Woolworths TASTE January/February 2022

IN THE MIDDLE OF THE VERY BLEAK WINTER OF 2021, the Salad Dodger suggested we go away for the weekend. He said he knew a lovely couple, neighbours from years ago, who’d always dreamed of leaving the city and now had a farm with “some cabins in a forest”. (Cue banjos.) They’d been inviting him to visit for years, he said. He’d never mentioned it before. So one Friday in August we drove out to the Overberg. We left late, as we tend to do, and arrived close to 7 pm, in the pitch dark. At this point the Salad Dodger remarked that the farm might be “off the grid”. We parked in a muddy-edged field and Basil and Cathy showed us to what was, even in the dark, a very…

Can you learn anything from a 15-second video? If you’ve ever attempted to copy a hairstyle, or learn dance moves from an Instagram reel, you might be sceptical, but a cooking tip that can be taught in 15 to 30 seconds is a tip worth knowing, we say. Case in point, Hannah Lewry shows us how to make the ultimate jammy boiled eggs and the best ever chilli oil, which will transform everything from those eggs to a bag of instant ramen into a flavour-packed, end-of-the-month supper. And Khanya Mzongwana brings us a Caprese bake that could save your weeknights, and teaches us how to get even the pickiest eater to enjoy broccoli. FOLLOW @ WWTASTE ON INSTAGRAM TO CATCH THESE – AND A WHOLE HOST OF OTHER REELS – IN…

CABBAGE, COCONUT AND MISO Serves 4 EASY GREAT VALUE Preparation: 15 minutes Cooking: 10 minutes Woolworths peanut or stir-fry oil 2 Tgarlic 2 t crushedginger 2 t crushedonion 1, dicedbaby cabbages 4, roughly choppedcoconut milk 1 x 400 ml canchicken stock ½ cupWoolworths miso paste 1 T Woolworths Heat and Eat coconut jasmine rice, heated, for servingspring onions 4, roughly slicedroasted salted peanuts 1 x 40 g packetcoriander, for servinglime wedges, for serving 1 Heat the oil in a large frying pan or wok until smoking hot. Add the garlic, ginger and onion. Swirl around the pan, then add the cabbage and stir-fry until golden brown. 2 Add the coconut milk, stock and miso and cook until bubbling. 3 Serve with the coconut rice, garnished with the spring onions, peanuts and coriander. Squeeze over the…

Follow these top tips to make the best stir-fry of your life 1 Make sure your veggies and protein are chopped and ready to fry. You have to work quickly when the heat is on. 2 Use oils with a high smoking point such as peanut, Woolies’ stir-fry oil, avocado or canola. Olive oil burns easily and will impart a bitter flavour. Sesame oil has a strong flavour, so add a few drops after cooking. 3 Use smaller pieces of meat or chicken so they cook quickly, and slice meat against the grain to ensure tenderness. Smaller pieces are also easier to pick up using chopsticks. 4 Cook the meat first, then remove from the pan. Add the aromatics, veggies and sauce. Cook, then return the meat to the pan. This ensures that the…

¡ AY, CARAMBA! Spicy food is so hot right now (sorry, not sorry) and we can’t think of a more comforting vehicle for fiery flavours than everyone’s current sandwich fixation, the Mexican torta. Traditionally, they can be served on two types of soft rolls, the bolillo or telero, which are then filled with any number of meat, salsa and topping variations, depending on the region. Our favourite? The torta ahogada, filled with crispy pork, refried beans and onions, drowned in a chilli-tomato sauce. PHOTOGRAPH JAN RAS PRODUCTION BIANCA STRYDOM FOOD ASSISTANT NADIA MEYER…

1 Nostalgic desserts After the emotional rollercoaster of the last two years, our appetites for the retro desserts of our childhood are on the increase. We’re talking jelly and custard, malva pudding, ice-cream sundaes with extra sprinkles … anything sweet and satisfying that harks back to simpler times and brings out your inner kid, basically. 2 Yum yums After the release of its raspberry jam-filled yum yums in 2019, British retailer Waitrose saw a whopping 317% increase in sales in these treats the following year. Also in 2020, competing supermarket M&S launched its Yumnut – a yum yum-doughnut hybrid that left everyone confused, because weren’t these two confections essentially the same thing? Allow us to clarify. The yum yum is a stretched and twisted, butter-enriched doughnut finished off with a sticky glaze. It…