A refreshing drink – Sekanjebin

We have been having a serious heat wave.  The air is hot and humid and each time you move you perspire and your clothes stick to your skin.  My remedy has been to swim about ten times a day – I jump in every time I walk past the pool which lies between my bedroom cottage and the main cottage.  I also have been drinking vast amounts of liquids to avoid dehydration.

I have always struggled to drink plain water, and although I am getting better at it, I do not drink my eight glasses a day.  It’s a lot easier if I add a little flavour.

This week I made this unusual cordial which is incredibly refreshing and delightful.  Don’t get put off by the ingredients – I know it sounds strange but you will see how wonderful it tastes.

Sekanjebin is a Persian drink, and can be traced back to the 13th century.  It is pretty simple to make.

Ingredients

• 4 cups sugar or 3 cups of raw honey
• 2 cups water
• 1 cup vinegar (white or red wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar – each gives a slightly different result but are equally delicious)
• 1 cup fresh mint leaves

Place sugar, water and vinegar in a pot and bring to the boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar.

Add mint leaves and simmer for 20 – 30 minutes to reduce to a syrup.  Strain and bottle in glass bottles. You can store the syrup at room temperature for several months.

To serve, dilute with ice-cold water to taste – you will not need much syrup, add a sprig of mint and some ice cubes and enjoy. I sometimes add an additional dash of vinegar for some sourness.

In Iran, they often use the neat syrup as a dip for lettuce – just dip and eat.  They also add grated cucumber to the drink when serving.

I hope you enjoy this refreshing drink as much as I do.

 

How to make your own feta cheese

Almost always associated with a fresh Greek salad,  salty and soft feta cheese provides a creamy texture to the crunchy veggies and olives. Because it’s cut into blocks and packaged in a salty whey brine, feta is referred to as a ‘pickled cheese’. One of the main components of the spinach and filo pie spanakopita, feta is also eaten as part of a mezze platter and is added to dishes with fish and meat as well. Although the cheese doesn’t melt, it can be used to add texture to baked pasta dishes and pizza, mixed with pesto to make a stuffing for chicken breasts or crumbled over a baked potato with a sprinkling of oregano.

We like to add it to quiches with spinach or butternut and when braaing we make a foil parcel containing feta, chopped tomatoes and garlic – heat it on the grill and serve it with warm homemade bread.

Ingredients and equipment

• 2 liters fresh milk  (cow or goat)
• 1 tablespoon fresh plain yogurt (with live cultures)
• 1/2 tablet rennet, dissolved in 1/4 cup water
• 1 large pot with lid (stainless steel with heavy bottom is best otherwise use an enamel pot. (No aluminium or cast iron pots)
• Thermometer
• Cheese cloth, muslin or dishtowel
• Colander

Steps

• Warm milk to 30°C (86°F), stirring it regularly so that it does not burn on the bottom. Remove it from the heat and set aside.

• Mix 1 tablespoon of yogurt with an equal amount of milk to blend. Stir the blended yogurt and milk into the warmed milk and mix thoroughly. Cover and and allow the inoculated milk to sit for one hour at room temperature.
• While the inoculated milk sits, dissolve 1/2 tablet of rennet in fresh, cool water. (I used powdered rennet – 1 capsule)

• After the inoculated milk has sat for one hour, add the dissolved rennet and stir to mix thoroughly.
• Let the inoculated, renneted milk sit covered overnight at room temperature. (I did this step in the day time and 5 hours was sufficient.)
• Check for a clean break the next morning, by which time the milk should have gelled and some of the whey will have separated.

Close-up of clean break

Not so clean break

• Cut the curd by starting at one side, and cut straight down to bottom. Make the next cut 1/2 inch from and parallel to the first, but sloping slightly (the sliced curd will be wider at bottom than top). Repeat increasing angle with each cut. Turn the pot 90° and repeat cuts. Repeat cuts and turning two more times. The curd pieces should be about ½ inch cubes or slices as you prefer.
• With a very clean hand and arm, reach to the bottom and gently lift the curds to stir. Cut the large pieces that appear with a table knife so that they are ½ inch cubes.

• Let the cut curds sit, with occasional stirring, for 10-15 minutes until curd is somewhat contracted.
• Decant off the whey through the colander lined with the cheese cloth (folded double), pouring the curds into the cheese  cloth. Save the whey for a later step.

• Let the cheese drain in the cloth until no more whey drains out (about 2-4 hours). It may be drained at room temperature or in the refrigerator.

• Place the drained curds into a bowl. Mix in a 1/2 of a tspn of salt, breaking up the curd.
• Press the cheese into a mold. Line the can withcheese cloth, place the curds inside, fold over the ends of the cloth, place the end on top, and place a weight on top of that. Let sit overnight.

• Prepare pickling whey brine (12.5% salt): mix 350ml of whey (saved from before) with 5 tablespoons of salt. Stir to dissolve. The brine must be acidic or else the cheese will melt on the surface. The whey is made acidic by letting it sit out at room temperature, covered, for 12-24 hrs.

• Cut the cheese into 1.5 inch cubes and place them in a wide-mouth jar. Pour brine over to cover.

• Let the cheese pickle for several days in the refrigerator. The cheese will become drier and more easily crumbled with time.
• Store in the refrigerator. Rinse before use to remove excess salt.

Great tasting feta cheese.  The process takes much longer than cottage cheese but much shorter than aged cheeses. If you work outside of your home I would recommend starting the whole process on a Friday evening – that way you should get your cheese into the fridge to pickle by Sunday morning. There are only a few steps to do each day so it’s not labour intensive.

My recipe is adapted from this one at WikiHow.

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Let the cheesemaking begin – cottage cheese

This weekend I was determined to start with my cheese making experiments, and although it was a full weekend with dinners out with  friends and sleeping out on Saturday night, I still managed to fit in my first attempt at making cottage cheese.

Last week I had trawled the interwebs looking at various cottage cheese recipes. There are very many different recipes, some of which are really simple, to those that use fancy equipment and take a lot more time.  Because I like simple things using few ingredients I decided to start at the very simple recipes and work my way through them till I find one that I love. The result was absolutely divine and will search no further for a cottage cheese recipe.  If you are interested in trying to make cottage cheese, you do not need rennet, double boilers and 12 hours draining time as some recipes specify. You also don’t have to use skim milk as some other recipes specify – full cream does really nicely. This simple recipe worked like a bomb.

Simple, delicious, cottage cheese.

Equipment needed:

• A stainless steel or enamel pot that can contain the amount of milk you choose to use. (Do not use aluminium.)
• A plastic or stainless steel stirring spoon.
• A plastic or stainless steel colander. (Not essential but it makes things a little easier.)
• Double layer of muslin or cheese cloth ( you can use a clean dish towel also.)
• Food thermometer. (Handy but not essential for this cheese.)
• Sharp knife
• Measuring cup

Ingredients:

• Milk (full cream or skim – raw or pasteurized but NOT homogenized or UHT)
• White vinegar (you can also use lemon juice (1 tbsp per liter of milk)
• Fresh cream
• Salt to taste
• Optional herbs and flavorings

Volumes:

For every liter of milk you use you will need 50 ml vinegar and 3 to 4 tbsp of fresh cream.  2 liters of full cream milk will make about 300 g of cottage cheese (just over one standard store-bought tub of 250 g)

Method:

• Warm milk gently to just before boiling point without scalding it on the bottom – I used a thick based pan to spread the heat and warmed it slowly eliminating the need to use a double boiler. I heated my milk to 80 deg C, checking it with my new nifty cheese thermometer.

• Turn off the heat and pour in the white vinegar and stir for 20 seconds till curds form. (This happens fast.)

• Allow to cool for a little then pour into a colander lined with a double layer of cheesecloth.
• Allow whey to drain out of the curds for about 10 minutes.
• Hold together the corners of your cheesecloth and twist to force all of the whey out of the curds.
• Keeping the curds in the cheesecloth bundle, wash the bundle under running cold water loosening and tightening the bundle a few times to rinse all the whey out of the cheese.  Do this for about 5 minutes.

• Tightly squeeze as much of the water out of the curds as possible.
• Remove the curds from the cheesecloth and place in a bowl.
• Cut up the curds to the desired size – I like my cottage cheese quite chunky.

• Salt the curds to taste, add any herbs or spices that you would like to use, and stir in the fresh cream. (I did not use any flavoring besides salt as I wanted to taste the cheese itself). Feel free to add more cream if you want a wetter product.
• Serve.

If you have not tasted homemade cottage cheese, then you have not tasted good cottage cheese yet.  It’s so very easy to make and takes less than an hour from beginning to end.  Yum!

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Marula beer – part II : The results

This post follows my article published two days ago which you can read here.

I was highly sceptical of the marula beer I was making.  My taste of Warren’s beer put me off for life.  It was really so very sour and vinegary.  I was curious about my batch but was ready to pour it down the drain or give it to some of the local people who like it.

For three days the lid had been popping off despite the heavy cast iron pot that I had balancing on the container to keep it closed.  Every time I reclosed the container I got a slight whiff of vinegar – bleugh

Last night was the night to test the final product as it had been fermenting for three days.  I made sure I had had my dinner first because I was sure the beer was going to turn my stomach.  There was a huge glob of pulp that seemed to have formed in the beer and had floated up towards the top of the container slowly.  By last night it was all on top of the beer.

I moved the container to the sink to open it and gently raised the lid.  Surprise surprise – there was no smell of vinegar but a lovely yeasty smell similar to that of homemade ginger beer.  The glob had formed a nice foamy head.

The head was about 2 inches think and was really compact. I was able to lift it off the beer using a slotted spoon in two big blobs.

Underneath I found a fresh, sparkling, bubbly golden liquid.  My hopes were rising.

I quickly dipped a small glass into the beer to have a taste.  YUM!  It is so fresh, yeasty and bubbly – just like homemade ginger beer with a marula twist.  I am so glad that I added the sugar.

I quickly sterilised some old beer bottles that I had on hand and bottled my marula beer before The Bean could get her hands on it – she loves it too.

I still have loads of marulas so I think I will be brewing another batch next weekend.

Warning : Please read this update  – click here

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Making your own homemade Marula beer

I know that most of you don’t have access to marula fruit so you won’t be needing this recipe – feel free to skip this post or just look at the pretty pictures.  I don’t think I will need this recipe again either.  I don’t even like beer.  You have to try once though. Right?

I roped in the expertise of Warren who makes quite a few batches of this beer each season. He just loves the stuff.

First collect ripe fruit from the ground beneath the trees and wash the fruit.

Remove the skins of the fruit.  I cut them round the equator and twist and squeeze the fruit pulp, pip and juice out.

Warren used this method for the photos but afterwards told me he is much quicker just using a butter knife, spoon or fork  and a special peeling motion. He told me that his friend, Masheplane does it so fast his hands blur.  I can imagine…

Collect all the pulp, pips and juice in a large container and once you have finished peeling the fruit, add clean water to just cover the fruit and mash the fruit thoroughly till the liquid in the bucket becomes quite thick.

Remove the pips and left over pulp by squeezing them a few at a time.

Cover and leave for 2-4 days depending on the strength you desire.

Skim off foam and pulp that has risen to the surface and if you wish you can strain the beer through muslin before bottling it.

Bottle in hot sterilized bottles and seal well

Store in a cool place till needed.

I added sugar to my brew after Warren gave me a taste of his beer.  Bleugh – it was VERY sour.

I will update this post in a few days once my brew has brewed and I have tasted it.

Edit:   To read about the final product and my opinion on it  please click HERE

Warning:  Please read this update HERE

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Light, fresh and absolutely yummy – Green Pea Hummus

Two days ago I stumbled across this recipe while browsing the internet and thought I would give it a whirl.  It is probably the best recipe I have ever tried (I’m not exaggerating).  This fresh, light and luminous green paste is sublime!

Green Pea Hummus

The problem with peas is that the moment they’re picked from the pod, their natural sugars start combining and converting into starches. Peas eaten one day out of the pod taste significantly less sweet and more starchy than fresh-picked peas. Frozen peas, on the other hand, are rapidly chilled right after shucking, locking their sugars in place, so for this recipe you must use freshly picked peas or frozen peas.

• 2 cups fresh or frozen peas (defrost frozen peas by pouring boiling water over them and leaving for a few minutes – drain.
• 1 clove fresh garlic – crushed or finely chopped
• a pinch of salt
• a generous glug of olive oil

Blend all ingredients (I used a wand blender).  Spoon into a serving dish and garnish with a few peas and some freshly ground black pepper. Serve with warm pita bread. (I didn’t have pita bread so I made some roti – it would even be good served as a dip or even on toast or fresh bread.)

Variations:

1. Add the juice of one lemon or
2. Add some fresh mint and feta cheese or
3. Add 1 green chilli (improvised, tried and tested by my lil sister)

This recipe takes literally 5 minutes to prepare.  I would love to hear your reactions when you try it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I found the original recipe and here – I adapted it to my needs. The image is also from this site.

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Delicious Tomato and Basil Jam

As mentioned a few days ago, The Bean and I made jam to give away as gifts this season.  A few of you have requested the recipe so here it is.

Homemade Tomato and Basil Jam  (best served with cheese)

Because I mainly use this jam to eat on cheese and crackers I like to use whole cocktail tomatoes so that you can place the small tomato right on top of your cheese.  You can use large peeled, chopped and deseeded tomatoes for a smoother jam.  I like it chunky.

You will need:

• cocktail tomatoes – I use about 2 large coffee mugs full of the small tomatoes per jar of jam.
• sugar – half the weight of the tomatoes
• lemon juice – about 3/4 cup for every three jars of jam
• Fresh basil chopped – one handful per 3 jars of jam

I sterilise my bottles and lids by boiling them after they have had a really good scrub in the sink.  I use them directly from the boiling water so most times end up scalding my fingers.  If you have the correct equipment it will help although I just make use of a stainless steel serving spoon to removed the bottles and lids.  Some folk use their dishwashers to sterilize their jars but I like to use mine steaming hot (and I also no longer own a dishwasher).  I only sterilise my bottles just before I am ready to bottle the jam.

Method:

Place your washed tomatoes in a thick based pot and add the sugar and the lemon juice and heat gently till your tomatoes produce enough juice to raise the heat without burning. Boil the jam stirring often until it gets thicker.  I boil/ simmer for about an hour and just keep testing the thickness by placing a spot of jam on a saucer and putting it in the fridge for a few minutes.  Once the consistency is to your liking you can add the chopped basil stir through and check the flavour. If you would like it a little more tart – add some more lemon juice and then bottle the jam into your sterilised jars.

You now have a few different options depending on the health department in your area, your need for a sterile existence, your belief of everything written on the internet and your faith in old-fashioned cooking methods.

• You can use a water bath canner to reheat, sterilize and seal your jars. (This seems to be the norm)  A pressure canner is not necessary because of the high acid content of the jam.

or

• You can store your jam in the fridge.

or

• You can  ‘bottle’  like our grandmothers.

 

I use the same method my mother used – I don’t use a water-bath or pressure canner.  I fill my bottles to the brim while they are very, very hot and the jam is scorching and seal with a good fitting hot boiled lid.

I suggest the jam be kept in the fridge after opening although even this may not be necessary due to acid content.

 

 

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It’s worm time!

If you enjoy game viewing, you will know about the “Big Five”, but many will not know the “Big Twelve”. Meet the mopane worm – one of the “Big Twelve” African insects.

Once a year, from mid November till the end of  December, our bush becomes infested with some very special worms -the mopane worm.  Here in the Lowveld this period seems to start the beginning of the festive season for the local indigenous people.  Everyone is out and about scaling fences (as boundaries mean nothing) and harvesting mopane worms. It’s a free for all!

These worms are named after their main food source – the mopane tree, although they do also feast on other plants including mango trees.  When standing quietly around sunrise and sunset in a mopane rich area you can even hear the worms eating. That may give you an idea of how many there are.

The “mopane worm” Imbrassia belina is probably the most important insect in southern Africa from a cultural point of view. Here it is well-known as either Mashonzha, Masonja or Amasonja. It forms the basis of a multi-million rand trade in edible insects, providing a livelihood for many harvesters, traders and their families. However, the industry is not without problems. Droughts devastate the harvest on a regular basis and there are areas where overexploitation has led to local extinctions.

The mopane worm has a complex life cycle in which there is complete metamorphosis. The eggs are laid by a large and attractive moth, the mopane emperor moth. Small worms hatch from the eggs and moult a few times before they reach maturity, the stage most sought after for harvesting. The worms that are not harvested leave the trees and pupate underground. The life cycle is completed when the adult moths emerge from the pupae, mate and lay eggs. If the cycle is broken at any point by excessive harvesting, for example, it will not be possible to maintain a sustainable harvest.

Containing 60% protein and significant amounts of phosphorus, iron and calcium, it is unrivalled as an easily obtainable source of free food. The traditional method of preserving mopane worms is to dry them in the sun or smoke them, giving additional flavour. Dried mopane worms can be eaten raw as a crisp snack. Alternatively, mopane worms can be soaked to rehydrate, before frying until crunchy or cooking with onion, tomatoes and spices and serving with pap (a thick savoury maize/corn porridge). The flesh is yellow, and the gut may still contain fragments of dried leaf, which is not harmful to humans. The taste is somewhat reminiscent of tea leaves.

Lets go eat worms!

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German cuisine in the African bush

Last night Hannah treated us to a traditional homemade German dinner.  I think she was rather brave because it’s the first time she has made these – ever.  Normally her Granny makes them for her.

She served  mehlklöβe with sausages and a fresh cucumber and sour cream salad.  Mehlklöβe are flour dumplings that are boiled in either water, milk or broth and can then be fried in butter if desired.  I had to make the sausages as Hannah is a vegetarian.

Mehlklöβe

500g flour
3 eggs
Salt
Pepper
Water

Mix flour, eggs,  salt and pepper.  Add water until mixture gets sticky. Mix well. Drop by teaspoonful into boiling water. Cook about 20 minutes.

The boiled dumplings can then be fried in butter if desired.  (Hannah did this for us but ate hers unfried)

Apparently they are also good with soups or stews. Cook them right in the same pot with your soup or stew.

I really enjoyed them and managed to save a few to bring to work with me today for lunch. Yum.

Thank you Hannah!