Monday 29 June 2015

Two Peas in Cyrildene

One of my favourite hidden gems in Johannesburg is Derick Avenue in Cyrildene. This relativity new China Town is packed full of fresh and unusual produce, small hole in the wall type restaurants, Chinese supermarkets and is thankfully relatively free of the cheap and nasty China import type shops that dominate the China Malls around Gauteng. Since Kyle is relatively new to Johannesburg and has never been to Cyrildene I suggested a Saturday Morning outing. Once I managed to lure Kyle off the the couch and out from under his duvet with the prospect of really authentic Dim Sum, we set off.

One of my favourite parts of Derick Avenue are the street sellers peddling all manner of fresh Chinese produce at a fraction of the price you would expect to pay in supermarkets. Fascinated by the array of unfamiliar and unusual ingredients and lured by the low prices, we bought bags of oyster mushrooms, fresh spring onions, Chinese cucumber, water chestnuts, spouts, tofu and varieties of squash and potatoes we had never seen before. We then ventured into one of the larger supermarkets along the street. The supermarkets are fascinating with rows and rows of strange bottles, sauces, bags of unidentifiable ingredients and freeze dried seafood. It is often almost impossible to know what you are buying as the bulk of the labels are in Chinese with no English translations. Unfortunately most of the shopkeepers are not all that fluent in English so one generally has to look at the picture on the packet and hope for the best.

Ducks blood, and other delights
Fresh Oyster Mushrooms
Some of the ingredients and produce we brought home

We then met up with a friend and headed up to the Shun Deck Chinese Restaurant for some authentic dim sum. They run a buffet from 11am to 2.30 pm with a large selection of savoury and sweet dim sums. The trick here is not to ask what is in the the food because you probably don't want to know and its delicious anyway. We loved the steamed buns, the pork pot stickers and the glass noodle pork dumplings. Not so great were the custard dumplings which tasted like thick slightly borderline sweet egg yolk. The best advice I can give though is avoid the tea. I absolutely love tea with my meal but for some reason there was a lost in translation situation, which resulted in us drinking a detox tea of sorts. I had wondered why the lady had looked at me like I was mad when I ordered the pot and unfortunately the results started to hit just as we arrived back on the street to do some more shopping. Trust me when I say its no fun desperately seeking a bathroom along that street and having to make do with a less than standard one in  hurry.

Some of the dim sum we sampled at Shun Deck Chinese Restuarant
These had the hollow centres and the most remarkable texture
On Sunday we decided to experiment with making dim sum for some of our friends and family using some of the weird and wonderful ingredients we had bought. We managed to produce with varying success Vietnamese glass spring rolls, pickled diakon, pork and coriander steamed won tons, sweet pork steamed buns,  dipping sauces, a funky kimchi and marinaded tofu noodle dish and a tapioca, coconut and water chestnut dessert.


Making Wontons
Steaming with our electric and bamboo steaming contraption
 Kimchi and Marinaded Tofu  with Noodles
Vietnamese Spring Rolls
Tapioca with Coconut and Grated Water Chestnut
The food was washed down with copious amounts of wine, chatter and laughter. Jersey even managed to steal a few won tons off the table while no one looked before photo bombing our duckface picture!




Introducing Pea #2

Mmm... Food: Millions obsess over how much they they consume, millions are unable get enough and millions of tons of it are wasted every day. In fact, globally about half of all food goes to waste. It is such an integral part of the human experience. On average we will spend about 4 years of our lives eating. Food is therefore understandably a part of so many memories (good and bad). And, when looking to form new memories it is invariably integral to our plans. Food always has been and always will be a celebration of life.

Some of my earliest and warmest memories are of my mom teaching me to cook "zambezi mud" (essentially a thick chocolate custard) or choc chip cookies on a rainy day. Later in life when I was home schooling and both the folks were working, I often cooked for the family. And my obsession with experimentation, meant they never ate the same thing twice.

These facts serve to highlight my food philosophy. That is that food is there to help us enjoy life. And yet sustainability is key. Part of our responsibility to the human race is not wasting it and part of the responsibility to ourselves in not eating rubbish or mediocre food. I want to enjoy the experience every time, and this has lead to my love of cooking. Being surprised by a new flavour or combination, is like opening a present and finding something you didn't know you always wanted. Seeing the expression on someone else's face when they do the same is priceless!

Wednesday 24 June 2015

Introducing Pea #1

I have always been passionate about food (as evidenced by my waistline). Food, for me, has always been a fully immersive experience. It is not just about taste but texture, background, and the experience of eating. As a child I used to drive my parents crazy by eating with my hands, saying it 'tasted better' when I used my fingers. My strongest memories of our family trip to Europe when I was six were not the sights or even Disney Land but eating a whole chicken with rolls in the hotel room, the fact sugar came in lumps, and the size of the apples. 

I wish I could say that I come from a culinary family where we celebrated food at every turn but the reaility is Lizzy, our domestic and my second Mum, did all the cooking in my family (with the exception of camping trips where dad would haul out the skottle and potjie pot). My fondest home cooked food memories where always at Lizzy's hand; golden roast potatoes that we would fight over and a sausage gravy that I still strive towards. Now, while Lizzy is a dab hand in the kitchen the reality of feeding a family on a budget and a rather set in his ways father meant food was more utilitarian than exciting. Despite this somewhere along the way I started to be interested in cooking and so I learnt to cook; half taught by Lizzy, part self-taught experimentation and part thanks to the various food channels on TV. 

My favourite part of cooking has always been the celebration of feeding people.  In fact my 27th Birthday included a full-on Christmas in July feast for forty-five people comprising three turkeys, a gammon,  a kilogram of sausage stuffing, four kilograms of roast potato, various trimmings and an enormous salad. It may  be true that we ran out of plates, Potato stole half the roast potatoes off the table (Cannibal!) and my friend set fire to the oven but it was worth the three days of cooking just to see everyone eating and being happy. 

A  (small) Sample of the Birthday Christmas in July 2014 Spread


And therein lies the crux of it all. When I cook for people it doesn't feel like work. I can spend days tied to the stove in preparation of a single meal and feel only happiness. Basically I want to work in food, for food and with food.