Koeksisters

(pronounced: cook + sisters)


Never, ever, EVER did I think I would attempt to make this famous South African sweet treat anywhere in my "baking future" - all on my own, rotating between really hot oil and near freezing cold syrup! Mostly because everyone always told me: "O man, that's a big job!"

But, you know, living in NZ now, I can't just pop into the local SPAR and buy a dozen of koeksisters anymore. I was craving them. So what's a girl to do....?

Yes, I found a recipe, made the syrup, left it in the fridge for 24hrs, started with the pastry the following day, made the koeksisters, placed them in the fridge..... and they were all eaten up by day two. 

Sweet, syrupy and just addictive! If I can make them, anyone can!

Ingredients for dough:

• 2 cups cake flour

• 2 tablespoon baking powder

• ½ tsp salt

• 1 large egg

• 4 tbsp butter/margarine

• ½ cup of water

• oil for frying

Ingredients for syrup:

• 1kg sugar

• 1 ½ cinnamon sticks

• ½ tsp ground ginger

• 1 ½ cups of water

• juice of one lemon

Method: syrup

Prepare the syrup a day before (it needs to be very cold). Dissolve sugar in the water. Add the spices and lemon juice to this and boil together. Leave the syrup cool in the fridge overnight.

Method: dough

Sift the flour, baking powder and salt together. Rub in the butter and mix until pliable.
Mix this with the egg and water (adding the water a little at a time). Work the dough well. 

If the dough appears to be lumpy and sticky, continue to work the dough until it will ball up.
Let the dough rest at room temperature for about three hours (under an inverted mixing bowl).

Prepare the koeksisters:

• Roll out the dough (thickness 5mm).
• Cut the dough into strips of 6cm long, 2cm wide.
• Cut each of these strips into three strips (not all the way through, leave the strips connected at the top).
• Plat each strip, pinch together at the end of the strip.
• Deep fry until golden brown.
• Remove and drain quickly – dip the hot koeksisters in the cold syrup (that was stored in the fridge up to now).
• The secret is to keep the syrup cold and the koeksisters hot, this way it will draw just the right amount of syrup.
• You can keep the syrup cold by keeping the syrup bowl in another container filled with iced water.

Thank you to Just Easy Recipes -http://www.justeasyrecipes.co.za/2009/08/27/koeksisters/

Preparing the Koeksister

Into the oil they go!

Pork Belly Andre

As promised...

...Andre's "secret' marinade recipe for Pork Belly!

On it's way to the Cobb.

The coals and juice go below, then your meat,
then the lid.

I cannot give you quantities :-), because he didn't measure out anything... he tasted! Well, there you have it folks - let your taste buds do the work.

We slow cooked our PB on our cobb (www.cobbglobal.com). It's really a handy little cooker! Of course, us South Africans, love to braai and see flames and stink from smoke and braai-vleis, but some days we can be sophisticated too...

What you will need:

• Your tongue - for tasting
• Olive Oil
• Soy Sauce
• BBQ Sauce
• Tobasco Sauce
• Ginger
• Salt and Pepper
• 1Kg Pork Belly (our PB still had the ribs on)
• Apple juice if using a Cobb

Make about 500ml of the marinade... mix all the ingredients together in your preferred quantities (by tasting). 

Place your PB in a large enough Zip Lock bag, then add the marinade. It's best to let the PB marinade over-night in the fridge.

A Cobb is not a "must have". (BUT, if you do have one, below, where the coals go, pour some apple juice in the area around the coals... you will know where). You can use some other means of slow cooking it as well - Weber, kitchen oven, etc. Ours took about 2hrs to cook!

You can use your thermometer to check the meat temp. to see if it's done! Andre just cut the meat and had a look... he probably tasted it too - hehe!

Hawke's Bay Easy Fruit Cake

Guaranteed to impress

My mom found this recipe in a Hawke's Bay newspaper and of course, we had to make one for Christmas!
It's super quick to prepare and it tastes really good. 

Ingredients

Pre-heat oven to 125 degC.

1Kg dried Fruit Cake mix
2x cups Self-Raising Flour
2x cups Peach Ice Tea

Put some cherries and nuts ontop before baking.

Method

Mix the fruit mix and Ice Tea well and soak overnight (12hrs).
Add the 2x cups of Self-Raising Flour in the soaked fruit and stir well.

Pour mixture into a well greased "spring form" cake tin (20cm or 23cm) OR use a square non-stick tin - grease well.

Bake for 2.5hrs or until cooked (your cake tester comes out clean).

Serve it hot or cold, with cream or custard. I just put butter on and eat it with tea!

Spicy Butternut and Orange Soup

Benjamin's Favourite Butternut Soup

It's now a tradition in our family to have Butternut Soup as a starter for our Christmas Eve dinner. And this year, Ben helped me make it. 

Usually I would make a straight forward one... Butternut, chicken stock and I think some cream, BUT because my recipe books are still "boxed up", I went to one of my, now favourite sites: www.pinkpolkadotfood.com.

They had two options to choose from, so we went for the spicy one.... and we sort of followed the instructions :-)! You will see my high-lighted comments - I use what I have in the kitchen!

I must say that this recipe is the best I have tasted, ever! We had the leftovers for lunch on Christmas day and it tasted even better!! 

Try it. You won't use another Butternut Soup recipe again! 

Oops, missed that drop...

Ingredients

Pre-heat the oven to 180ºC.

• 60ml olive oil
• 2 leeks, sliced [ I used 1x]
• 30ml medium curry powder
• 10ml cumin powder
• 15ml coriander powder
• 5ml fresh ginger [ I used ground ginger]
• 10ml turmeric
• 1 large cinnamon stick [ I used 5ml ground cinnamon]
• 2kg cubed butternut [ I used 1.6Kg]
• 3l vegetable stock [ I used veg stock powder with 1.5L water]
• juice and grated skin of 3 large oranges [I only used the juice]
• 30ml honey
• salt and freshly grounded black pepper
• 125ml cream
• chives

Method

Place the olive oil into a large roasting tin and place into the oven to heat.

Once hot, place the leeks, curry, cumin, coriander, ginger, turmeric and cinnamon stick in the oil and mix.

Add the butternut and mix through; making sure that the butternut is covered with the spice mixture.

Roast in the oven for 30 minutes.

Remove the butternut mixture from the oven and transfer to a large pot.

Add the stock, orange juice and peel and honey.

Season with salt and pepper, cook for 20 minutes and remove from the heat to cool down a bit.

Process in a food processor and return to the pot.

Add the cream, heat through and serve sprinkled with some chives and crusty bread.

The famous Ginger Cookie

Old Fashioned Ginger Biscuits

Well, it's been 2 weeks since we've moved into our rental home here in Wellington, NZ. 
So, so many boxes are still unopened - stored in the garage. I have no clue where my recipe books are... and my mind, hands, mouth, nostrils (hehe) want to bake something!!! When I REALLY feel like cooking or baking something, I taste it in my mouth looong before the finished product ;-). I'm sure you know what I'm talking about!!

No recipe book - no problem - Google!

I found this website www.pinkpolkadotfood.com. And there it was... Ginger Cookies that you roll in sugar before baking them! They are the best!

Presenting: The Ginger Cookie

Ingredients:

• 230g butter
• 250g sugar
• 250ml golden syrup
• 10ml bicarbonate of soda
• 15ml milk
• 550g cake flour
• 5ml salt
• 60ml ginger powder
• extra sugar (optional) 

Method

Pre-heat the oven to 180ºC and butter 2 to 3 baking tins.

Mix the butter, sugar and golden syrup together until well combined.

Add the bicarbonate of soda to the milk and mix into the butter mixture.

Sift the cake flour, salt and ginger powder together and add to the butter mixture. Mix until it forms a dough.

Roll the dough into small balls. (Maybe slightly smaller than a ping-pong ball).

Roll into the sugar to be covered (optional).

Place on the buttered baking tins ( or baking sheets) and bake in the pre-heated oven for approximately 10 minutes or until golden brown.

Cool down for 2 – 3 minutes and transfer to cooling racks.

Once cooled down completely store in an airtight container. 

Ben and Ingrid helping mom bake. I will have to find their aprons!

Roll the little balls in sugar before baking.

Perfect for Christmas. Enjoy!

Baked Supper

Vienna and Bread Bake

Wow, it's been a while since I posted something.... not that I didn't cook - NO WAYS! 
We were actually busy moving! (Check out my other Blog: "thelouwshuffle").

Quite a thing moving from one country to another!!

Anyways, I made this sausage dish before leaving South Africa. I used a recipe, but I must say that I thought it to be a bit "bland". I will make it again, but I will rather use Boerewors or Chorizo, Smoked Sausage or Salami chuncks... something with some spice.
But, I must mention that my kids loved it ;-)

What you will need:

One large dish (approx. 15 x 25cm) or smaller dishes to serve per person - your choice.

* 5 or 6 slices of bread ( 1-2 day old)
* +- 500g Sausage of your choice
* Loads of grated cheddar cheese
* 2-4 eggs (depends on the size of your dish)
* Milk
* 1/2 cup chopped parsley
* Salt and pepper to taste

Method: 

1. Roughly cut the bread into blocks.
2. Cut the sausage into 1cm pieces.
3. Mix the bread, sausage, grated cheese, parsley all together.
4. Transfer this mixture into your oven dish / or smaller dishes.
5. Beat your eggs together and add some milk to it. (Like when you make scramble eggs)
6. Pour the egg-mixture over the bread and sausage mixture.
7. Add salt 'n pepper to taste.

Oven bake now (uncovered) at 180 deg.C until done... about 20min. But test it first - eggs can be tricky!

.... Before baking.

... After baking.

... Serve with some veges and salad. 

And, of course, I don't need an excuse to have a glass of wine with supper!
Enjoy.

Time is relative... Fish Braai.

When you are busy, time flies. And when you sit still and do nothing, time seems to tick over slowly. Right!? Lazy days are meant for fish braai's...


Fish Braai

This is one of my all-time favourite meals... fish over hot coals. It always brings back my best childhood memories...
And it is so easy to prepare!!

NB RULE: Buy FRESH fish from the market / harbour that they caught that morning or, even better, catch your own! I usually buy my fish at the harbour - fresh Hake (Stokvis).

Firstly, you would need some nice, warm coals. So start up your braai - drink a beer or a glass of Chenin Blanc - relax, watch the flames...
Later, maybe a while later... after adding more wood and just relaxing - add some charcoal, in case you don't have good coals.

Then, mix melted butter (salted) with fresh, crushed garlic, salt, pepper (to taste). Place your fish, skin down, on a big sheet of foil. I usually spray the foil with a "non-stick" spray. 
Brush your butter mixture liberally over the white meat of the fish. 
Then add your spices... I like it plain and simple (salt and pepper), but on this specific day, I used "Ina Paarman's Lemon and Rosemary Seasoning." 
















Then, onto the hot coals.... 
You can wrap the fish in the foil. I just leave mine open.
Fish cook quite fast, so keep an eye on it. The fish is ready when it flakes easily!

Oh, sorry!! I never took a photo of the salad, savoury rice and pumpkin fritters I made with the dish.... I couldn't wait to eat :-). It was so, so good!! 



















No, these fillets are not left-overs.... they were eaten not long after I took this photo!













Enjoy!