It is riding season and we decided to head out on our motorcycles and revisit some of the remote backroads of the Overberg region, Baardskeerdersbos (Beard Shaver Bush) is a quaint agricultural village. We stayed on the secluded ‘Tierfontein organic farm,’ surrounded by fynbos. Plenty of walks a great swimming spot and most importantly a good setup to do some cooking on fire. Our challenge on motorcycles, is that we are unable to take along the kitchen sink. Liz and James helped us with some of the cooking logistics and bought the groceries as well as providing us with fresh farm eggs for the Tamago recipe.
The farms is beautiful and rich with birdlife and fynbos and the delightful Rondawel is tastefully furnished and set on the edge of a beautiful lily pond not dissimilar to a Claude Monet painting. This is the place to cook, read, relax, gather your thoughts and reflect on all the good things.
Tamagoyaki (Tamago) Recipe
Serves 2 Adults
Delicious, incredible, tasty and flavoursome, do not begin to describe one of my absolute favourite breakfasts prepared by Christoph. It’s the umami flavours, the textures and of course the visual appeal, in fact its so delicious that I’m trying to convince him that this is also the perfect dinner, for those days when breakfast doesn’t feature…..I am still marketing ;).
Ingredients
5 x Large free range Eggs
1 Tbsp Mirin
1 tsp Tamari or Soy sauce
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp butter
To garnish:Spring Onions, Radishes, fresh cucumber
Condiments: Pickled Ginger, kewpie doll Mayonnaise, Tamari, Wasabi
Method
Mix eggs with Mirin, tamari and sugar
Heat your non-stick rectangular Tamago pan, add the butter and melt, over a low to medium heat. Pour in enough of the egg mix to make a thin pancake. Once set, roll up pancake to one side of the pan and repeat until the roll increases in size. make two rolls with the mixture.
Cut rolls into bite sized cross section, and arrange on plate to see the layers of the roll.
Garnish with chopped fresh ingredients – Cucumber, Spring onions, radishes
Serve with Tamari dipping bowl, mayonnaise, and pickled ginger.
Tandoori Chicken Recipe
Serves:4
This dish is a winner, literally a masterpiece and one that was inspired by the incredible Rick Stein’s, “India”. Ideally you really want to cook the chicken on a fire, braai, bbq…call it what you like, the secret is, that lovely smoky flavour that you get from cooking over a low wood fire, and don’t be nervous about it charring in places, this all adds to the incredible flavours. I like to make a simple salsa of fresh mango, red onion, cherry tomatoes, red chilli, fresh coriander, a sprinkle of sugar and splash of white wine vinegar to accompany the chicken. A delicious buttery roti provides the perfect carrier for these delectable morsels. For those that are gluten intolerant whip up some quick chickpea pancakes, I know I say this a lot, but it is really easy peasy. Pour some chickpea flour into a bowl, pour in water to mix, and really this is a “feel it” recipe, you add enough water to the flour until it has a pancake batter feel, in other words, not too thin or too thick. Whisk the ingredients well and allow the mix to sit for half an hour before making the pancakes.
The secret with this recipe is not to be in too much of a hurry, allow the chicken to marinate in the first marinade for at least 1 hour and ideally overnight in the second marinade. To achieve the beautiful intense red colour you can use beetroot powder or failing that, ‘Bush’- orange red powder, I’m not entirely sure how good this is for you, so make beetroot powder your first port of call or simply eat less Tandoori prepared with the orange red powder. A good thing to remember is to wear gloves or to use utensils when coating the chicken with the second marinade, or you will sport beautiful orange hands for a couple of days.
Ingredients
1,5 kg free range skinless drumsticks and thighs
First marinade
juice of 2 limes
1 tsp Kashmiri powder
1 tsp maldon salt
Second marinade
125g double cream yoghurt
4 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped
8cm fresh ginger peeled and grated
1 tsp garam masala
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp beetroot powder or “Bush” orange red powder
Method
lightly score the chicken and set aside. Combine the fresh lime juice, Kashmiri powder and salt in a medium size non reactive bowl, toss in the scored chicken and make sure to coat very well in the first marinade. Cover and refrigerate for an hour.
For the second marinade, combine the yoghurt, garlic, ginger, masala, cumin and beetroot powder and mix well.
Pour all the contents from the first marinade into the second marinade and make sure that you have coated the chicken very well. Cover and return to the refrigerator overnight.
Once your fire has burnt down to rich glowing red coals, load up the chicken onto a braai grid and braai slowly for 30-40 minutes, turning regularly. Once cooked, enjoy with a side dish of mango salsa and a roti and a squeeze of lime juice.
Enjoy!!!
