper for seasoning
parsley, to serve
crusty bread, to serve

Melt the butter in a hot pan and fry the livers and until golden-brown on both sides. Add the garlic and peri-peri sauce and fry for another minute or so, then add the lemon juice and cream, season and leave to simmer for 5-7 minutes. Garnish with parsley and eat with bread on the side.

Soba, aubergine and mango salad

Just incredible. Courtesy of Yotam Ottolenghi's book, Plenty:

120 ml rice vinegar
40 g sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 fresh chilli, minced
1 tsp sesame oil
zest and juice of 1 lime, plus extra juice to taste
sunflower or rapeseed oil for cooking
2 medium aubergines
250 g soba noodles (made from buckwheat flour)
1 ripe mango (or 2, depending on how much mango you want)
handful each of coriander and basil, roughly chopped
1/2 red onion, sliced thinly

For the dressing, bring the vinegar, sugar and salt to the boil and cook for a minute. Take off the heat, add in the garlic, chilli and sesame oil, and leave to cool. Once cooled, add the lime juice and zest.

Dice the aubergine into 2cm pieces. Fry until golden brown. Once cooked, sprinkle salt over the aubergine and place in a colander to drain.

Cook the soba noodles for around 5-8 minutes depending on the pack instructions. Once cooked, drain in a colander, rinse with cold water, and leave to drip dry. Original instructions say to squeeze out the excess water - not sure if this is entirely necessary, but you do you.

Dice the mango into chunks similar in size to the aubergine. Roughly chop the herbs. Throw the noodles, aubergine, mango, herbs, onion and dressing into a big bowl, mix everything together, then leave to marinade for an hour or two. Serve with bread.

Can serve as a main meal or a side, depending on how hungry you are. Add whatever you want to the salad - tofu and mushrooms spring to mind.

Vegetarian lasagne

We needed to use up some stuff in the fridge, so I made this. It was nice.

150-200g lasagne sheets (I needed 6 large-ish fresh sheets)
2 400g tins whole tomatoes (you could also use diced)
2 onions
2 cloves garlic
2 courgettes
250g mushrooms
1/2 cup red wine (can also use red wine vinegar)
200-300g grated cheese (I guess you should use mozzarella or Parmesan, but we had some regular grated Edam which worked quite well too)
250ml bechamel sauce
Mixed herbs
Salt and pepper to taste

Start with the tomato sauce. Fry the onions and garlic for a few minutes, then add the tomatoes, wine, herbs and seasoning and cook for around 30-45 minutes. If you want more sauce in your lasagne, double the quantities here.

While the sauce is cooking, thinly slice the courgettes lengthwise if possible (you can use a mandolin for this!) or otherwise just use discs. Slice up the mushrooms into thin slices too. Also preheat the oven to 180 degrees.

When the tomato sauce is ready, start assembling your dish. Grease the bottom of your oven dish, then layer as so (not too important, this is how I did it): pasta sheets, courgettes, mushrooms, tomato sauce, bechamel sauce, cheese, pasta, courgettes, mushrooms, tomato sauce, bechamel, cheese, pasta, bechamel, cheese. Season as you go.

Pop it in the oven and cook for 45 minutes to an hour, depending on your oven. It'll come out lovely. 

Beetroot and cherry soup

Despite the odd combination, this is actually very good. Allegedly, it's meant to be an effective anti-inflammatory, but even if it doesn't work as the original recipe intended, it is very tasty.

500 g beetroot (raw, not pre-cooked)
4 carrots, peeled and roughly chopped into halves or thirds
2-3 cloves garlic (not in the original recipe, but I thought it worked well)
1-2 onions
2 thumb-sized pieces of ginger, roughly chopped
1 thumb-sized piece turmeric root (or 1 tbsp dried, powdered turmeric, which is what I used)
1 tbsp cinnamon
250 g tart/sour cherries (you can probably buy them frozen; they should be depitted in advance)
400ml tin coconut milk (or to taste)
750ml - 1l stock (vegetable or chicken)
salt, pepper, cayenne or chilli to taste
olive oil

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees. Wrap the beetroot in foil (if you like, you can peel it first, which is what I did, although I understand it cooks better in its skin and then you can peel it). Put the beetroot and carrots on a baking tray and cook for about 45-60 minutes (the carrots might be ready before the beetroots, depending on the size). When ready, take the beetroots and carrots out of the oven, and, if applicable, peel the beetroots. Chop the vegetables up into smaller pieces.

While the root vegetables are cooking, gently cook the onion, ginger, garlic, and turmeric in a large pot. When ready, add in the beetroot and carrots, cinnamon, cherries, coconut milk, and about a cup or 2 of stock, plus the seasoning and olive oil, and blend it all together using a hand-held blender. Add in more stock as desired to thin the soup.

Bring to the boil and simmer for about 5-10 minutes or so. Serve with some bread on the side.

It's very good. Really.

Thai gazpacho

It was a very hot summer here, so we ate a lot of cold soups. This one turned out very nicely, although if you want it to have a reasonably attractive colour, make sure you use yellow tomatoes, not red ones. Otherwise, though, it's all very tasty. Based on this recipe.

Ingredients:
3-4 large yellow tomatoes, cut into chunks
1 full Noa cucumber, or 1/2 English cucumber, peeled and cut into chunks
1/2 yellow pepper, deseeded and cut into chunks
1 onion
1-2 cloves garlic
1 tbsp lemongrass (paste, fresh, or frozen)
1 thumb-size piece of ginger, peeled and roughly chopped
juice and zest of 1 lime
2 tbsp fish sauce
1 tsp chilli paste OR 1 chilli (or to taste)
mint, (Thai) basil and coriander to taste (should be about 1/2 cup or so)
1/2 a 400ml tin of coconut milk (you can use more too, but keep some for serving)
seasoning

Throw the tomatoes, cucumber, pepper, and onion into a blender and blend. Add the garlic, lemongrass, ginger, lime juice and zest, fish sauce, chilli, herbs and seasoning, and then as much coconut milk as you want (less is more, add little by little until you have as much as you want). Blend the mixture until smooth.

Put in the fridge to cool for a few hours. Serve with some bread on the side. 

Maghmour (Lebanese aubergine stew)

Just, like, the greatest dish ever. Honestly, this is one of the best things I have tasted. It's very simple, very quick, and tastes amazing. I cannot recommend this enough.

It's basically this recipe with a few small changes.

1 kg brinjal/aubergine, cut into cubes of ca. 5x5x5 cm
1/2 cup olive oil
2 x 400g tins chickpeas, well rinsed
1-2 onions, diced
Garlic to taste (original recipe calls for 5 cloves)
thumb-sized piece of ginger, minced
2 x 400g tins tomatoes (or equivalent fresh diced tomatoes. I've used both, and both work well)
1 tbsp tomato paste
1-2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp dried mint or mixed herbs (I also used fresh mint the first time, which worked quite well)
1 - 2 cups water (depending on preferences)

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees. Arrange the aubergine on a baking sheet, cover with 1/4 cup of olive oil and bake for 20-30 minutes until brown. While you're doing that, add the rest of the olive to a pot and brown the onions, then add the garlic and ginger and cook for a few more minutes on a medium heat. Finally, add the chickpeas, tomatoes, tomato paste, herbs, and aubergine, mix together, and cook for about 20 minutes. If it gets too dry, add some water to maintain a stewish consistency (to be fair, I've never needed to add any).

Serve with couscous and enjoy. It is lovely. 

Sweet potato and chickpea burgers with homemade braai relish

This is a blend of this recipe for the patty and this one for the relish with some small changes. It worked quite nicely eventually.

Should make around 4 patties

1-2 sweet potatoes (should be around 500g or so)
400 ml tin chickpeas
1 lemon, zest and juice
cumin, cinnamon, salt and pepper to taste
burger rolls, tomatoes, salad leaves, gherkins to serve

These quantities make quite a lot of relish. You could cut them in half if desired:
1 onion
6 tomatoes, or 2x 400 ml tins of diced tomatoes
garlic to taste
1-2 tbsp peri peri sauce (or to taste)
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp tomato sauce/purée
salt, pepper, cayenne pepper to taste

Chop up the sweet potatoes into chunks and steam until soft. Drain and rinse the chickpeas, then chop them up in a food processor. Once the sweet potatoes are ready, add them to the chickpeas, add the seasoning, and mix in (don't use the food processor). Form into four patties (or as many as you want) and put them in the freezer for about 30 minutes or so. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.

After 30 minutes, put the patties on a baking tray and put in the oven. Cook for about 25 minutes or so. Once they are "cooked," fry them in a pan to firm them up well.

While the patties are in the freezer or the oven, dice the onion and garlic and gently cook in a pot until soft. Add the tomatoes, peri peri, soy sauce, tomato sauce, and seasonings and cook on a low temperature for around 20-30 minutes, stirring occasionally to stop it catching on the bottom of the pot.

Serve in a roll with your preferred toppings (the gherkins, tomatoes, salad leaves and braai relish really worked well with this). You could also make some chips if you are feeling energetic.

Kale and marscapone-stuffed chicken on a bed of roast vegetables

So this was nice...

The vegetable quantities are for about 4 people, but the chicken is only for about 2. Increase the stuffing and wrapping proportionally based on the number of people, and add a breast for each person eating. It's more or less the same as this recipe, but some small tweaks have been made.

Chicken and stuffing (quantities for 2 breasts):
2 skinless chicken breasts (these should be relatively thick, so that you can cut them open and stuff them)
50-60 g kale, roughly chopped and well washed (about 25 g per breast)
2 tbsp mascarpone (about 1 tbsp per breast)
1-2 garlic cloves
zest of about 1/4 to 1/2 a lemon, plus juice if desired
Provencal herbs
a dash of olive oil
seasoning
6-8 rashers of smoked bacon, depending on breast size and how much bacon you might want

Vegetables:
250 g parsnips, peeled and sliced
250 g sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped into thinnish discs
2 onions, peeled chopped into quarters
100 g mushrooms, washed and halved or quartered if needed
1 red pepper, sliced up into strips

Preheat the oven to 200-220 degrees, depending on your oven. Boil the kale for about 4 minutes to soften it up, then drain it, squeeze out the remaining water, and blitz it in a food processor with the mascarpone, garlic, lemon olive oil and seasoning. Cut along the chicken lengthways and stuff the kale and mascarpone into the cavity. Wrap the bacon tightly around the chicken and season. Topelt ei kärise.

Add some oil to a baking tray or dish, then put the vegetables in and toss to cover with the oil, and season, then put in the oven and cook for about 10 minutes. Once the 10 minutes are up, mix the vegetables, put the chicken on top of the vegetables and cook for another 20 to 25 minutes, turning the chicken and mixing the vegetables halfway through. Once the chicken is cooked, cover with foil and leave for a bit, then serve with extras in waiting.

This is really good. Enjoy.

Braised lamb shank

We wanted to try some wild boar this weekend, as it is the season, but our regular butcher at the market, M. Stoltz, was not there. Fortunately, we have a very good butcher just around the corner from us, and we walked in there to get our marcassin. Unfortunately, they did not have any, but they did have souris d'agneau, which seems to translate as lamb shank or knuckle. I called a shank, found a recipe, and made what I think is a very good meal of braised lamb shank. You can serve it with mash. The quantities here are for 2 shanks or people, depending on how hungry you are, but it's all scalable:

2 lamb shanks (about 700g), room temperature
2 onions, diced
3–4 medium carrots or 2 big ones, chopped up into chunks
4 cloves of garlic or to taste, minced
250 ml dry red wine
200 ml chicken stock
200 ml beef stock (I made mine using Bovril, but you do you)
400 g tin diced tomatoes
Rosemary, sage, bay leaf to taste (I used a bouquet of herbs that my wife had bought earlier. You can mix and match to your taste, though)
Lemon peel/zest to taste (about half a lemon's worth should do the trick)

Season the shanks on all sides. In a big Dutch oven or large pot, heat some oil and brown the shanks on all sides, which should take about 6-10 minutes. Once that's done, put the shanks to one side and add the onion, carrots, and garlic, and cook until soft, about 5 minutes. When ready, add in the rest of the ingredients (be careful with the liquid ingredients: don't pour it in all at once. Keep some to one side just in case. You don't want to overdo it) and then return the shanks to the liquid. Make sure the liquid covers the shanks, bring to the boil, cover, then simmer over a low heat for 1.5–2 hours. When the meat is tender, uncover and leave to simmer for another 15–30 minutes. Once done, remove the shanks, wrap them in foil and put them in the oven. Turn the heat up and boil the sauce for another 15 minutes or so to reduce.

Serve the meat and sauce over mash, and don't ditch the bones until someone's gnawed on them.

South African monkey gland sauce

Don't mind the name—this stuff rocks. It's one of South Africa's unknown masterpieces, and it's quite sad, as we've got plenty of monkeys that could donate their glands for this... It's dead easy too, and a good way to use up errant bits of veg and monkey parts in your fridge. Smother meat in it, either as a sauce or as a marinade. Remember to pick out the pituitary gland before you eat—the texture goes to pot when you boil it.

1 onion
3-4 garlic cloves
Thumb-sized piece of ginger
1 pepper (optional)
3-4 tomatoes, diced
1 small tin double concentrated tomato purée
1 tbsp Worcester sauce
1/2 cup chutney
big dollop of red wine (optional)
AND/OR
dash of balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp mustard
150 ml vegetable (or chicken) stock
tabasco, to taste
1 tsp sugar
salt and pepper to season

Fry the onion, garlic, and ginger (and pepper, if you're using it) until the onion is translucent. Add the other ingredients, bring to the boil and cook on a high flame for about 8 minutes, then simmer for another 30–40 minutes. Taste and season if necessary.

Use for marinade and sauce. It should keep for about 2 weeks.

Bacon, cheese, and monkey gland burger

Hummus

I made a decent hummus, but then I added salt...

Moral of the story: never add salt to your hummus. It ain't worth it.

Ingredients:

1 tin chickpeas, very well rinsed
100 g or 3 big tbsp tahini
3 tbsp olive oil, but more to taste if needed
1-2 cloves garlic
Plenty of black pepper
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp cumin
1 lemon, juiced
A bit of coriander, if you fancy

Add everything to a hand-held mixer, blend until smooth, eat with whatever is at hand, but vegetables and bread are always good. Don't cut your fingers on the blades.

Smoked mackerel kedgeree

A slightly different breakfast dish, but this could be good for almost any meal. Despite the list of ingredients, it's very quick, easy and cheap to make. It shouldn't be too spicy - the main taste is the mackerel - so don't overdo the chilli. I based my version on this one from BBC Good Food, but I've made adaptations where necessary.

Should serve 2-3

1/2 cup basmati rice
2-3 thin smoked mackerel fillets
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp coriander seeds
3-4 curry leaves (optional)
1-2 onion, diced
1-2 garlic cloves, minced
chilli to taste, finely diced
1 carrot, speed-peeled or thinly sliced
1/2 leek, thinly sliced
1/2 small bunch coriander, roughly chopped
1 bay leaf
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp curry powder
100 g frozen peas, cooked
knob of butter
4 boiled eggs (I put mine in the cold water in the pot and then boiled them for 3.30 and they were perfect, but you do you)
1 lime, juice

To prep: boil and peel your eggs, cook your peas and put them to one side, cook the basmati rice as per directions, and haul out your wok.

Place the mackerel fillets in a bowl and cover with boiling water. I suppose you'll cover it with around 200-400 ml of boiling water. Let to sit for a while.

Stir-fry the mustard seeds, corianders seeds, curry leaves, onion, garlic, and chilli for a couple of minutes, then add the carrot, leek, coriander and bay leaf. Cook for around 8 minutes.

Add in the rice, pour in about half the water from the fish, and stir very well. Add in the turmeric, curry powder, peas and butter, stir well, and cook for another few minutes.

Peel one egg, stir it in, then add the lime juice. Serve with the remaining eggs and with yoghurt if so desired.

Baked sausage, harissa and tomato casserole

This is a pretty simple dish that has an amazing flavour combination. It's adapted from Nigel Slater's recipe, with a few changes.

Should serve 3 or so, depending on how hungry you are

3 big sausages (boerewors, saucisse de Toulouse or something similar, should be around 600 g or so)
1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp Provencal herbs
2 tbsp harissa paste
250 g mushrooms (button mushrooms work well, but you could probably use porcini too)
1 x 400 g tin of red kidney beans, rinsed
1 x 400 g tin of chickpeas, rinsed
(or, use 2 tins of kidney beans, rinsed)
4 tomatoes, roughly chopped
200 ml chicken stock
Crusty bread, to serve

Heat the oven to 180 degrees. Brown the sausages in a grill pan. Remove, then fry the onion and garlic for a bit. When it starts to go translucent, add the herbs and the harissa, stir well, then cook for a minute or so. Transfer everything to an oven-proof dish. Add the beans and, if you're using them, the chickpeas, as well as the tomatoes and the stock. Chop the sausages up into bite-sized pieces and add them to the mix. Add in the beans (and chickpeas) and the mushrooms, mix well, and shove in the oven.

If you have only beans, cook for 25-30 minutes. If you've added chickpeas (and I do recommend adding chickpeas to your casserole), cook for around 35-40 minutes. In any event, make sure your sausages are not undercooked.

Serve with bread, lots of it. If you fancy, you could serve this over pasta.

Baked eggs with tomato sauce and spinach

I've been using a lovely tomato sauce recipe I discovered recently for a bunch of different stuff. It is very nice. This time, I've used it for baked eggs. Although I made it in one casserole dish this morning, it works better if you have small single-portion pots that you can cook the eggs in.

Serves about 4

2 onions, thinly diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 red peppers, diced
1 chilli (or to taste), finely diced
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
1/2 tsp sugar
1 tsp Provencal spice
2 x 400 g tins diced tomatoes
200 g spinach, stalks removed and roughly chopped
Salt and pepper
6 eggs (in small pots) or 4 eggs (in a casserole dish)
crusty bread to serve

Heat the oven to 180 degrees. Fry the onions, garlic, peppers, and chilli until the onion is translucent. Add the wine vinegar, mix in, and then add the sugar, Provencal spice, and tomatoes. Simmer for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. While you wait, put the spinach in a colander and pour boiling water over it to wilt it. When it has cooled down, squeeze out excess water and, when the tomato sauce is done, add to the tomato sauce and then spoon into the pots or casserole dish. Make a small hole, or put a spoon in the tomato mix in a pot so that the is a bit of a depression in the sauce. Crack an egg on top of the spoon, then push down so that the egg sinks in to the mixture a bit, and then remove. Do this for all the eggs. Shove the pots in the oven, and cook for about 15-20 minutes. Be careful if you're cooking in a casserole dish, as you'll need to cook for longer. It might be a good idea to heat the oven to 140 or so and cook for about 20-25 minutes. In any event, it'll be nice.

Serve with bread, and enjoy. The tomato sauce rocks.

Aubergine/melanzana parmagiana

A vegetarian sort-of-lasagne Italian dish which worked out quite nicely. Very happy with the results. It did not take as long as I thought it would, either, so there's that, although it does take a bit of time. Make sure you have plenty of crusty bread, like a baguette or something similar, with you, so that you can mop up the sauce.

I adapted this from the Guardian's version of this recipe, with some changes. NB: I used quite a large baking tray which explains the quantities. I also layered the aubergine quite thinly, so if you increase the density of the aubergine, you can cut down on the tomato sauce. Still, tomato is nice, so it's up to you.

1.5 kg aubergine/brinjal/"egg"plant, cut lengthwise into 1 cm-thick slices
8 cloves garlic, minced
2 red onions, thinly diced
4 x 400 g tins tomatoes
1-2 glasses of red wine, or 4 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 tsp sugar
1 tbsp oregano or Provencal spice
250 g grated parmesan cheese (or grana padano - meaning that the name is somewhat badly chosen. Oh well...)
250-500 g mozzarella (depending on your cheesy preferences)
50 g breadcrumbs
handful of basil leaves

Cut up the aubergine, salt it (I laid it in layers in a colander, sprinkled some salt over it, and then repeated until I'd done the whole batch), and leave for about half an hour. While you're waiting, fry the onions and garlic for a couple of minutes, add in the wine/wine vinegar, and then tip in the tomatoes and simmer for about 45 minutes, stirring frequently. Crush any big bits that might cause trouble later on.

Rinse the aubergines very well and then fry at least half, but preferably all, of the aubergine slices on a griddle pan for a couple of minutes on either side. I cooked half the slices and left the other half raw when assembling the dish, which seemed to work quite well, but I'd recommend cooking all the aubergine before assembling the dish.

When you've cooked everything, heat your oven to 180 degrees, and then start putting together the dish. Spread a thin layer of tomato sauce in your oven dish, then a layer of aubergine (packed tightly), then mozzarella, parmesan, and seasoning. Repeat in this order until you have used up all the aubergine. Top with a final layer of tomato sauce, then sprinkle breadcrumbs and a little bit of parmesan on the top.

Shove in the oven and cook for about 30 minutes or so, then take out when ready and leave for a couple of minutes before serving. Top with some of the basil, and serve bread on the side. 

Butternut and beef chilli con carne

There was a bit of butternut left at home (when isn't there?) and I decided to try this. As a wise man once told me, "Use 2 different kinds of meat when making chilli." I decided I'd add some seasonal veg instead of extra meat. It was lovely. This is an adaptation of a couple of recipes which I have sadly misplaced. My apologies. Trust me, though: this is good.

1-2 onions
1-2 chillies (to taste)
Garlic to taste (around 4 or so)
2 red peppers
400-500 g beef mince

400-500 g butternut, in 1cm cubes

1 tbsp. chilli powder
2 tsp. cumin
¼ tsp. cinnamon
1 bay leaf
2 x 400ml tins diced tomatoes
2 x 400 ml tins beans (black or kidney), drained and rinsed
2 or 3 ripe avocados, diced (to serve)
white rice, cooked
grated cheese (cheddar or comté if possible)
sour cream
coriander

Fry the onions, chillies, garlic and red peppers for a couple of minutes until the onions start going translucent. Add the meat and brown it, add in the butternut and cook for about 30 seconds (to brown it too, I guess), then add in the spices, mix up well, and then add the tomatoes and season well before mixing it all up. Bring to the boil, then simmer for about 20-30 minutes or so. Add the beans after about 10 minutes and check to see if you need to add more spice (another chilli or chilli powder, or cumin or cinnamon). When ready, serve with white rice, top with avo, coriander, cheese and sour cream, to taste. 

Enjoy.

Chakalaka a la francais

Here is a South African recipe that should be included in everyone's oeuvre. It's sometimes called a Soweto curry or chilli, but whatever you call it, it is very good and can be as spicy or warm as you wish. Also, it's cheap and easy to make. Ideally, it should be served with pap, but since this is not really feasible in France, it's going to have to work as a side. Still, rice could make this a decent vegetarian meal on its own.

Serves 2-4:

Vegetable oil

1 onion, diced

1 carrot, grated

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 cm ginger, minced

1-2 chillies (to taste), diced

2 tbsp garam masala

3 tomatoes, diced

1 tin baked beans

1 tin red kidney beans

Salt and pepper to taste

Fry the onion, carrot, garlic, ginger, chilli and garam masala with the oil in a medium-sized pot until the onion is soft, about 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes and bring to the boil, then cook for about 5 minutes. Add the baked beans, kidney beans and seasoning and cook for a few more minutes. Can be served warm, with pap or rice, or cold, or as a side.

Ratatouille

On a bit of a French kick at the moment. Ah well.

Yes, this is the ratatouille from the film. Again, easy, fun to make, and you get to say the word ratatouille. I mean, how cool is that?

This should serve 3-4 people, depending on quantities.

Ratatouille

2 large aubergines, cubed
3-4 large courgettes, cubed
2 peppers, bite-sized chunks
3 or 4 tomatoes (you can put more in, but it's quite good with less of a tomato-ey taste). Pierce the skin, submerge in boiling water for about 20 seconds, then take them out and skin and de-seed them. Or don't. Either way, cut them into quarters.
Thyme (or Provencal spice)
1 or 2 onions, sliced (but not diced)
Garlic to taste (3 or 4 should generally do the trick)
About 2 tablespoons of red wine (or wine vinegar)
1 teaspoon sugar

For those of you with a bit of adventure in your souls, add some olives, a chilli or two, and some anchovies (but don't overdo the anchovies). A big cast-iron pot is also quite useful.

Cook the aubergines for about 5 minutes until soft, then remove from the heat. Don't overcook just yet. Repeat with the courgettes (until brown) and peppers (browning and then taking them out). Then cook the onions until soft and stuff. Add the garlic, fry for a bit, then add the wine/vinegar and sugar. Stir in, add the tomatoes and the thyme or Provencal spice, stir in again, and add the courgettes, aubergines, and peppers (and olives and anchovies if you're using them). Add salt and pepper to taste, then cook for about 5-10 more minutes.

I'd recommend serving this with couscous. And wine. It'll make you think of your childhood. And then overlook gross violations of public health and sanitation.