Culture club

Gather around the table

A few of our favourite food-trepeneurs share how they’ll be celebrating autumn’s religious days with their loved ones – plus the food and traditions that make each occasion as wondrous as the next

Faieez Alexander, better known as Fuzzy, found a love for koesister-making during lockdown – before promptly taking the Vannie Kaap Koesister King title.

Faieez with his wife, Faldielah, and daughter, Ammaarah

THE CELEBRATION: EID AL-FITR (2-3 MAY)

A typical Eid day starts the evening before, when you are sent from pillar to post to collect food items that were outsourced. In the morning, the men will go to the masjid (mosque) for prayer and a sermon, after which you’ll visit your parents. I also make the effort to visit the maqbara (graveyard) to say a prayer and place fresh flowers on the graves of deceased loved ones. Then you greet your immediate

family and take food to the neighbours. There is great significance in doing this, as you can ensure that your neighbours also have something on their table to eat.

Lunch will be served before the midday prayers. After that you will still have family and friends popping in to wish you.

Everyone has a pre-planned route on the day to ensure they visit everybody.

The day is actually very tiring, hence people normally take leave the day before and after Eid, just to recover from all the driving, eating and celebrations.

ANY SPECIAL OUTFITS FOR THE DAY?

Typically each family member would have selected their outfit the month before Eid. Men dress in their thobes, fez and scarf for the Eid prayers, while women have an outfit to cook in and their main outfit for the day.

WHAT’S ON THE TABLE?

Crayfish curry, roast leg of lamb, yellow rice, roast potatoes, veggie bake, roast chicken and maybe some biryani. For dessert, trifle, lemon meringue, Malaysian pudding, carrot cake and, of course, koesisters. Different juices and sodas will also be on the table.

THE HOUSE MUST SMELL AMAZING...

You have no idea! After a month of fasting during Ramadan, the smells are just exhilarating. Breads baking in the oven, roasts sizzling, meat being braised with onions...

WHICH ACTIVITIES DO YOU DO WITH LOVED ONES?

We simply spend as much time in each other’s company as possible, as well as escorting the young ones to whoever they want to visit on the day, as everyone has that favourite aunt, uncle, granny, nephew or niece.

Often, I will provide my services to some of the places that cook large pots of food for the needy.

It’s not just our celebration, it is a celebration that ensures others have food too.

There are many individuals and NGOs that cater for this time every year and all they need is your donations or physical assistance.

Find Fuzzy at Makers Landing, V&A Waterfront, and follow him on @fuzzyskoesisters

EID AL-FITR

MASALA AND COCONUT PRAWN CURRY

“When you have the curry, you are politely advised to remove your new clothing, as you would not like to have it stained by the sauce.”

Canola oil, for frying 16 large Argentinian prawns, deveined 2 onions, chopped 6 cloves garlic, chopped 2 stalks celery, sliced 2cm knob fresh ginger, peeled and chopped 3-4 curry leaves 2 Tbsp (30ml) garam masala 1 Tbsp (15ml) ground turmeric 2 tsp (10ml) medium curry powder 1 tsp (10ml) paprika 1 tsp (5ml) each ground coriander and ground cumin 3 cups (750ml) fish stock 1 can (400g) tomato purée 1 can (400ml) coconut milk 2 Tbsp (30ml) brown sugar Salt and milled pepper

For serving:

1 lemon wedge 2 Tbsp (30ml) chopped coriander ¼ cup (60ml) coconut flakes, fresh or toasted Pickled red onions (optional) Roti, naan or poppadoms

SERVES 4

Heat oil in a large pot and fry prawns in batches for 2-3 minutes per batch, to par-cook. Set aside. Add another glug of oil and fry onion, garlic, celery and ginger for 2 minutes. Add curry leaves and fry for a minute. Lower heat, add spices and fry for 8-10 minutes until fragrant, adding a splash of water if needed. Pour in fish stock, tomato purée, coconut milk and sugar. Simmer uncovered for 12-15 minutes, stirring regularly. Add prawns and poach for 2-3 minutes to infuse flavours. (Avoid stirring to keep prawns whole.) Season well, add a squeeze of lemon and stir through coriander. Garnish curry with coconut flakes and pickled onion, and serve with roti, naan or poppadoms.

Strone Henry is the co-owner of Side Wing (with his partner Ashleigh Frans), which has been dishing up divine chicken wings, roti gatsbys, salomies and more since 2017.

THE CELEBRATION: EASTER (17 APRIL)

Easter is the most important date on the Catholic calendar. The Feast of the Resurrection is the cornerstone of our faith, after all. It’s a time that prioritises family and, as always for any occasion, food! As a child, I remember Easter as the time when my family and our friends would travel somewhere to celebrate at a holiday house. We would enjoy a braai and my dad’s famous potjiekos. It always involved a long Easter vigil mass through

HERB-CRUSTED LEG OF LAMB WITH BLISTERED PEPPERS

“We’d often fight about who got the ‘crispy end part’ of the lamb while carving it.”

Herb crust:

½ punnet (10g) each fresh parsley, mint and oregano, finely chopped 4 cloves garlic, finely chopped 2 red chillies, seeded and chopped Grated peel of 2 lemons Glug olive oil

1 (about 2.5kg) leg

of lamb

Salt and milled

pepper

Glug olive oil 2 onions, halved 1 bulb garlic, halved Handful fresh

oregano

3 cups (750ml) beef

stock

Herb sauce:

1 punnet (20g) fresh

parsley

½ punnet (10g) fresh

mint

Handful pitted green

olives

1/³ cup (80ml) olive oil 2 cloves garlic Juice (120ml) of 2 lemons

2 Tbsp (30ml) butter 1 punnet (250g) baby

carrots

2 Tbsp (30ml) honey 1 Tbsp (15ml) chopped fresh parsley 2 punnets (200g each)

sweet baby peppers

Handful basil or other fresh herbs, for serving

SERVES 8

Combine herb crust ingredients. Season lamb. Heat oil in a pan and brown lamb on all sides for 3-4 minutes per side. Remove and cool slightly. Cover lamb with herb mixture, packing it together tightly. Place onions, garlic, oregano and stock in a large, deep baking dish. Nestle lamb on the night on Holy Saturday, returning home at sunrise on Easter morning. These days we stay closer to home, going to church, cooking together as a family and then enjoying the huge lunch.

WHAT’S ON THE TABLE?

The pickled fish (a recipe passed down generation after generation) is made a week, sometimes two weeks, prior so that it can be enjoyed with hot cross buns or freshly baked bread on Good Friday.

There’s always somebody that makes the best of something in the family.

They’re then tasked with making their “signature” dish for the day. My grandmother makes roast beef, lamb or pork along with tongue and corned beef. My mom makes a big chicken pie while Dad braais a snoek. My late grandfather loved curry, so on Easter this was a given – butter bean mutton curry has always been my favourite. And for dessert, there’s anything you can imagine... milk tart, sago pudding, trifle, Peppermint Crisp tart, malva pudding, pavlova and ice cream!

top and cover with foil. Roast at 170°C for about 3½ hours or until soft. (Top up dish with stock as needed during cooking.) Blitz together sauce ingredients. Season. Heat butter in a large pan on medium heat and cook baby carrots for 3-4 minutes. Stir in honey and cook for 2-3 minutes, until glossy and cooked through. Scatter with parsley and season. Char peppers on an open flame until blistered all round. Arrange carrots, charred peppers and roast lamb on a platter, drizzle with sauce and garnish with herbs to serve.

Strone Henry (centre) with Ashleigh Frans holding baby Ryu. On their left is his grandmother and mother, Valerie Rinquest and Marcienne Henry, and on the right is Marie Frans and Lesley Frans. EASTER

Find Side Wing at Makers Landing, V&A Waterfront, or 6 Linden Street, Ottery. @sidewing17

PESACH

A year ago, stand-up comedian Tracy Klass launched A Taste of Klass, which offers deliveries of readymade traditional Jewish food.

Tracy (left) with her mom, Edi Schneider, and cousin Louise Kelman.

The Schneider family circa 1932. Tracy’s Aunt Farah (far right) taught her how to cook and inspired her passion for whipping up family meals that are steeped in tradition.

THE CELEBRATION: PESACH / PASSOVER (15-23 APRIL)

The story of Pesach is timeless and enduring. Generation after generation, the retelling of the details of the struggle for our freedom and our exodus from Egypt describes the very birth of the Jewish people.

WHO DO YOU SPEND THIS TIME WITH?

For the past four decades we have spent Pesach with my first cousin, Louise, and her family. Prior to that, when my father’s sister was alive, we would spend Passover with them.

HOW IMPORTANT IS TRADITION DURING THIS TIME?

The Pesach seder table has a special place in the hearts of Jews across the world. It is that time of the year when one generation hands over to the next the history, vision and values of being a Jew. There is no greater lesson of Jewish identity than the one taught around the seder table. The youngest child at the table gets to sing the Four Questions, helped by everyone else.

It doesn’t matter where you are in the world, the songs and tunes will be the same.

WHAT ARE THE MUST-HAVES ON THE TABLE?

The seder plate is the central feature, with six traditional food items. Each symbolises an aspect of Passover – for example, the roasted shank bone represents the lamb sacrifice, an egg represents the circle of life, the bitter herbs represent the bitterness of slavery. There is also matzah (unleavened) bread.

A piece of matzah is broken in two and the larger piece is wrapped in a serviette and hidden away. After the main meal, the children are sent to find it – the one who finds it gets a prize, but of course all the kids get a small gift.

WHO COOKS THE FEAST?

Now I do the cooking, but when I was young my father made the chicken soup and kneidlach (matzah balls), and my mom made chopped herring and chopped liver. My father’s sister, Aunty Sarah, a sublime cook, used to help make the main dish – tzimmes.

Find A Taste of Klass at the Oranjezicht City Farm Market, Granger Bay. @atasteofklass_ ROOT VEGETABLE TZIMMES

“Traditionally, this is a six-hour dish of beef brisket cooked with carrots, potatoes, sweet potatoes and prunes.”

Glug canola oil 4 each small red-skin and orange sweet potatoes, halved 1 bag (1kg) carrots, peeled and cut into chunks 4 red onions, peeled and quartered 3 cloves garlic, sliced Salt and milled pepper 1 cup (250ml) orange juice ½ cup (125ml) brown sugar 4 cinnamon sticks 2 star anise Handful fresh thyme 1 cup (250ml) sultanas or

dried apricots

Handful fresh medjool dates, pitted 1 Tbsp (15ml) butter

For serving:

Pulled brisket (see page 62) 4-5 radishes, sliced 3 spring onions, sliced Fresh basil

SERVES 4

Heat oil in a large pan. Fry sweet potatoes, carrots and onions in batches for 3-4 minutes until golden. Place fried vegetables and garlic in a deep roasting dish and season well. Combine orange juice and brown sugar and pour over vegetables. Add spices, thyme, sultanas or apricots and dates. Cover with foil and roast at 180°C for 20 minutes. Remove foil and bake for 10 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Spoon veg out of dish and set aside. Pour roasting juices into a saucepan and reduce over low heat until slightly sticky, 8-10 minutes. Whisk in butter and season. Arrange vegetables on a platter and drizzle with sauce. Serve as a side with brisket (or roast of choice), garnished with radish, spring onion and basil.