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 butternut soup

It’s been abnormally nippy for January in Johannesburg this year which got me thinking about changing my weekly meal plan to cater for the weather. My grandmother, forever the fashionista, used to say “dress for the weather, not for the season”. I decided to adapt her saying to “cook for the weather, not for the season”. So forget what you heard, soup in Summer is just fine if the weather demands a warm and hearty meal. And none of that store-bought packet soup. Just try out my Creamy Butternut & Carrot Soup and let me know if the family gives it a nod.
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Ingredients
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1 large butternut peeled and diced
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2-3 medium carrots peeled and diced
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1 large onion cut into quarters
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Chopped celery fingers
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Spring onions
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Thyme
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2 cups chicken or vegetable stock
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½ cup cream
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1 tsp nutmeg
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¼ tsp cinnamon powder
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Salt & pepper
Note 1: You can vary the quantities according to the number of people you’re feeding. This recipe will comfortably feed 4 people.
Method
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Turn on oven to 180Ëš.
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Layer all the vegetables and thyme onto a baking tray, season with salt and pepper. Cover with foil to keep the moisture and bake for 45 minutes or so.
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Place the cooked vegetables into a blender or food processor. You can either remove or leave in the thyme sprigs. I prefer to leave them in because they get blitzed anyway and add so much flavour.
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Add 1 cup of stock and blend until smooth. If the blended mixture is still too think then add more stock and pulse some more. You’ll have to use your discretion here because we enjoy soup differently. I prefer mine halfway between runny and thick, but I do find that this soup is better when its more on the runny side.
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Decant the soup mixture into a pot to heat. Add the cream, cinnamon and nutmeg. Feel free to use more cream if you’re not counting calories.
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Serve while hot.

