Equal amounts of flour and butter. 2 Tablespoons each.
Stir over heat until butter melts.
Take off heat add milk and stir without making lumps until you make a roux.
Put back on heat add more milk, salt and pepper.
Stir until consistency is like a custard.
Add grated cheese.

Melt 500 grams butter or margarine.
Add 2 beaten eggs & 500 ml buttermilk.
In a large plastic bowl mix 1 Kg self-raising flour with 2 cups of brown sugar.
Add the wet mixture to the dry. Mix.
Put into a pan and bake for one hour at 180 C.

pork spare rib or chump chops – 2 large, about 1 cm thick
butter 25g
olive oils – 1 tablespoon
garlic 2 large cloves, unpeeled, flat
a glass of white wine
double or whipping cream
grain mustard – 1½ tablespoons
smooth Dijon mustard – 1½ tablespoons
cornichons – 8, or half as many larger gherkins

Rub the chops all over with salt and pepper. Put the butter and oil in a shallow pan set over a moderate heat and, when they start to froth a little, add the flattened garlic and the seasoned chops. Leave to brown, then turn and brown the other side. Lower the heat and continue cooking, turning once, until the chops are no longer pink when cut into.

Lift out the chops, transfer to a warm serving dish and keep warm. Pour off most of the oil from the pan, leaving the sediment behind., then turn up the heat and pour in the wine. Let it boil for a minute or so, scraping at the sticky sediment in the pan and letting it dissolve. Pour in the cream, swirl the pan about a bit, then leave it to bubble up a little before adding the mustards and the chopped cornichons.

Taste for seasoning; you may need a little salt or possibly black pepper. The sauce shoud be piquant and creamy. If you want you can finish the sauce with a few drops of liquor from the cornichon jar to sharpen it up. Pour the sauce over the chops and serve.

Enough for two with mashed or unbuttered new potatoes.

1 Kg Self raising flower
250 g bran
1 tsp salt
2 cups sugar
500 g butter
1 Lt cream

Mix dry ingredients.  Rub in butter.  Add cream.  Push into pan and cut into fingers.  Bake at 180° C for 45 – 60 minutes.  Dry at 100° C for +/- 3 hours.  (Very large mixture – try half!)

Makes 3 to 4 dozen biscuits

Ingredients
1¼ cup (310 ml) oatmeal
½ cup (115 gram) butter
½ cup (125 ml) brown sugar
½ cup (125 ml) white sugar
1 egg
½ teaspoon (3 ml) bicarbonate of soda
1 cup (250 ml) flour
½ teaspoon (3 ml) baking powder
¼ teaspoon (1 ml) salt
125 gram grated dark or milk chocolate
and
175 gram choc chips
(or use 200 to 300 gram of whatever chocolate you have)
½ teaspoon (3 ml) vanilla
¾ cup walnuts or pecan nuts (optional)
Method
Measure the oatmeal and process in a blender until fine.
Mix the butter and both sugars together until creamy.
Add eggs and vanilla and mix until fluffy.
Add baking soda and salt.
Fold in the flour, oatmeal and baking powder.
Add chocolate chips, grated chocolate and the nuts. The dough should be firm enough to roll into balls, add more flour if necessary.
Leave the dough to rest in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.
Roll into medium-sized balls, and place two inches apart on a cookie sheet.
Bake for about 10 minutes at 180°C until golden brown.
You can bake them a little longer if you like them crisp, but be careful not to burn them.

This is said to be the chocolate oat biscuit recipe used by famous brands in both South Africa and the United States. It is also claimed that they are healthy because they use oatmeal (which is low in GI and contains antioxidants) and dark chocolate (everyone knows dark chocolate is good for you). We couldn’t care less if any of these wild claims are true or not; all we know is that these chocolate oat biscuits are crisp and additively delicious.

The original American recipe was specific about using grated chocolate and choc chips, namely 6 ounces (180 gram) of chocolate chips and 240 gram (60 grams) of grated Hershey Bar.

The South African version used the amounts of chocolate as stated in the recipe, but we found it to be a robust recipe. It worked well when we simply chopped up a 250 gram slab of New Zealand Whitakers chocolate, and equally well when we only had about 200 gram chocolate (choc chips and leftover chopped up chocolate). You can basically use whatever you have, but the more chocolate, the better.

Because the original recipe is huge, we quartered it. Feel free to double the recipe.

Ingredients
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup honey
Sesame seeds, for garnish
2 pounds chicken wings
1 cup low sodium soy sauce,
1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro leaves
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 lemon, juiced

Directions

Rinse chicken wings and pat dry. Remove tip and discard; separate each wing at the joint into 2 pieces. Place wings in a shallow dish and pour over the soy sauce, ginger, cilantro, garlic, and lemon juice. Toss well to coat; marinate, refrigerated, for 2 hours.

Remove wings from marinade and pat dry; season with salt and pepper. In a large saute pan over medium-high heat, melt the butter in the olive oil. When the butter stops foaming, add the honey and chicken wings and fry until browned on each side, about 5 minutes. Continue cooking the wings, turning them over often to coat them as the glaze reduces. Cook until the wings are sticky and cooked through. Garnish with sesame seeds and serve.

Ingredients
8 red peppers, deseeded and roughly chopped
10 red chillies, roughly chopped
finger-sized piece fresh root ginger, peeled and roughly chopped
8 garlic cloves, peeled
400g can cherry tomatoes
750g golden caster sugar
250ml red wine vinegar

Method
Tip the peppers, chillies (with seeds), ginger and garlic into a food processor, then whizz until very finely chopped. Scrape into a heavy-bottomed pan with the tomatoes, sugar and vinegar, then bring everything to the boil. Skim off any scum that comes to the surface, then turn the heat down to a simmer and cook for about 50 mins, stirring occasionally.

Once the jam is becoming sticky, continue cooking for 10-15 mins more, stirring frequently so that it doesn’t catch and burn. It should now look like thick, bubbling lava. Cool slightly, transfer to sterilised jars, then leave to cool completely. Keeps for 3 months in a cool, dark cupboard – refrigerate once opened.

This has a kick, but won’t blow your head off, and goes well with any selection of cold cuts of meat.

Ingredients
Roulade
8 oz (227g) Mushrooms Any variety
2 tablespoons Thyme chopped
5 Eggs separated
15 grams Butter unsalted
2 cloves Garlic chopped
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1/2 teaspoon Black pepper
Filling
1 cup (180g) Spinach cooked
2 oz (56g) Cream cheese softened
50 grams Walnuts chopped
1/4 cup (25g) Parmesan cheese grated

Instructions
Preheat the oven to 200C/400F degrees.
Heat the butter in a pan on a medium heat.
Add the garlic and cook for 2-3 minutes.
Finely chop the mushrooms and add to the pan.
Cook for 8-10 minutes until the mushrooms are cooked.
Stir in the thyme and season with the salt and pepper. Remove from the heat.
Place the mushroom mixture in a bowl and add the egg yolks and blend (I use a hand blender), so the mixture is smooth.
In another bowl, whisk the egg whites.
Gently fold the egg whites into the mushroom mixture.
Grease and line a rectangle baking tray with parchment paper.
Spread the mixture evenly in the baking tray and bake for 15 minutes until firm and slightly golden.
As the roulade is cooking prepare the filling.

In a bowl mix the cream cheese, spinach and parmesan together until soft and spreadable.

When the roulade is ready, remove from the oven and with a knife gently loosen the edges.
Place the roulade on top of a large piece of parchment paper and tap the tin for the roulade to come out.
Remove the parchment paper that was used to bake the roulade from the top of it.
Spread the spinach cheese mixture over the roulade.
Scatter the chopped walnuts over the filling.
Using the parchment paper at the bottom from the smaller edge, roll the roulade up.
Remove the parchment paper and serve.

INGREDIENTS
Serves: 4-6

1¼ kilograms firm white fish
salt
2 teaspoons turmeric
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 medium onions (halved and cut into fine half moons)
2 long red chillies
4 centimetres piece of fresh root ginger
1 pinch of ground cumin
1 x 400 millilitres tin coconut milk
1 tablespoon tamarind (or 2 tablespoons concentrated)
1 tablespoon fish stock concentrate

Cut the fish into bite-sized chunks, put them into a large bowl, and rub with a little salt and 1 teaspoon turmeric. Heat the oil in a large, shallow pan and peel and tip in your fine half-moons of onion; sprinkle them with a little salt to stop them browning and then cook, stirring, until they’ve softened; this should take scarcely 5 minutes.

Cut the whole, unseeded chillies into thin slices across (although if you really don’t want this at all hot, you can deseed and then just chop them) and then toss them into the pan of softened onions. Peel the ginger and slice it, then cut the slices into straw-like strips and add them too, along with the remaining teaspoon of turmeric and the cumin. Fry them with the onions for a few minutes.

Pour the tin of coconut milk into a measuring jug and add a tablespoon of tamarind paste and the fish stock concentrate, using boiling water from the kettle to bring the liquid up to the litre mark. Pour it into the pan, stirring it in to make the delicate curry sauce. Taste and add more tamarind paste if you want to. And actually you can do all this hours in advance if this helps.

When you are absolutely ready to eat, add the fish to the hot sauce and heat for a couple of minute until it’s cooked through but still tender.

Kerala, a state on India’s tropical Malabar Coast, has nearly 600km of Arabian Sea shoreline. It’s known for its palm-lined beaches and backwaters, a network of canals. Inland are the Western Ghats, mountains whose slopes support tea, coffee and spice plantations as well as wildlife. National parks like Eravikulam and Periyar, plus Wayanad and other sanctuaries, are home to elephants, langur monkeys and tigers.

Lemon Rice

1-2 teaspoons vegetable oil
250 g (1 1/4 cup) Basmati rice
1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
1/2 teaspoon dried mint
zest and juice of 1 lemon
500 ml (2 cups) water
pinch of salt

Heat the oil in a medium saucepan.
Stir through the Basmati rice and coat it in the oil.
Add the turmeric and dried mint.
Add the zest and juice of the lemon.
Stir through the water and pinch of salt.
Give everything a good stir.
Cover the saucepan with a tight-fitting lid.
Turn the heat down to very low.
Cook the rice for about 30 minutes, or until the rice has absorbed all of the liquid.
Fluff the rice with a fork before serving.

This dish is delicious hot or cold with roast leg of lamb, poached eggs, or on its own.

120 ml extra virgin olive oil
500 g fresh aubergines (brinjals) cut into chunks
5 large courgettes (baby marrows), cut into chunks
2 green peppers, seeded and roughly chopped
1 large onion, cut into eighths
1 x 400 g tin whole, peeled plum tomatoes, chopped
1 bay leaf
slat and freshly ground black pepper
2.5 ml cayenne pepper
3 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
5 ml fresh thyme leaves
30 ml chopped fresh Italian parsley
8 fresh basil leaves, torn

Heat half the oil in a large, heavy based pan and lightly brown the aubergines, courgettes, peppers and onion in batches. Transfer each batch to a large heavy-based saucepan and our the remaining olive oil, tinned tomatoes and add the bay leaf.  Season with salt, ground black pepper and cayenne pepper.  Simmer, covered, for 30 minutes over medium heat, stirring often to ensure that it doesn’t burn.  Stick in the garlic and thyme and cook for a further 20 minutes until thick.  Serve sprinkled with the parsley and basil.

Serves 8 – 10