A Banana, you serious!?

My idea of Cape Malay cuisine are limited to hot spicy food and over-sweet desserts, like boeber and Sunday morning koeksisters. So, when I saw discounted vouchers for Stir Crazy Catering & Cooking School were offered through VuvuPlaza, I immediately purchased a couple.

 

Like you all know, I’ve been on a number of cooking courses and the last one was a disaster and made me very apprehensive doing these classes. But, my passion in food got the better of me.

As usual, I rocked up early to get the ambience of the venue and to speak to the chef or instructor a bit. Bret, the chef, is a seasoned chef and gave lessons and ran/owned restaurants for years, so I knew I was in good hands. The setup at Stir Crazy was strange in the beginning as you walked through an art studio/interior designer/museum to the kitchen. Once you in the kitchen normality set in and you feel like you’re there to cook.

We were a small group of two couples and me, which meant each one was going to do two dishes as we were meant to be about eight people for the night. After Bret took us through the recipes, explaining their origins and how they came about, we had to decide which ones we wanted to try, I went for the smoor snoek starter and lamb curry. The others took corn break, chicken biryani, mince spring rolls, fish bobotie and mayonnaise chicken.

All the ingredients for the recipes were on display on a table at the back of the kitchen. We had to find what we needed to make the dishes, by ourselves. It was a bit frustrating in the beginning as the ingredients were out of their original packaging and put into labeled containers and being a “new” kitchen, it took some time to find our feet. What this did though, was to teach you to know your ingredients outside of their labeled packages. We had to identify the ingredients by sight, smell and sometimes taste, which for some was not easy.

According to Chef Bret, Cape Malay cuisine uses dried fruits as a sweetening agent, instead of sugar, like dates, dried apricots and raisins. My lamb curry was no different. The strangest ingredient was a ripe banana, wth!! But it works!!

Below is the recipe for the lamb curry :

 

 

• Preparation Time : 20 minutes
• Cooking Time : 90 minutes
• Serves : 4-6 Portions

Ingredients:

• 1½ kg boneless mutton/lamb shoulder
• vegetable oil for frying
• 4 onions, peeled and chopped
• 2 -4 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
• 1 piece fresh ginger root, peeled and crushed
• 1 tbsp mild curry powder, of your choice
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp turmeric
• 1/4 tsp salt
• black pepper  1 cinnamon stick
• 3 cloves
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 carrots, peeled and diced
• 200g dried apricots, soaked in warm water and drained
• 2 bananas, peeled and sliced
• 2 tbsp tomato paste
• 50ml wine vinegar
• 1 cup/250ml meat stock
• 3 tbsp apricot jam or dried apricot
• 3 tbsp natural yoghurt

Method:

1. Over high heat, fry the onions and garlic, stirring continuously.
2. Add the ginger, curry powder and all the spices and continue stirring for a minute. Season to taste with pepper and salt. Remove and set aside.
3. Reduce heat slightly. Add the meat and fry it until it is browned on all sides. Return the cooked onion to the pot.
4. Add the vinegar and stock, plus all the other remaining ingredients (except the apricot jam and yoghurt). Reduce the heat and simmer, covered, stirring occasionally until everything is tender, (approximately 11/2 hours.)
5. Stir in the apricot jam / dried apricots and the yoghurt a few minutes before serving.
6. Serve this curry with yellow rice and a variety of sambals, chutney and atchar.

I must admit, I would have done things slightly differently, but I was here to learn “new” ways and methods. Obviously, chilies were missing which we added right at the end to give it that oomph we want in a good wholesome curry, but still too sweet for my liking. Potatoes were the other ingredient I like in my curries. The others seemed to have enjoyed it.

 

The evening ended off with all of us sampling all the dishes that were made during the course and giving feedback. Some dishes came out great while others did not cut the mustard. I will definitely try most of them and give you my feedback in future blogs. I hope.

 

My faith in cooking classes was restored again! Lol!!