Mnandia taste of Mphophomeni

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Fresh, local, seasonal: today's and tomorrow's food trinity, the worldwide inspiration of chefs and home cooks. Ingredients celebrated by everyone from Yotam Ottolenghi to Jamie Oliver. Who, I feel sure, would appreciate this book, which is so in tune with the modern table but also takes us back to the past. Did you know that sweet potato leaves are a delicacy? Ever used a hammer to make pesto? Or fried potato peelings to make chips? Or cooked blackjack leaves? I love it, the people and purpose behind it, and these down-to-earth, delicious recipes. How gratifying to find that Ntombenhle's famous vetkoek are really super-healthy. Simply fill them with garden salad...

Erica Platter Author Durban Curry; East Coast Tables; East Coast Tables – the Midlands and the Berg.

Fresh, local, seasonal: today's and tomorrow's food trinity, the worldwide inspiration of chefs and home cooks. Ingredients celebrated by everyone from Yotam Ottolenghi to Jamie Oliver. Who, I feel sure, would appreciate this book, which is so in tune with the modern table but also takes us back to the past. Did you know that sweet potato leaves are a delicacy? Ever used a hammer to make pesto? Or fried potato peelings to make chips? Or cooked blackjack leaves? I love it, the people and purpose behind it, and these down-to-earth, delicious recipes. How gratifying to find that Ntombenhle's famous vetkoek are really super-healthy. Simply fill them with garden salad...

Erica Platter Author Durban Curry; East Coast Tables; East Coast Tables – the Midlands and the Berg.

springAs the temperature start to rise and the first

drops of dew form on green leaves, the garden

unfurls and tender shoots and little roots are

ready to harvest.

Spring salads of tiny dandelion leaves and

perfect peas taste as fresh as they look. Add a

sprinkling of flowers and it's a real celebration!

intwasahlobo noma isikhathi sehlobo

nettles and potatoes

imifino

yezintanga

pumpkin

leaves

½ kg young nettle leaves

1 onion chopped

6 small potatoes

1 tablespoon oil

salt

Pick nettles with care! When uncooked, nettles irritate your skin, so use gloves or a plastic bag over your

hand to pick them.

Cut potatoes into small pieces and then wash them. Fry the onions in oil until soft, then add the potatoes. Fry

for 2 minutes stirring occasionally. Add the washed nettles, the salt and a little water. Cover and simmer for

20 minutes or until the potatoes are soft and then mash up until the ingredients are mixed well.

Young leaves and tiny pumpkins are picked and eaten as the plants

grow, ensuring that the plant's energy is put into producing just a few

fabulous pumpkins. Often many of the small pumpkin fruits rot or fall

off, so you might as well eat them before that happens.

The fiddly preparation (of stripping the strings from the stems and leaf

veins) is well worth the effort as pumpkin leaves are nutty and sweet.

They contain almost 3g of protein per 100g of cooked leaves, as well

as phosphorous, potassium, manganese and Vitamin B.

summerEarly mornings are our favourite time to be in the garden during

summer. It is quiet amongst the abundant green until the bees and

birds awake and neighbours get going for the day.

The long, warm days encourage fruit to ripen and turn simple meals

into colourful affairs, often enjoyed out of doors.

isikhathi sehlobo

“One of the privileges of being a farmer is to be up when the sun rises.”

amagwinya:ntombenhle's famous vetkoek 10 cups flour

1 cup sugar

1 sachet yeast

2 teaspoons oil

1 teaspoon salt

2 litres warm water

Mix all the ingredients together.

Knead, stand for 30 minutes until well risen (longer on a cold day).

Dust a tray with flour.

Scoop up handfuls of dough, roll into balls.

Place on tray, leave to rise until double in size.

Heat oil in a deep pot.

Drop in a few balls at a time, put lid on.

Check after 10 minutes – they should have risen to the top of the oil.

Turn over to brown on the other side.

We fill fresh vetkoek with grated salads (Nqobile's Garden Salad, page 129) or veggies (Bom Bom Beans,

page 120) or sun stewed rhubarb (page 63).

autumnOnce the rain stops, many vegetables thrive while the days are

still warm, making this the most abundant season of all.

We harvest the second sowing of green beans, the first lettuces

and celebrate plentiful pumpkins. Seed harvesting, sorting and

saving is a satisfying task, best done on warm dry days with a

few friends.

isikhathi sokuvuna

9392

umqusho - sthembile's samp and beans

nelisiwe ntombela's bhaqanga

2 cups sugar beans

2 cups samp

2 litres water

1 onion, chopped

1 green pepper, chopped

Garlic

500 g dried beans

7 cups maize meal

3 cups water

½ teaspoon salt

Soak the beans overnight to hasten the cooking time.

Put the beans, samp and water in a large pot and bring to boil.

Cook for an hour (or until they are soft).

Mix the samp and beans really well with a wooden spoon.

Fry garlic, green pepper and onion with paprika and black

pepper

Stir into cooked samp and beans and simmer for 15 minutes

before serving.

Tip – add a packet of brown onion soup with the vegetables for

extra flavour.

Soak beans overnight and then cook until soft.

A Wonderbag is perfect for cooking beans.

Bring to the boil, simmer for 15/20 minutes, and then cover and

pop in the Wonderbag for the rest of the day or overnight.

Combine 6 cups of maize with the water to form a dry mixture.

Add to the cooked beans and stir thoroughly.

Mix the last cup of dry maize meal directly into the stew, add the

salt and keep stirring until all the liquid is absorbed and it is

cooked.

bom bom

beans1 cup dried big white

beans (Bom Bom

Beans)

2 onions, chopped

2 carrots, chopped

2 potatoes, chopped

1 butternut, chopped

1 teaspoon curry power

Stock (optional)

Soak beans overnight in

cold water.

Bring to the boil and cook

for 20 minutes. Put into

Wonderbag to finish

cooking for the rest of the

day.

When the beans are

ready, fry onions, carrots,

butternut and potatoes

and add the cooked

beans with some water or

stock. Simmer for 15

minutes.

Nelly was very ill a few years ago and puts her recovery down to learning to grow food and eat more greens. She still loves traditional dishes though.

winter

Frost hardy favourites – intofeshe, cabbages and

kale – are at their peak in winter. Vegetables

thrive during the sun-filled days as long as we

diligently carry colourful buckets of water to each

corner of the garden.

ubusika

fennel and orange salad

nikki brighton's braised fennel

Thinly slice fresh young fennel across the bulb. Peel and segment an orange or two.

There should be slightly more fennel than orange.

Squeeze the rest of the juice from the leftover orange and add a little lemon juice too.

Season well with salt and pepper and drizzle some peppery oil over everything.

Toss some of the fennel fronds on top.

This salad keeps its crunch even if made the day before serving (but much of the nutrition would be lost).

Cut fennel bulbs into quarters (or sixths if very fat).

Cut potatoes into sixths lengthwise.

Fry in quite a lot of olive oil for a while till the edges are brown

and then add whole garlic cloves, strips of lemon peel and a

handful of sundried tomatoes.

Add a little water to soften; as this is absorbed, add a little

more.

Stir often. Be gentle. You are aiming at a sticky sauce with bits of

dissolving potato and browned, soft fennel. It takes a while.

Add lots of chopped flat parsley and a generous squeeze of

lemon juice.

Serve with fresh bread to mop up the juices.

This is definitely the Best Stew Ever!

4 fennel bulbs

4 potatoes

4 tablespoons olive oil

Garlic

Lemon peel

Sundried tomatoes

2 cups water

Salt and pepper