Because it’s Women’s Day, let’s look at the woman who’s probably the most important one in your life: your mom.
Besides 101 other things that make her a star, she was also the first person who fed you. Think about that: Your mom was the very first person you had lunch with. Or breakfast or dinner, depending on the time you made your appearance. You arrived in the world, and she said: “Are you hungry?” and you said, “Yes, I am.” Ever since then, she’s been feeding you.
And just about everyone’s favourite way to cook a meal, whether it’s roast chicken and veggies, or lasagne and salad, or chops and chips, is the way your mom did it.
What was your mom’s speciality? Maybe she had several, but what was your favourite?
We asked around and got the following mom-favourites:
Spaghetti Bolognaise. Macaroni Cheese. (Big favourite.) Grilled Lamb Chops. Cottage Pie. Bobotie. Chicken Curry. Lamb Stew. Fish and Chips. Pickled Fish.
What do they have in common? They’re all easy, down-to-earth dishes. If there isn’t one on that list that you don’t love, you’re a hard one to please.
Here’s one of our favourite ‘Mom Recipes’ for bobotie, a South African classic.
Cass Abrahams’ recipe for bobotie
Serves 6-8
A lovely blend of flavours accounts for the popularity of this well-known Cape Malay dish.
INGREDIENTS
2 thick slices of stale white bread
250-300ml water
15ml vegetable oil
50ml butter
2 large onions, chopped
800g beef mince
3 cloves garlic, crushed
A lovely blend of flavours accounts for the popularity
of this well-known
Cape Malay dish.
15ml Masala
5ml turmeric
10ml ground cumin
10ml ground coriander
3 cloves
2ml peppercorns
5 allspice
125ml sultanas
60ml flaked almonds
5ml dried mixed herbs
25ml chutney
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
6-8 lemon leaves
250ml milk
2 eggs, beaten
METHOD
Soak bread in water. Fry onions in oil and butter until just transparent. Place all other ingredients except bread, lemon leaves, milk and egg in a large bowl and mix. Add fried onions in oil to the mixture.
Squeeze water from bread, add bread to meat and mix well. Spread in a greased ovenproof dish. Roll lemon leaves into spikes and insert into the mixture. Bake at 180’C for 30 minutes.
Lightly beat eggs and milk together and pour over meat. Bake until egg mixture has set. Serve with yellow rice and blatjang (chutney).
Recipe via The South African.
