Hello 2022! Happy Happy New year, mense! We welcome a new year, new opportunities and 365 days to make amazing memories!
May the New year bring you all happiness, peace, prosperity and love.
Welcoming the New Year also comes with challenges, one of them being stretching those pennies we have left after all the lekker kuier tyd and the festivities.
Many of us are still home, still in a holiday mood and with it comes the lus to eat lekker.
Today I will be featuring recipes to give you inspo on how to entertain on a budget.
Light those fires, use the leftover coals or bit of wood lying around and try these cost-effective recipes that won’t break the bank.
We’re going to stretch things a bit but also add the little extra ingredients to make your recipes a bietjie fancy.
The aim is to work with what we have and clear out the last little bits and bobs in our fridge and cupboards.
The vegetables and spices I used as a guide, but the recipes are versatile enough for you to work with what you have at home and clear out all the bietjie bietjies.
Cooking food over the fire just tastes better.
Braaied chicken or a lekker boerewors is a favourite to so many and if you feel like something extra, a good old potjie is perfect if you’re in the mood to entertain.
There is something about a slow cooked potjie that just hits the spot.
It is the perfect example of “good things take time”.
Serve it with rice, rolls or a lekker snytjie brood, there are so many different meats and veg you can add in it and this pot of comfort food goes such a long way.
This week I feature recipes to help us stretch our meals, so it carries us through the 100 days of Janu-worry.
We focus on using up whatever proteins we have in the freezer and clearing out the left over veg, using simple ingredients like potatoes, onions, tomatoes, apricot jam, mayo and even leftover chips to make something lekker.
Happy cooking.
Love, your Cooksister
Recipes
Sticky Chicken Wings
Recipe Credit by Farzana Kumandan @sprinklesandspicect
Ingredients
16 chicken wings
1 cup apricot jam
½ cup mayonnaise
1 tablespoon crushed chillies
¼ cup water
Method
*For the marinade
On a stovetop add all the ingredients to a pot and bring to boil.
Simmer on a low heat, stirring continuously until sauce is thick and bubbly (3-5minutes)
Remove from heat and allow to cool completely.
In a deep bowl wash and trim the wings.
Pour over half the marinade, mix well and allow to rest for at least a half hour.
Braai over medium to hot coals for 15 minutes, basting as your turn the wings over.
Nachos
Recipe Credit by Farzana Kumandan @sprinklesandspicect
Ingredients
1 large packet Doritos
1 cup sweet chilli sauce
1 pepper
1 onion
1 cup cherry tomatoes
2 cups cheese
Method
In a foil dish or add your favourite chips and make an even layer
Squeeze over some sweet chilli sauce (the thicker the sauce the better)
Add the sliced peppers, sliced onion and chopped tomatoes.
Top with grated cheese
Braai over medium to low coals or until the cheese melts and the sauce starts to bubble. Alternatively, microwave on a high heat for 2-3 minutes un
Serve with cream cheese, sour cream, cottage cheese, smashed Avo or eat them up as is.
Stuffed Chicken Fillets
Recipe Credit by Farzana Kumandan @sprinklesandspicect
Ingredients
8 chicken fillets
1 red pepper diced
1 large onion sliced
Feta or mozzarella cheese
Barbeque spice
Chutney
Method
Rinse and pat dry your chicken fillets.
Freeze them for 15 minutes. (When the fillets are slightly frozen, they able cut much easier)
Once your fillets are slight frozen give it a small slit, on the side, half butterflying the fillet.
In a bowl add some chopped red feta, crumbled some feta cheese and sliced onion.
Mix them all together and stuff your chicken fillet.
Close your fillet with a toothpick.
Season your fillet with BBQ spice and brush or rub on a dash of chutney.
Place on a baking tray lined with baking paper
(The sauce does become sticky)
And bake on 200 degress for 20 minutes.
Grill for a further 10 minutes until the top of the chicken caramelises and turns brown.
Oxtail Potjie
Recipe Credit by Kaalvoet: Barefoot Chef
Ingredients
Oil to cover the base of your potjie
1kg Oxtail (optional extra pieces beef)
2 Onions, chopped
Chunks of Potatoes, Carrots, Baby marrows and Green Beans
2 teaspoons Ginger and Garlic paste
Black Pepper to taste
1x 400gr can of Diced Tomatoes
A few Bay Leaves
Salt to taste
Method
Place the pot on the fire and heat the oil.
Add the onions and fry until soft and translucent.
Add the oxtail and the ginger and garlic paste and brown on all sides. If the pot is too warm and the meat is burning, add 1- 2 cups water
Add salt and black pepper.
When the meat is brown, add the diced tomatoes and the bay leaves.
Put the lid on and gently simmer for approximately 2- 2 ½ hours.
Add the potatoes and the carrots first and cook for about 30-40 minutes before adding the baby marrows and the green beans.
Taste and add a bit more salt and black pepper if needed.
Don’t stir the pot, but gently shake to ensure that there is enough liquid in the bottom and that it’s not burning. Add water if needed.
Replace the lid and simmer for another 20-30 minutes
Salwaa’s Lamb and Rice Potjie
Recipe Credit by Salwaa Smith - Cape Malay Cooking & Other Delights
Ingredients
1kg mutton/lamb pieces
6 medium potatoes, peeled and halved
3 large onions, finely chopped
2 finely chopped tomatoes
50g butter or margarine
1 cup buttermilk / plain yoghurt
2-3 large whole fresh green chilli, slit open
1 Tbsp garlic
1 Tbsp ginger paste
1/2 cup chopped fresh coriander
2 & 1/2 tsp salt, to taste
2 & 1/2 tsp red leaf masala/roasted masala
2 tsp ground jeera/cumin
2 tsp ground coriander/koljana
1 - 2 tsp chilli powder
2 tsp turmeric/borrie
4 – 5 cups basmati rice
1/2 cup cooking oil
2 tsp jeera seeds
2 bay leaves
6 cardamom pods, slit open
3 pieces of stick cinnamon
6 all-spices
6 cloves
Method
Rinse rice under running water. Soak and cover rice with boiling water and put aside.
Warm potjie over coals. Add butter and oil. Braise the onions with the whole spices. Add the dry spices and the tomatoes and cook for about 10 minutes add little water at a time as needed. Add lamb / mutton and cook until meat is almost soft about 40 minutes depending on what cut of meat you choose. Add buttermilk/ yoghurt. And stir. Add potatoes and cook for a further 15 - 20 minutes on low to medium coals. By this stage add 2 cups of water. Top up water as needed.
Throw off water from rice and rinse rice again. Add rice to the pot. Add 3 - 4 cups of water. Dot with butter and sprinkle a good handful of freshly chopped coriander leaves. Cover potjie with greaseproof paper then with the lid. Cook for a further 15 minutes. Leave potjie covered for a further 15 minutes before serving. Dis from the bottom.
Roosterkoek Boerie Bites with Chakalaka
Recipe Credit Zola Nene
For the Roosterkoek
Ingredients
1 kg white bread flour
7 ml sugar
2 ml salt
1 sachet instant yeast
500 ml lukewarm water
For Zola’s Chakalaka
Ingredients
2 tbsp. oil
1 onion; diced
½ red pepper; diced
½ yellow pepper; diced
½ green pepper; diced
2 garlic cloves; chopped
1 tbsp. fresh ginger; grated
1 tbsp. curry powder
2 carrots; grated
1 tin baked beans
½ cup water
Salt & pepper
Chopped fresh chilli to taste
Method
First braai the boerewors until it’s slightly rare to medium. You don’t want it cooked through as it will continue to cook in the roosterkoek!
Leave to cool enough to handle with the roosterkoek dough.
Method for Chakalaka
Heat oil, then sauté onion, peppers, garlic ginger and chilli until soft.
Add curry powder then sauté for a minute.
Add carrots and the baked beans, stir together then add the water (use the water to swirl the baked beans tin).
Cover and simmer for 5 minutes.
Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Method for the Roosterkoek:
Mix the dry ingredients, add the lukewarm water and mix it all together to form a manageable dough.
Knead the dough until smooth and elastic, so it does not stick to your hands roughly 5 – 10 minutes.
Place the dough in a greased bowl and cover with a clean cloth.
Set aside for about 15 minutes in a warm place until it has doubled in size.
Knead the dough and roll into golf balls.
To Assemble
Roll out each golf ball into a long strip, roughly 8 cm long and 2 cm wide.
Twist and wrap each dough piece around a piece of boerewors.
There will be a little piece of boerewors peeking out each end of the dough when you have twisted the dough. They should look a little like hotdogs wrapped in a bun.
Continue with the rest of the dough and boerewors in this style.
Place the rolls over a slow coal fire, turning continuously, so they don’t burn but have expanded and cooked through. It should take roughly 10 - 15 minutes.