Saturday, December 18, 2010

Trying Out Broadbeans


A few months ago, there was a shop across the road from where we stay which always had interesting stock. Broadbeans aren't a regular occurance in South African markets, so we thought we would try some out. The preparation process was laborious and involved peeling the beans, washing them, cooking them, letting them cool, peeling them again and then cooking them again - at which point you realise you have a fraction of the volume you started with.

We then fried them in butter and I remember them tasting a bit like asparagus, with a very particular un-beany taste - yum.

First peeling process includes separating the spongy outer pod from the big waxy beans.


The second peeling process included seperating the soft (cooked) outer layers of the beans, which are apparently tough, from the slippery beans in side.




Red Delicious


Checkers often stocks interesting fruit at fairly reasonable prices, such as golden kiwis, orange water melon and American apples. It's always fun trying out a new, beautiful fruit!

Berry Snack

Berries and yog(h)urt with nuts, honey and finely cut up dark chocolate is one of my most favourite desserts. If you add in less chocolate then it's basically all healthy (minus the fat content in the yog(h)urt).


My favourite chocolate at the moment is the "dark chocolate mountain bar" that you can get from Woolies. A great find recently includes the fact that the Checkers near where I work also has imported Swiss chocolate for less than R5/100g!


Sunday, December 12, 2010

Blackberry Icecream


Unfortunately I can't remember how exactly we made this, but we did (a long time ago and it was TASTY!) When I find the recipe again, I will post it here! :)

Habenero beef, basil and blue cheese burgers



These were my first homemade burger patties. It's easier and less gross than you would expect. I did a little improvisation with the ingredients to make the burgers more exciting.

I simply put all the ingredients in a bowl: a pack of fresh mince (I used lean and it worked fine); a chopped habenero; half a chopped onion, two stalks of spring onion chopped and an egg. I mixed it together using a spoon, added a big dash of soya sauce (instead of salt to make it taste more meaty). Then I turned the mixture out onto a glass chopping board and added breadcrumbs as I kneaded it to the right texture.

The "right texture" means that the mince sticks together and can survive being flipped once or twice in the pan.
I fried the patties for about 5 minutes on each side.


In the mean time I cut up some chunks of blue cheese for the rolls (in this case, a chopped up baguette). And I started frying some baby tomatoes in balsamic vinegar, olive oil and garlic.

I served it with fresh basil and asian baby leaf salad in the burger and the tomatoes on the side. Yummmm!