Mid Week Recipes Perfected By You and The Hostess

For the busy girl, there aren’t enough hours in a day to cook for your family, but make time this evening to prepare these delicious recipes.

For some, cooking and hosting come naturally, while others need practice. Don’t worry as the Hostess with Lorna Maseko show has you covered with tips and recipes you can prepare to treat your guests and family. Here are two recipes you can try this week:

Almond, Apricot & Cumin Basmati Rice

Ingredients:

2 cups basmati rice

100g slivered almonds – toasted

2Tbs cumin Seeds – toasted

100g dried Apricot – chopped

Salt to taste

Method: 

To make the rice simply toss the toasted cumin, slivered almonds, and apricots into hot cooked basmati rice. Serve the delicious curry with the spiced rice, rolled up roti, paw-paw blatjang, and your favorite sambals. We chose tomato and onion sambal and banana and coconut sambal.

Lamb Curry

Serves 6

 Ingredients:

1,5kg lamb

120g dried peaches

3 x small onions – chopped

1 x thumb-sized piece of ginger – chopped

6 x cloves garlic – chopped

5 x small potatoes – peeled and quartered

2 x cinnamon sticks

5 x bay leaves

1tsp cumin seeds

1tsp coriander seeds

5 x Cloves

2 x fresh chilis – split

2Tbs sugar

1 x small handful curry leaves

3Tbs cape Malay or mild curry powder

1 x tin chopped tomato

500ml chicken stock

60ml sunflower oil

Fresh coriander to garnish

Method:

Heat 30ml of oil in a large heavy-based pot and brown the meat in batches on all sides. Remove the meat from the pot and then slowly fry the garlic, ginger and onions until soft. Once the onions are cooked, add the spices, bay leaves and curry powder and toast for a few minutes. Now add the tinned tomato, stock, chili, curry leaves and sugar to the pot. A dash of Worcester sauce will also help to sweeten the tomatoes.

Return the meat to the sauce and cook slowly for 30 minutes before adding the potato and dried peaches. Cook the curry for about another hour or until the meat is tender and the potatoes are soft and fluffy.

Orange and Anise Malva Puddings With Pecan Brittle and Whipped Cream

Serves 6

Ingredients:

For the Malva pudding batter:

1cup flour

1Tbs bicarbonate of soda

1cup sugar

1 egg

1Tbs each apricot jam, white wine vinegar & melted butter

1cup milk

For the sauce:

150ml cream

150ml milk

50ml sugar

125ml hot water

125g butter

Zest of 1 orange

3 x star anise

Pecan Brittle

80g Pecan Nuts

1cup sugar

500ml Whipped cream to serve

Pomegranate rubies to garnish

Method:

We made our individual malva puddings in small copper pots lined with greaseproof baking cups, but you could use lined muffin tins, ramekins or any other baking dish you choose. Set the oven at 170°C and place a baking dish ¾ filled with boiling water on the bottom shelf, this will help to steam the puddings.

To make the Malva batter, start by mixing the flour, bicarb and sugar into a bowl. In another bowl beat the egg very well and add the apricot jam, vinegar, melted butter and milk, beating well between each addition. Using an electric beater, beat the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, mixing well. Pour the batter into the prepared baking dishes and bake for 45 minutes until well risen and brown.

While the puddings are baking, combine all of the sauce ingredients in a small pot and simmer on a medium heat until all of the sugar has dissolved and the sauce has reduced a little. Pass the sauce through a strainer to remove the orange zest and start anise. When the puddings are done, remove from the oven, and pour over the sauce.  The puddings should absorb a fair amount of the sauce making them incredibly moist and tasty.

To make the pecan brittle, simply melt the sugar in a pan until it is a light golden caramel colour. Remember that melted sugar burns incredibly quickly so keep an eye on it. Place a piece of greaseproof baking paper onto a cold kitchen counter and scatter the pecans onto it. Pour the melted sugar over the pecans and allow the praline to harden and cool. When it is totally set, break it into shards that you will use to garnish the puddings.

Serve your malva puddings warm with pecan brittle shards, whipped cream and a scattering of fresh pomegranate rubies.

Catch The Hostess With Lorna Maseko tonight at 20:30 pm on SABC 3

Recipe and images: supplied by Greyscale Productions