Koe'sister

We thank our contributors for their recipes and stories that made this magazine possible. REGULAR CONTRIBUTORS: Fernel Abrahams, Charise Beukes, Brenda Bontle da Silva, Pamela Court, Lieneke Dennis, Shihaam Domingo, Leanne Feris, Loretta Feris, Zelda Fisher Lategan, Sameerah Frost, Nur Heitz, Zahra Hendricks, Christina Human, Cariema Isaacs, Ingrid Irma Jones, Ivy Kinnear, Bonita Maboeta, Phumlani Malinga, Ruby Marks, Sharmiela Moosa Garnie, Zerina Parker, Mariam Peters, Verushka Ramasani, Surita Riffel, Asanda Saule Ngoasheng, Carmen Siologas, Adele Smith, Phoebe Sobotker, Fahiem Stellenboom, Verna Stuurman, Martie Swanepoel, Reinette Swartz, Fatima Sydow, Lyrice Trussel, Neil-Allan Walsh, Michael Weeder and Wendy Williams GUEST CONTRIBUTORS: Fayruza Abrahams, Stella Andronikou, Bridgette Backman, Astrid Barreiro, Antoinette Beck-Kaltenrieder, Leonie Begbie Cloete, Zakariyah Benjamin, Marianne Burke, Anthea Cameron-Ayuningam, Noelene Christians, Pam Cloete Saal, Lenore Combrink, Faith J Daniels, Ernestine Dean, Desiree Demingo,…

This is my favourite time of the year, when the temperature starts to drop, especially after this year’s sizzling hot summer. (Hands up everyone who had bought a fan this summer.) Yup, winter is coming. Since I work from home, this means that I can finally start wearing sagte broeke (what my brother Conrad used to call loungewear pants when he was little) and fun accessories like scarves and hats. And just think of the food! Because we know there will be pickled fish and hot-cross buns at Easter, as well as boeka eats during Ramadan and all the festive treats of Eid. Cooler weather also means that I can finish the fabulous cardi I’ve been crocheting without having to wipe the sweat from my brow (literally!) every five seconds and…

A judging panel blind-tasted 113 South African extra-virgin olive oils (EVOO) for the 2021 SA Olive Awards held last year. The highest-scoring oils out of the 30 gold-medal winners became the contenders for the Absa Top 10 Olive Oil Awards, which were announced in October as the best EVOO produced in South Africa. According to SA Olive Chairman, Nick Wilkinson, it’s important to choose quality over quantity and, of course, to buy local. Always look for the SA Olive Oil Commitment to Compliance (CTC) seal on the bottle. It confirms that the oil is 100% locally produced and is authentic extra-virgin olive oil. The CTC seal also guarantees that the labelling is correct and transparent with the year of harvest and best-before date clearly displayed to assure you of the freshness…

DAY 1 • 500 g (2 cups/500 ml) all-purpose flour• 140 ml (½ cup + 1 tbsp/140 g) water• 140 ml (½ cup + 1 tbsp/140 g) milk• 1 x 10 g packet dry yeast• 10 ml (2 t) salt• 55 g (3½ tbsp/52.5 ml) sugar• 40 g (2 tbsp + 2 t) 40 ml unsalted butter, soft Combine all the ingredients in a big bowl and knead for about 5 minutes. There’s no need to warm the milk or water, use them straight from the fridge. You can also sprinkle the yeast over the flour without first mixing it with water. Don’t overwork the dough, otherwise it will become tough. There’s no need to develop too much gluten. It shouldn’t look like pastry dough. We don’t want a smooth dough at this…

I once made delicious butter chicken for a group of friends and forgot to make rice – by accident. (You can imagine my horror!) Don’t judge. It happens. Even the most experienced of us sometime slip up, and that’s okay. Cooking has always been about experimenting with flavours and different ingredients for me. Most importantly, it’s about cutting yourself some slack when you get it wrong. As a professional cook, though, my aim is not to get it wrong and so I’ve learned over the years how to switch things up. You may not always have the correct ingredients in the kitchen, or you may over-spice or under-season a dish, or even leave out a crucial ingredient altogether. When this happens, it’s easy to think there is no way out. Except…

If you have young nieces, nephews, sons or daughters in your life, do them a favour and give them the books in the Pumpkin series written by Bianca Flanders. In Pumpkin Finds Her Queen (Prinses Pampoenpit in Afrikaans) the protagonist, a little girl called Pumpkin Pie discovers that it’s precisely her wild, curly hair that she hates so much which makes her unique. The follow-up, Pumpkin Finds Her Kindness (Pampoenpit se groen gevoel in Afrikaans), explores how children can find their kindness when the big green monster of jealousy comes to visit. “Like most women, I struggled with body image and not looking like the people I saw in magazines. It took me a long time to learn to love the skin I’m in,” Bianca explained. “I also hated sport and felt…