0
0
 |
| Shopping at the Atlas Trading Company in Bo-Kaap |
In the Muslim area of Bo-Kaap, down-home Biesmallah’s serves excellent Cape Malay cuisine, and just down the street at the Atlas Trading Company you can buy a wide variety of aromatic spices, such as turmeric, cumin, fenugreek, coriander, cardamom, cloves and star anise: spices that are the heart of Cape Malay cooking.
As I sit here in my Denver, Colorado kitchen, Cape Town and Durban are never far from my mind. My grandmothers’ curries tug at me like two school friends in the park. Some days I choose Durban heat; on others I chose Cape Malay sweet.
My new book, Somewhere South of Tuscany, is doing well! You can view it on my website www.DianaGArmstrong.com.
Cape Malay Fresh Curry Paste
Adapted by the author for American use from C. Louis Leipoldt’s Cape Cookery, written in the 1940s. It is especially good for making bobotie.
2 small red bell peppers
2 jalapeño peppers
1 tablespoon cumin seed
2 tablespoons coriander seed
2 tablespoons turmeric
1 teaspoon fenugreek
2 cloves garlic
1 teaspoon finely diced fresh ginger
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 stick cinnamon, crushed a little
1/2 teaspoon finely grated lemon rind
4 ounces butter
Crush all ingredients together with a mortar and pestle, or pulse in a blender. Store in the refrigerator.
Makes approximately 1 1/2 cups of curry paste.
Heat Scale: Medium
Bobotie, photo by Barbara Sileo
Bobotie
Bobotie must cook in the oven very slowly. Serve it with yellow rice or mashed potatoes.
2 tablespoons butter
1 pound ground beef
1 large onion, finely sliced
2 tablespoons Cape Malay curry paste (see recipe above) or yellow curry powder
3 tablespoons apricot preserves
1/2 cup golden raisins
1 tablespoon vinegar
Salt and white pepper to taste
2 slices dense white high-quality bread
1 cup milk, divided
3 eggs
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Lemon leaves for decoration (optional)
Heat the butter and add the ground beef and onion. Stir the mixture over high heat until browned. Add the curry powder (or curry paste) and simmer gently for 3 minutes. Add the apricot preserves, raisins, vinegar, salt and pepper. Combine the bread with half the milk and one egg and then combine with the meat.
Place in a well-buttered ovenproof casserole dish, cover with foil and bake at 300 degrees F. for 1 hour. Remove from the oven and remove the foil.
Prepare a water bath for the casserole by filling another, slightly larger ovenproof dish with enough water to reach halfway up the side of the casserole dish.
Combine the remaining milk and eggs, season to taste and pour over the meat mixture. Sprinkle with nutmeg and return to the oven, uncovered. Bake in the water bath at 300 degrees F for another 30 minutes
Decorate with lemon leaves.
Serves 6
Heat Scale: Mild
00