butter chicken
I remember vividly when and how I fell in love with Butter Chicken. The month was May, the year 2011 the place a small, ramshackle restaurant in New Delhi, India. I had been in Delhi studying since early March of that year and had months to go before heading back home to Cape Town to finish off my degree. Most of the food I had been exposed to in the city until then had not been to my liking, mainly because I did not at the time have much of a palette for hot and spicy food. One day when my friend and I went out as we often did to get out of the campus, I decided to try out Butter Chicken, which I was assured was the dish with the least heat on the menu. I was immediately hooked. For me it was the creamy texture and how the spices were tempered with yoghurt and tomatoes that made this meal a winner. Fast-forward to 2021, I’ve been enjoying this meal for a decade. The recipe below is my take on this delicious meal and I hope you can use it to switch up your chicken meals once in a while.
Scones, Scones, Scones
This is my recipe for yumminess produced in under an hour. These scones are perfect for a weekend or weekday morning. All you need to do is set your alarm an hour early to make sure that you stay in your family’s good books for an entire week! My scones are light, fluffy and golden. The sugar content ensures that they are sweet enough to enjoy on their own and not too sweet that you can’t add jam and cream. I really like adding ½ a teaspoon of cinnamon for that added bit flavour. You can also add a teaspoon of nutmeg for that additional flavour pop. Go on, give this recipe a try and let me know how popular you become in your home.
Creamy Samp
Samp is a South African staple food. It’s relatively cheap, filling and generally easy to cook. Its versatility also makes it a firm favourite in households across the country because you can have it as the base of your meal with chicken, stews and uLusu. It’s also a nice alternative to uMngqusho, which is the version of it that you make with sugar beans (see recipe elsewhere on this blog). There are a number of ways to make your samp creamy. Some people add powdered milk which adds an ever so slight sweetness to it. Others add white sauce. It’s really up to you how you like yours. I’ve made mine in different ways but the below recipe is for me the simplest one-pot version that guarantees a perfect result every time.
