Most of the Jewish immigrants came to South Africa from Lithuania and nearby Latvia, Poland, Russia and Belarus, home to the Ashkenazi Jews, in the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries. Sephardi Jews came later from North Africa, Rhode Island and Turkey – and from the 1950’s onwards from Egypt, the Belgian Congo and Zimbabwe. Sephardic food reflects the Mediterranean and Middle Eastern food of the countries Sephardi Jews had lived in.

One of the most respected Sephardic cooks in Cape Town was the late Donna Benatar. Born in Israel, a 10^th generation sabra, she came to Africa in 1954 to visit friends in Zimbabwe. There she met her husband-to-be, Egyptian-born Baruch, who at the time was living in the Belgian Congo. They married in 1955 and returned to the Congo, but had to leave in 1974. After a stay in Belgium, they chose to live in Cape Town.

Chraime is considered to be the kings of Libyan food, and the dish that really characterizes the Libyan Jewish kitchen. There are many ways to prepare it and many versions. The fish must be firm and it must ‘float’ in the sauce – that is there must be plenty of sauce. It’s served with white bread and lemon is squeezed over it as you eat. This recipe is from our cookbook of the week – South Africa Eats.

For the fish use kabeljou, Cape salmon or yellowtail, cut into cutlets on the bone, with the skin on, to about thumb thickness, either a smallish fish or the tail part of a bigger fish – this will give some small pieces which is perfect for those people who prefer a smaller portion.

12 pieces of a firm fish – see above

3 large lemons

oil for frying
1 large head of garlic, peeled and roughly chopped
2 tins (115 g) tomato paste
1T ground cumin
1T ground coriander
a generous pinch of cumin seeds
1t cayenne pepper (or chilli powder)
a pinch of salt
boiling water

To serve:

lemon wedges
kitke bread

1. Rinse the fish and lightly salt on both sides.
2. Marinate the fish in lemon juice for a while or at least for the time it takes to make the sauce. Have a colander and two plates ready. Place fish in a colander over the first plate and squeeze lemon juice over the fish. After a while move the colander to second plate and pour over the drained liquids from the first plate. Repeat by moving the colander back to the first plate and pouring over the drained liquids. Do this about three times while making the sauce. Discard the liquid that remains.
3. Cover the base of a wide frying pan or casserole, about 29 cm in diameter, with a 5 mm layer of oil. The casserole must be big enough to hold all the pieces of fish in a single layer. Over medium heat, sauté the chopped garlic.
4. Add the tomato paste in the centre of the pot, top with the spices and salt and mix. Cook for a minute or two.
5. Add enough boiling water to create a good sauce consistency.
6. Add the fish and cook on each side for 2 – 3 minutes. Remove fish to a serving dish and pour over the sauce. Serve at room temperature with a generous portion of sauce (to mop up with kitke) and with lemon wedges to squeeze over the fish.

Serves 8-12

Wickedfood Cooking School runs cooking classes throughout the year at its purpose-built Johannesburg cooking studio. Cookery classes are run in the mornings and evenings 7 days a week (subject to a minimum of 12 people). The venue is also popular for corporate events and private functions – teambuilding cooking classes, birthdays, kitchen teas, and dinner parties with a difference.

Our cooking lessons are hands-on, where every person gets to participate in the preparation of the dishes. They are also a lot of fun where you not only learn new skills, but get to meet people with similar interests. For corporate groups and team building cooking classes these events are a novel way of creating staff interaction or entertaining clients.

Grilled squid salad is always a favourite at Wickedfood Cooking School.  It is a feature in our Thai cooking class as well as our Portuguese cooking class. Raymond Blanc’s juicy and colourful summer grilled squid salad with provençal vegetables, from his new book, Kitchen Secrets, is simple, satisfying and bursting with the flavours of Provence. You will certainly be able to taste our interpretation of a grilled squid salad in a future French cooking class at Wickedfood Cooking School.

Provençale vegetables

1 medium fennel bulb, trimmed, thinly sliced lengthways

1 medium courgette, thinly sliced lengthways

1T extra virgin olive oil

pinch sea salt

pinch freshly ground black pepper

200g sun-dried tomatoes

Grilled squid

3 medium squid, about 200g/7oz each, cleaned

2T olive oil

1t lemon juice

2 pinches sea salt

1 red chilli, seeds and pith removed, finely chopped, preferably Snub nose or Rio Grande variety

1t grated palm sugar, or 2t brown sugar

Rocket salad

1T balsamic vinegar, preferably 8-year-old

2T extra virgin olive oil

pinch freshly ground black pepper

4 small handfuls rocket

Garnish

Parmesan shavings

Extra virgin olive oil, for drizzling

Provençale vegetables

• Heat a griddle pan and cook the fennel and courgette slices for one minute on one side, then remove from the heat.
• Drizzle over the olive oil, season with the salt and freshly ground black pepper and set aside.

Grilled squid

• Slice open each squid lengthways, score a criss-cross pattern on the inside and cut each into three pieces.
• Mix the squid pieces with the olive oil, lemon juice, sea salt, chilli and sugar and leave in a shallow, non-reactive bowl to marinade for half an hour.
• Heat a griddle pan until it is very hot, then grill the squid pieces for 15-30 seconds on each side. (This will produce a lot of smoke so make sure your extraction is on and the kitchen is well ventilated.) It is important that the pan is extremely hot so that the squid cooks very quickly and does not boil in its own juices (or cook over the coals of a very hot braai). If it cooks for any longer than two minutes it will become tough and rubbery.

Rocket salad

• Mix together the balsamic vinegar, olive oil and pepper and dress the rocket with the vinaigrette.

To serve

• Place the grilled squid and vegetables around each plate. Place the dressed rocket in the centre of the plate, drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and garnish with the sun-dried tomatoes and Parmesan shavings.
• Alternatively, mix the dressed rocket with the Parmesan in a large bowl and serve separately.

Serves 4

Click here to watch a video of Raymond Blanc making this salad.

For more recipes from Raymond Blanc’s Kitchen Secrets,  click here

Wickedfood Cooking School runs cooking classes throughout the year at its purpose-built Johannesburg cooking studio. Cookery classes are run in the mornings and evenings 7 days a week (subject to a minimum of 12 people). The venue is also popular for corporate events and private functions – teambuilding cooking classes, birthdays, kitchen teas, and dinner parties with a difference.

Our cooking lessons are hands-on, where every person gets to participate in the preparation of the dishes. They are also a lot of fun where you not only learn new skills, but get to meet people with similar interests. For corporate groups and team building cooking classes these events are a novel way of creating staff interaction or entertaining clients.

Tags: Ballymaloe Cookery School, Cookery School, cooking class, Darina Allen, Forgotten Skills of Cooking, teambuilding, Wickedfood Cooking School

Frikkadels – a lovely old-fashioned word – refers both to fishcakes and meatballs. Big, fat ones are fab for dinner, while smaller ones are good with pre-prandial drinks. Fish frikkadels may be flavoured in various ways; in the book Tortoises and Tumbleweeds they have an Indian spin. Any fish can be used, freshly-cooked for the occasion, left-over from a baked or braaied – even tinned salmon, tuna or pilchards if all else fails. Rougail – a salady garnish of Tamil origin that has made its home in the Indian Ocean islands – rounds things off gloriously. Alternatively serve with a homemade tomato sauce, as we do in Wickedfood cooking School in our fish cooking class.

500 g smoked or cooked fish fillets
300 g potatoes, peeled and diced
60 ml chopped coriander
2 eggs, lightly beaten
salt and milled black pepper
juice of 1 lemon or lime
250 ml toasted breadcrumbs
2 limes, to serve
vegetable oil

Rougail:

3 – 4 spring onions, finely chopped
3 roma or plum tomatoes, chopped
60 ml chopped coriander
salt and milled black pepper
olive oil
lime juice

1. Skin and flake the fish. Cook the potatoes in a saucepan of salted boiling water. Drain well and mash. Mix in the fish, coriander and egg, and flavour with salt and pepper and a good squeeze of lemon or lime juice. Shape into patties, flattening them between your palms. Coat with toasted crumbs.
2. Cut the limes in half, brush generously with oil and grill in a frying pan until lightly charred and smoky.
3. Rougail Mix the spring onions, tomatoes and coriander, and season with salt and pepper. Add a little olive oil and lime juice. Spoon into a bowl.
4. Heat oil in a medium frying pan for shallow-frying, and fry the frikkadels until crisp and golden; 2 or 3 minutes on each side should do it.
5. Serve hot or at room temperature – never chilled, as they lose all their flavour. Rougail and charred limes can be presented alongside or in separate bowls.

(Makes about 12; Serves 4 to 6)

More recipes from the book …click here.

Wickedfood Cooking School, Sunninghill – (011) 234-3252 sunninghill@wickedfood.co.za

Wickedfood Cooking School runs cooking classes throughout the year at its purpose-built cooking studios. Classes are run in the mornings and evenings 7 days a week (subject to a minimum of 12 people). The venue is also popular for corporate events and private functions – team building cooking classes, birthdays, kitchen teas, and dinner parties with a difference.

Our classes are hands-on, where every person gets to participate in the preparation of the dishes. They are also a lot of fun where you not only learn new skills, but get to meet people with similar interests. For corporate groups and teambuilding cooking classes these events are a novel way of creating staff interaction or entertaining clients.

At Wickedfood Cooking School we teach our students a variety of southeast Asian inspired soups in our Thai cooking classes.   A laksa is the closest one will get to a hearty warming Southeast Asian soup.  It comes in many guises, this one is an adaption from Reuben Cooks, our cookbook of the week.  In his recipe he uses salmon fillets, but we find them a little rich and prefer whitefish such as hake or gurnard. Once you have mastered this recipe substitute the seafood for chunky vegetables or chicken breasts.

1L chicken or vegetable stock
1 tin coconut milk
Salt and black pepper
20 steamed, shelled mussels
400g salmon, cut into chunks (see introduction)
Juice of 1 lime (about 2 tablespoons)
2 red bird’s eye chillies, chopped (optional)
350g rice vermicelli noodles, cooked
1 handful of coriander or basil or mint leaves, to garnish
Onion sprouts, to garnish

Laksa paste
1T whole coriander seeds
3 stalks lemon grass
1/2 cup canola oil
1/4 cup picked fresh coriander leaves
1T curry powder
1T turmeric
6 lime leaves
1/2 cup grated palm sugar
1/2 cup Thai fish sauce
3 green chillies, chopped
3 red chillies, chopped

• Heat the stock in a large pot. When hot, add the laksa paste. Simmer for a few minutes and add the coconut milk. Continue to simmer for 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Taste and adjust the seasoning.
• Add the steamed, shelled mussels and simmer for 1 minute.
• Add the fish and simmer for 2 minutes.
• Add the lime juice and chillies, if using. Bring the soup almost to boiling point, cover the pan and turn off the heat.
• Serve as soon as the noodles are ready. Reheat the rice vermicelli noodles, drain well and transfer to a large bowl. Moisten the noodles with a little of the soup from the seafood pot. Serve the noodles, soup and seafood in 4 large bowls, garnished with herbs and onion sprouts.

Laksa paste

• Blend all the ingredients together to make a fine paste.

Serves 4

Try these other Asian inspired soups:

Chinese corn and chicken soup

Tom yum kung

Sunninghill – (011) 234-3252 sunninghill@wickedfood.co.za

Runs cooking classes throughout the year at its purpose-built cooking studios. Classes are run in the mornings and evenings 7 days a week (subject to a minimum of 12 people). The venue is also popular for corporate events and private functions – team building cooking classes, birthdays, kitchen teas, and dinner parties with a difference.

Our classes are hands-on, where every person gets to participate in the preparation of the dishes. They are also a lot of fun where you not only learn new skills, but get to meet people with similar interests. For corporate groups and teambuilding cooking classes these events are a novel way of creating staff interaction or entertaining clients.

Q: I can not get my fishcakes right . I’ve tried different recipes but they are always soft ,even if I leave the mixture in the fridge for a few hours,but the bigest problem, they absorb a lot of oil although I use very little oil to fry them . They are very nice and tasty but not easy to handle.

A: There are a number of techniques to use when making fish cakes.  These include:

1. Ensure that you have a good wet/dry mix.  You need a binding agent such as egg and a starch for binding,  such as cooked potato, flour  or breadcrumbs.
2. Work the mixture when mixing, so that it becomes sticky.
3. Once the fish cakes have been shaped, chill in the fridge for approximately 30 minutes so that the firm up.

At Wickedfood Cooking School we make delicious fish cakes in our Thai cooking class.  Fish cakes are a popular snack, found throughout Thailand, and are an ideal starter or appetizer. Every chef has his own secret recipe, and we found this one at Pat’s Home Thai Cooking School in Phuket, especially delicious. What makes them special is that they have no flour or baking powder, which when added, tends to make the cakes rather stodgy. When making the cakes make double quantities and freeze any leftovers. Always bring back to room temperature and heat through before serving as they are best eaten warm. These cakes can also be made using chicken, pork, beef, lamb or prawns, but then blend the meat in a food processor until almost pasty in consistency.

500g fine flesh white fish fillets (hake, cob), skin on

1 egg

¹/2 cup string or French beans, sliced fine

3T kaffir lime leaves (or basil), shredded

1t sugar

1t salt or 1T fish sauce

1-3T red curry paste

±3 cups oil for flying

1. Using a fork, scrape the meat off the skin, a little at the time, which will give the meat the appearance of having been ground.
2. Place the fish in a large bowl, together with the remaining ingredients, except the oil, and knead with the hands until sticky. Then continue to mix, aerating by taking spoonfuls and forcefully dropping back into the bowl.
3. Heat the oil in a wok or frying pan. Dampen the hands with a little cold water, and then working with approximately a tablespoonful at a time, form into approximately 3cm x 1cm diameter cakes, and drop into the hot oil, taking care not to splash. Fry for about 3 minutes on either side, or until golden brown and crispy, then drain on paper towel.
4. Serve with cucumber dipping sauce

Serves 4-6

Wickedfood Cooking School

Sunninghill – (011) 234-3252 sunninghill@wickedfood.co.za

Runs cooking classes throughout the year at its purpose-built cooking studios. Classes are run in the mornings and evenings 7 days a week (subject to a minimum of 12 people). The venue is also popular for corporate events and private functions – team building cooking classes, birthdays, kitchen teas, and dinner parties with a difference.

Our classes are hands-on, where every person gets to participate in the preparation of the dishes. They are also a lot of fun where you not only learn new skills, but get to meet people with similar interests. For corporate groups and teambuilding cooking classes these events are a novel way of creating staff interaction or entertaining clients.