Traditional South African Milk tart

This is a great old traditional South African recipe that is relatively easy and sooo delicious!!

Crust - puff pastry

Ingredients:

1 Cup flour

pinch of salt

125g cold butter (not margarine)

80ml ice water (must be ice water)

1/2 tsp lemon juice

Method:

mix the salt and flour together and devide the butter into 3 equal parts.

Grate the first part of the butter into the flour mixture and rub in with your fingertips until the flour looks like mealimeal.

Mix the water and lemon juice and add to the flour mixture.

Mix until it forms a stiff dough.

Roll out on a flour covered surface and grate the second piece of butter on the dough. Fold close and roll out again.

Now grate the last piece of butter on the dough. Fold close and press into a little ball and cool for at least 30 minutes before use.

Once cooled, roll out into a thin layer and press into a round (23cm) dish and cool again while preparing the filling.

Filling:

Ingredients:

2.5 Cups of milk

4 tbls sugar

2 tbls flour

1 tbls maizena

2 eggs seperated

2 tbls butter (not margarine)

5ml Vanilla essence

Method:

Mix all dry ingredients together.

Bring milk to the boil, add vanilla essence and add to dry mixture and mix until smooth.

Pour mixture back into pot and heat while stirring continuously until thick and cooked.

Add the egg yolk and butter and mix well.

Fluff the egg whites and add to the mixture just before pouring into the crust.

Sprinkle with cinnamon and bake for 20 min at 220 degrees.

I hope you enjoy this one and remember that practice makes perfect!! Till next time!

Tasty South African mealie bread.

This is one of my favorites. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

2 Cups flour

3ml tumeric

2 tsp baking powder

60 ml sugar

1 tin (420g) sweetcorn/creamed corn

2 large eggs

80ml milk

60g melted butter or margarine

Method:

Mix all dry ingredients together and add sweetcorn.

Mix milk and eggs together and add melted butter. Add to mixture and mix well.

Bake for 55-60min at 180 degrees.

Serve hot with melting butter!

Till next time!

Start the new year with chocolate...

Well, it's been a while and I am still busy recovering from 'real life' after a wonderful relaxing holiday. When I feel depressed, I find that chocolate normally does the trick for me and makes me feel a little better. This is (or was) actually a Golden Cloud recipe that I had to modify so much because I started mixing before checking if I had all the ingredients. If I can give you good advice, don't start mixing any ingredients before you have made sure that you actually have everything that you need. This is a very rich pudding and not for the faint hearted! Go on, have a second helping...
I'm going to call this one chocolate surprise pudding.
Serves 4

Ingredients:

1 Cup flour

1 Egg

1 tsp hot chocolate

1 tsp cocoa powder

1 tsp baking powder

pinch of salt

90ml sunflower oil

150 ml water

Sauce:
1 cup soft brown sugar
1 cup boiling water
25ml cocoa powder

Method:
Mix the flour, hot chocolate powder, cocoa powder, salt and baking powder together.
Beat egg, oil and water together and add to flour mixture. Mix together until smooth
Pour batter into a casserole dish and prepare the sauce.
For the sauce: mix all ingredients together in a saucepan and bring to the boil or stir until sugar is dissolved. Pour sauce slowly over mix and bake for 40min at 180 degrees
Serve hot with whipped cream.

Till next time. Enjoy!

Pear sauce with a bite...

This sauce is great with roast chicken, leg of lamb and pork roast. My gran always used to make pear sauce for Christmas lunch but I never liked it. It was only after she passed away that I made it myself and actually tried it on gammon and chicken. She just always made her pear sauce without the chilli!

Preperation time: 15 minutes
Serves: approx 7-8

Ingredients:
4-5 pears peeled and cut into cubes
40g butter or margarine
pinch of chilli powder
pinch of cinnamon
3 tbsp brandy (recipe says Calvados, but normal brandy is fine)
5ml lemon juice
300m vegetable stock

Method:
Fry the pears in butter or margarine until soft.
Add chilli, cinnamon, lemon juice and brandy and cook for approx 5 mins.
Blend until smooth and add to vegetable stock in a saucepan.
Heat for approx 5 mins and serve hot!

Enjoy, till later...

Don't be a fruit cake!

My first attempt at baking a fruit cake produced a really large, dry brick because I thought that I was really clever and left it in the oven after baking it to keep it moist!!! This method will work only if you let the cake (and the oven) cool down first!

This recipe comes from a Moir's cookbook and is really easy and tasty if you do not leave it in the oven after baking it!!
Ingredients:
375ml (1 1/2 Cup) Fruit mix
125ml (1/2 Cup) chopped red/green glazed cherries
150g butter or margarine
125ml (1/2 Cup) brown sugar
5ml (1tsp) mixed spice/cloves
250ml (1 Cup) orange juice
2 eggs
375ml (1 1/2 Cup) Flour
15ml (3 tsp) baking powder
10-15 peacan nuts halved

Method:
Add fruit mix, cherries, butter, brown sugar, mixed spice and orange juice to a large saucepan.
Bring to the boil stirring continuously for about 4 min. Leave to cool down.
Mix flour, eggs and baking powder until smooth. Mix with saucepan mixture and pour it into a cake pan (20cm in dia)
Bake at 150 degrees for 1 1/4 hours.
Leave to cool down (outside the oven!) for 10 minutes and turn out onto a cooling rack.

Well, I hope you enjoy this recipe and if you would like to spice it up a little, add a dash of brandy to the fruit cake everyday before Christmas!!!

Till later...

Broccoli and cashew nuts on the side...

I found the following recipe in an old magazine. I have only recently tried it myself and it is delicious and easy to make.

Preperation time: 15 minutes

Serves 4-6

INGREDIENTS

1pkt (500g) fresh broccoli, cut into bite size pieces

1/2 Red or Yellow pepper cut into thin strips
1/3 cup butter
1 tablespoon brown sugar
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 teaspoons white vinegar
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1/3 cup chopped salted cashews

salt and black pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS
Steam broccoli in microwave for approximately 5 minutes (must still be crisp) Add the peppers to the broccoli. Melt the butter in a small saucepan and add the mixture of brown sugar, soy sauce, vinegar, and garlic to it. Bring to a boil, then remove from the heat. Mix in the cashews and pour the sauce over the broccoli. Serve immediately.

Become a fan of the green affro man...

Well, this is a difficult one because I am supposed to encourage you to eat your broccoli when I despise it myself. All I can say for now is; do as I say and not as I do!!! No, all jokes aside, I do eat broccoli but I can honestly say that it is not my favourite veggie!

I am going to attempt to try and get you excited about broccoli, so here goes: Broccoli is a member of the cabbage family( and this is important to man and beast beacause?) Broccoli contains a high percentage of Vitamin C, A and folic acids, while potassium, phosphorus, magnesium, traces of Omega 3, calcium, iron and zinc are also present.

So as you can see it is indeed a valuable source of most of the essential nutrients. It is very easy to prepare, and as it is with all vegetables, do not overcook broccoli as it will lose all of its valuble nutrients. The health benefits of eating broccoli include its preventative and healing qualities against the effects of various forms of cancer, cataracts (I'm not so sure about this one as I was an optician for 10 years and developing cataracts had nothing to do with eating broccoli or not!), osteoporosis and ulcers. If eaten regularly it could also boost the immune system.

So now you might ask yourself how much broccoli should I eat? The good news is that just 3 to 5 servings-less than one serving a day will be enough to help you benefit from all its goodness.

Now all I can say is bite the bullet and happy broccoli eating!!!
Till next time!

New look and feel

Good day to you!
I am sure you must be confused if you have stumbled across my blog and expected to see recipes and health tips. If you thought that bite on the side was all about good food and decadent treats, you are correct, so please excuse my previous entries, written in Afrikaans about my cat and dog. I can explain... I trust that you will greatly benefit from my tips and enjoy my cooking experiences with me. Watch this space!!!