The Malaysian Insider :: Food
The Malaysian Insider :: Food |
| South African chefs stir up “old-style” cuisine Posted: 16 Oct 2013 10:57 PM PDT A lot of what chef Chris Erasmus (pic) works on at his upscale restaurant in the Cape winelands has not been in vogue, or even necessary, since fridges were first sold over a century ago. But the former chemical engineering student is determined, with the help of a little scientific know-how, to resurrect a centuries-old way of approaching food that seems anathema to modern life. Some of Erasmus's preparation methods, once essential to keep local produce edible through the winter, can take weeks, months or even a year to complete. But they make the most of ingredients that do not need to be flown in from around the world. "We are using old techniques with modern science," he said toying with a puffed-up, week-old vacuum pack of salted raspberries. Inside the plastic pouch the blood-red berries are being pickled using heterolactic fermentation, a chemical process that converts glucose into lactic acid, preserving the fruit in the process. To this age-old technique Erasmus adds salt and low oxygen levels, helping the process move along and preventing the build-up of bacteria we now know is harmful. Once the fermentation is completed the berries can be dehydrated, stored and reconstituted with water whenever needed. The end result is an ingredient that has little in common with the vinegar-tinged tastes commonly associated with pickling. This is no throat-burning bar snack, soggy fast food garnish or bland central European stodge. "It's got a beautifully savoury raspberry smell and it's got 10 times the flavour because of the fermentation," he said. The groundwork for this new old cuisine may have come from the likes of Topsi Venter – a now-retired female chef who went from working on the South African Dried Fruit Board to opening restaurants that dug deep into the terroir to redefine local food. But Erasmus – along with other like-minded South African chefs such as Margot Janse and Richard Carstens – stand at the confluence of many food movements that have grown over the last decade around the world. They dip into the use-it-all ethic of head-to-tail butchering, the scientific adventurism of molecular gastronomy and the locavore drive for seasonal food sourced from nearby farms. For this reason Erasmus's menus at the Pierneef restaurant – located in the La Motte vineyard beneath steep granite slopes that dot South Africa's Western Cape – are often short on specifics. "It will say Karoo lamb, it won't say what cut. So we'll first use the neck then the shoulders, then the ribs, then the legs, until there is nothing left." Angus McIntosh, a former Goldman Sachs broker who left investment banking to set up an biodynamic farm near Stellenbosch, supplies Erasmus and dozens of other local restaurateurs. He said demand for his pasture-reared products has increased dramatically in recent years as people become more concerned about how and, as importantly, where their food is produced. "It's not just a trend anymore," said Erasmus. "It's becoming a guideline for the top chefs, if you have Canadian scallops on your menu someone is going to call you and say 'un-uh' get it off, let's not do that'." But the thing that binds these ethical and locavore influences together for Erasmus is old-time cooking used by the voortrekkers, the Dutch immigrants who settled across southern Africa in the 1800s. "Back then they knew exactly what they were doing, and it was forgotten for a while. Now we have a better understanding of the science behind it, and it makes sense." In that sense his approach is similar to the retro ethos which catapulted Copenhagen's two Michelin starred Noma restaurant and its "new Nordic cuisine" to international fame. "One of my favourite dishes is our salted lamb rib, which we found in very old recipes," said Erasmus. For this dish the rib is rubbed with a spice used to make beef jerky or biltong, South Africa's homegrown variety of cured meat. Hung in a chimney for two weeks, "it slowly pickled, cured and smoked", he explained. It is then taken down, cooked, then cold dried, and when it is needed sliced on hot rocks. The end result is "almost like a lamb pancetta", he said. According to Jean-Pierre Rossouw, local food critic and author of an eponymous restaurant guide, this blending of the old and the new in South African cuisine is both "very exciting" and "long overdue". "Food is very much a combination of roots, heritage and modern culinary technique and innovation," he said. "And when heritage meets innovation, your cuisine really moves forward." Perhaps necessity is the mother of invention, even a hundred years after the necessity has disappeared. – AFP Relaxnews, October 17, 2013. |
| A delicious way with quinoa, the superfood Posted: 16 Oct 2013 09:50 PM PDT But it's an ancient seed --the people of the Andes in South America have been eating it since 3,000 years ago. For the Incas, quinoa was a sacred food. Now it's known as a superfood, with a very high protein and fibre content. It is a rich source of phosphorous, magnesium, calcium and iron. It's high in arginine too, which is good for the heart. It's also gluten-free. My interest in quinoa (pronounced keenwah) was piqued when I first ate it more than a year ago dressed in chilli oil, lime juice and a little coconut sugar in an organic restaurant more than a year ago, and then at the Living Food Bistro in Kuala Lumpur, where they had sprouted the seeds and served them in a salad. Sprouting preserves their natural enzymes and vitamins. Being high in protein, I find it a worthy substitute for carbohydrates as in rice and bread, and is especially good for those on a diet. I have been cooking it like a rice, though it absorbs more water and needs a little more cooking time. I always feel it needs an aromatic herb, spices or even some truffle oil to make it more palatable. To make it more substantial for dinner, I have done it in a "fried rice" style, adding long beans or French beans, garlic, minced chicken, chillies, Thai basil, and a chopped salted egg. The last is because duck eggs are now regarded as more nutritious than chicken eggs, and I love salted duck eggs. It adds oomph to the quinoa. Last week I bought a small tub of ground fresh turmeric and decided to cook it with quinoa. It worked wonderfully. I may even try making a quinoa ulam! I can imagine the bunga kantan or ginger flower, lemongrass and other fragrant herbs going so well with this. The following recipe is a great one-dish meal which is complete with vegetables and meat. You can do variations of this using different herbs and spices. Turmeric Quinoa with Long Beans and Salted Egg 1 cup mixed quinoa, about 180g 2 cups water 3 Tbsps olive oil or grapeseed oil 1 big onion, chopped 4 garlic, chopped 2cm knob of turmeric, ground 2 red chillies sliced finely 200g minced chicken (or any meat) 2 tsps soya sauce ½ tsp ground pepper 10 long beans cut finely ¼ tsp salt 2 salted eggs boiled, shelled and cut into small cubes More salt to taste if needed, after adding in the salted eggs Method 1. Wash the quinoa using a large sieve. Put in a pot, add water and bring to boil over high heat. Reduce heat to low and let it simmer till the water is about to dry up. It should still be a little wet when you turn off the fire. 2. Heat cooking oil in a pan. When the oil is hot, add in onion and garlic and fry till the onion looks transparent. Put in the turmeric and chillies and fry till there is a nice aroma. 3. Add the minced meat, marinated with soya sauce and pepper, and stir fry till the meat is cooked, about three to five minutes. 4. Put in the long beans and toss quickly, add salt and then turn off the fire. 5. Add the cooked ingredients in the pan to the pot of quinoa. Stir them all up before adding the chopped salted eggs. Taste to see if more salt is needed. Note: If you don't like meat, you can add cubes of panfried or grilled salmon, seasoned with lots of ground black pepper, and salt. You can also add prawns. |
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