by Sally Andrew
• Pour the jam into sterilised jars, making sure each jar has a few apricot kernels. Once it has cooled a little, seal with hot, melted candle wax and screw the lids on tight. You do not have to use the wax, but it will help the jam stay fresh for many years.
Tips
• The apricot kernels give the jam a nice almondy flavour. Use a hammer or a half-brick to break open the apricot pips to get to the kernels. You can also buy apricot kernels from health shops. The almond flavour takes a month or two, and just gets better and better.
• Use unripe fruit for the best jam. It has the most pectin and its flavour will last the longest. If your fruit is a bit ripe, add lemon juice (which has extra pectin).
• To sterilise jars: wash them in hot soapy water, then put in the oven at 100°C for 20 minutes to dry out. Put the jam in the jars while they are both hot.
TANNIE KURUMAN’S MELKTERT
Crust
1¼ cups cake flour
⅓ cup icing sugar
¼ t salt
½ cup cubed butter (125g), softened
2 egg yolks
• Sift the flour, icing sugar and salt together.
• Add the butter and egg yolks, and cut them into the flour with a knife. Using your fingers, knead very gently until the butter is mixed in. Wrap the dough in cling film and leave to rest for 30 minutes in the fridge.
• Roll out the dough on a floured surface and fit into a well-greased 24cm pie dish.
• Prick the base with a fork.
• Bake for 15–20 minutes at 200°C.
Filling
Ingredients A:
2 cups milk
1 T butter
Pinch of salt
⅔ cup sugar
Ingredients B:
1 cup milk
2 T cake flour
¼ cup corn starch
Ingredients C:
2 eggs
1 t vanilla extract
Topping
Cinnamon sugar
• Heat ingredients A (milk, butter, salt and sugar) in a saucepan, stirring until the sugar has dissolved.
• Mix ingredients B (milk, flour and corn starch) in a bowl, and pour A onto B. Mix well and return to the saucepan.
• Cook the mixture, stirring all the time, for about 5 minutes until it has thickened and the floury taste has gone.
• Beat ingredients C (eggs and vanilla extract) in a bowl. Slowly whisk the hot mixture into C and mix well. Return to the saucepan and cook gently until thick (2–3 minutes).
• Pour the custard into the baked pastry crust and let it cool and set. Sprinkle on lots of cinnamon sugar before serving.
Tips
• To make cinnamon sugar, mix equal parts of ground cinnamon and brown sugar.
• You can dust the top of the milk tart with just cinnamon instead of cinnamon sugar.
MANGO SORBET
2 sweet, ripe mangoes, peeled and chopped Yogurt or lime juice (optional)
• Freeze the mango flesh for 3 hours or until quite hard, but not rock solid.
• Blend well with an electric beater and put back in the freezer.
• You can add a spoon of yogurt or a squeeze of lime juice before serving.
Tips
• This recipe depends on the mangoes being very delicious. If they are only average you may want to add cream or yogurt to your mixture before freezing, or drizzle a little honey on top.
• If the mango has frozen rock hard, wait a few minutes before you blend it.
THE PERFECT BUTTERMILK CHOCOLATE CAKE
Cake
¼ cup water
220g butter
½ cup cocoa powder (60g)
1¾ cups brown sugar
2 eggs
1¾ cups buttermilk
1 t vanilla extract
2 cups cake flour (240g)
1 t bicarbonate of soda
1 t baking powder
½ t salt
• Preheat the oven to 180°C. Line the bottom of a 28cm cake tin with baking paper and grease the paper and the sides of the tin with butter.
• First, put the water into a saucepan, and then add the butter and cocoa powder. Heat until hot but not boiling.
• Beat the sugar and eggs together, and mix in the buttermilk and vanilla extract. Then add the hot cocoa mixture and mix well.
• Sift the flour, bicarbonate of soda, baking powder and salt together, and add to the cocoa mixture. Mix well again.
• Pour the mixture into the cake tin and bake for 50–55 minutes. Let it cool in the tin.
Icing
1½ cups sifted icing sugar (200g)
½ cup butter (125g)
¼ cup sifted cocoa powder (40g)
¼ cup buttermilk
¼ t salt
½ t vanilla extract
1 T rum
• Heat all the icing ingredients, except the rum, in a saucepan over a medium heat, stirring all the time and whisking out any lumps. Bring to the boil and remove from the heat. Add the rum.
• Let the cake and the icing cool completely before spreading or pouring the icing.
Tips
• Make the icing when the cake is in the oven so it has time to cool completely.
• The warm icing also makes a delicious chocolate sauce that you can put on ice cream.
• If you don’t have rum, you can use brandy, but rum and chocolate do make a special magic.
THE MECHANIC’S CHOCOLATE MOUSSE CAKE
240g dark chocolate
½ cup butter (125g)
1 t vanilla extract
4 eggs
¼ cup caster sugar
Pinch of salt
Grated zest of 1 orange
• Melt the chocolate, butter and vanilla extract in a bain marie. (I put the ingredients in a small heatproof bowl rested over a pot of boiled water, off the heat.)
• Beat the eggs, sugar and salt until very thick and silky. This will take at least 5 minutes with an electric beater on high speed. This is very important and must not be rushed. The mixture will get thick and foamy, about five times its original volume.
• Add the orange zest and then fold in the melted chocolate butter.
• Pour the batter into a lined and greased 23cm spring-form cake tin and bake at 160°C for 35–45 minutes or until the top of the cake begins to crack.
• Leave in the tin to cool, then take out and fill the hollow bit on top with whipped cream and berries or nuts.
Tips
• Use dark chocolate with about 35–40 per cent cocoa solids. Do not use very dark chocolate or chocolate with more than 45 per cent cocoa solids, as this will make your cake dry, bitter and heavy.
• This cake may look a little flat, but this is so you can fill the middle with delicious whipped cream and berries or nuts, or even poached kaalgatperskes (nectarines).
HONEY-TOFFEE SNAKE CAKE
Dough
½ cup milk
2 T sugar (30g)
1 T honey (20g)
1 t instant dried yeast
2 cardamom pods
2 cups cake flour (240g)
¾ t salt
Pinch of ground nutmeg
1 egg, beaten
100g butter, softened
Honey-Toffee Topping
3 T butter (45g), softened
75g icing sugar
1 egg white
2 T honey (40g)
30g almonds, chopped
• Put the milk, sugar and honey in a saucepan and gently heat until warm. It must be slightly warm, not hot, or it will kill the yeast. Add the yeast and set aside.
• Crack the cardamom pods with a mortar and pestle. Remove the pods and grind the seeds, with a little sugar, into a powder.
• Sift together the flour and salt, and add the nutmeg and powdered cardamom.
• Add the yeasty milk and the beaten egg to the flour and work together for a few minutes. Add the soft butter and knead the dough for about 10 minutes until very s
mooth.
• Put the dough into a clean buttered bowl, cover with a cloth and set aside in a warm place to rise for an hour and a half or until it has doubled in size.
• In the meantime, make the topping by putting everything into a bowl and mixing well.
• Line a roasting tray or wide shallow cake tin with baking paper. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knock out the air. Gently begin to roll and pull the dough into a long sausage. You can let it rest for a few minutes if it begins to fight back. Once your dough sausage is about 70cm long, or 2–3cm thick, coil it into a loose spiral on your lined tray or tin. Do not let the coil touch itself – leave about 2cm between the coils of your dough snake, except for the tail, which you can tuck in underneath.
• Pour the topping evenly over the cake and leave it to rise for another 20–25 minutes.
• Bake the cake for 30–35 minutes at 190°C or until deep golden and cooked through.
Tip
• The cake is most delicious on the day it is baked, but it can be warmed in the oven or toasted to make it just as tasty again.
KOEKSISTERS
Syrup
1kg sugar
2½ cups water
½ t ground ginger
2 cinnamon sticks
3 T lemon juice
½ t cream of tartar
Dough
4½ cups cake flour (560g)
1 t salt
4 t baking powder
½ cup butter (125g)
2 eggs, beaten
About 1 cup milk
2 litres sunflower oil for deep-frying
• First prepare the syrup by mixing the sugar, water, ginger and cinnamon in a heavy pot. Place over medium heat and stir until the sugar has dissolved. Bring to the boil and let it boil for about 5 minutes to make a syrup. Remove from the heat and add the lemon juice and cream of tartar.
• Once the syrup has cooled slightly, put it in the fridge or freezer.
• To make the dough, sift the flour, salt and baking powder together. Rub the butter into the flour with your fingers. Add the eggs and enough milk to form a stretchy dough that is easy to work. Knead very well – for at least 10 minutes – until smooth and elastic.
• Put the dough into an oiled bowl, cover it with a cloth and let it rest for 3 hours.
• Turn the dough out onto an oiled work surface. Divide into 6 equal pieces (about 180g each) and roll each into a sausage. Working gently but firmly, roll each sausage as much as it will allow you to without tearing the dough. Set it aside and move on to the next one. Once you have rolled them all, do this again until the 6 sausages are each about a metre long, or no more than 1cm thick. Leave the dough sausages to rest for 10 minutes.
• Now make two plaits of 3 strands each. It is easiest to start in the middle and work one way, and then work in the other direction. Make sure that the plait is nice and tight, and then let it rest for another 10–15 minutes.
• Cut the plaits into 7cm lengths. You should get at least 12 koeksisters from each plait.
• Fry about four at a time in hot oil, turning when they are golden brown (2–3 minutes a side). Once they have an even golden-brown colour, drain them for a moment (on old egg boxes or paper towel) before dropping them into the cold syrup. Turn them over and leave them in the syrup until the next ones are ready to go in. Keep going until they are all done.
Tip
• These are delicious and definitely worth the effort. They are best served chilled and will stay fresh in the fridge for a couple of days (although you will have eaten them before that). They can also be frozen.
MUESLI BUTTERMILK RUSKS
1kg cake flour
¼ cup baking powder (40g)
4 t salt
1½ cups toasted muesli (200g)
1 not-quite-full cup of sultanas or raisins (100g)
1 cup chopped dried apples (75g)
1¼ cups sunflower seeds (170g)
½ cup desiccated coconut (40g)
¼ cup linseeds (35g)
¼ cup sesame seeds (35g)
¼ cup pumpkin seeds (30g)
2 cups brown sugar (400g)
3 large eggs
2 cups buttermilk
500g butter, melted
• Preheat the oven to 180°C and grease four ordinary loaf tins or one 30 × 40cm tin.
• Mix together all the dry ingredients.
• Beat the eggs and mix in the buttermilk and melted butter. Add to the dry ingredients and mix well.
• Spoon the mixture (about 3cm thick) into the tin(s) and bake for about 45 minutes.
• Leave to cool slightly before turning out onto a wire rack, then allow to cool completely.
• Cut into rusks, about 2cm thick if they are in loaf tins or 3 × 4cm if they are in the larger tin, depending on how big you like them.
• Dry overnight in a warming drawer, or in a 80–100°C oven for 4–6 hours until hard and dry. Store in an airtight container.
• Dip the rusks into your coffee, like biscuits, until soft and delicious.
Tips
• Use a pair of scissors to cut the dried apple – it is much easier.
• You can also add dried cranberries or your favourite nuts, seeds or dried fruit, as long as the overall amount of dry ingredients stays the same.
BREAD
KAROO FARM BREAD
4½ cups brown bread flour (600g)
3 t salt
10g instant dried yeast
1 cup oats (80g)
½ cup sunflower seeds (80g)
¼ cup molasses (80g)
1 T sunflower oil
2½ cups lukewarm water
1 cup All Bran flakes (55g)
• Grease a 12 × 25cm loaf tin.
• Sift the flour (adding back the bran that is caught in the sieve) and mix in the salt, yeast, oats and sunflower seeds.
• Add the molasses, oil and water and stir well. Now add the All Bran flakes and mix well. Spoon the batter into the tin and put in a warm place to rise for about 30 minutes.
• Sprinkle the top with a few more sunflower seeds and bake in a preheated oven at 220°C for 40–45 minutes.
• Remove from the tin and cool on a wire rack before slicing.
Tip
• This bread stays fresh for up to a week. It is delicious with farm butter and apricot jam or thick slices of cheese.
VETKOEK
600g cake flour
3 t instant dried yeast
2 T sugar
3 t salt
2 T sunflower oil
200ml warm water
200ml milk
2 litres sunflower oil for deep-frying
• Sift the flour and mix in the yeast, sugar and salt.
• Mix the oil, warm water and milk, and slowly add to the flour mixture. It should form a workable dough. Knead the dough for 8–10 minutes on a lightly floured surface until smooth and elastic. Oil a big bowl, put the dough into it, cover with a cloth and let it rise for about 2 hours or until twice its size.
• Gently knead the dough to knock out the air and divide into 10 portions (about 100g each). Work into balls and then flatten them using the palms of your hands. Rub these with oil and let them rise for 20–30 minutes.
• In the meantime, heat the deep-frying oil in a large heavy pot. Fry the vetkoek three at a time in the hot oil, turning them over when golden brown on one side (4–6 minutes) to brown the other side.
• Drain on paper towel or empty egg boxes.
• Serve with vetkoek mince or with lots of butter, farm cheese and home-made apricot jam.
Acknowledgements
Writing is such a solitary activity, but as I write my acknowledgements I am blown away by the army of supporters I have had. My heartfelt thanks to you all. I list some of you below:
Peter van Straten, Bosky Andrew and Joan van Gogh gave feedback on early drafts. Miriam Wheeldon and Nicolene Botha were my music advisors. Anel Hamersma did the first Afrikaans la
nguage and culture edit. Christian Vlotman and JP Andrew answered questions about youth culture. Vilia Reynolds gave me information about Ladismith. Andrew Brown was extremely generous with advice on legal, literary and police matters. Ladismith policewomen and -men kindly educated me about certain police procedures.
Carole Buggé (of New York’s Gotham Writers’ Workshop) gave me hope and a fantastic first edit. Christopher Hope gave me insightful feedback.
Sisi Nono Silimela embodies Tannie Maria’s do-the-right-thing spirit. Ditto Tannie Maria van der Berg, who also lent me her first name, is a brilliant cook and, along with her daughter Crecilda, advised me on matters from swear words to sheep. Danie Vorster of Merino SA taught me more on the latter subject. Ronel Gouws, Chris Erasmus, Pieter Jolly and Carl Wicht kindly answered questions on Afrikaans, literature, Bushmen and broken limbs (respectively). I am grateful to Vlok and Schutte-Vlok for their book Plants of the Klein Karoo (Umdaus Press, 2010).
If I were to sing all the praises of my agent, Isobel Dixon, I would sound like a mere sycophant, so let me just say in an understated way that she is a wonderwoman and a goddess. Louise Brice is pure angel, Melis Dagoglu moves mountains, and I am extremely grateful to the full murmuration of darlings at the Blake Friedmann Literary Agency, including Hattie Grunewald (who even lent me her first name) and Tom Witcomb.
I am blessed to have received wild enthusiasm and careful editing from a collection of brilliant publishers, editors and proofreaders, including Fourie Botha, Beth Lindop, Máire Fisher (Umuzi, South Africa); Louisa Joyner, Jamie Byng, Lorraine McCann (Canongate, UK); Dan Halpern, Megan Lynch (Ecco, HarperCollins USA); Iris Tupholme (HarperCollins Canada); Mandy Brett and Michael Heyward (Text, Australia). It has been an amazing collaborative experience, in which many cooks perfected rather than spoiled the broth (with thanks to expert kitchen management by the lovely Louisa).
My gratitude goes to the full teams of all the publishers of this book across the globe. Thank you for the most beautiful letters that some of you wrote to me. I keep them in my box of love letters and use them as medicine whenever I have a bad day.
Thanks to my gorgeous man, Bowen Boshier, who supports me through everything and teaches me how to see and how to be.
The love and support I have received from you all is like the fresh stream from which I drink daily in the Karoo.
I am inspired by and grateful to the following literary icons: Queen of Crime, Agatha Christie, who sparked my love of cosy mysteries; master storyteller Herman Charles Bosman, who taught me that what you leave out of the story can be just as important as what you put in; the charming Alexander McCall Smith, who showed the world that a slow-moving, soft-boiled woman detective from southern Africa can outrun many a fast-paced, hard-boiled PI from North America.