Recipes for Love and Murder (41 page)

‘Ag, no, Kosie,' said Kannemeyer, ‘I'm eating now.'

A lamb was bumping its soft nose against his thigh.

He pulled a bottle from his pocket and the lamb sucked on it like a hungry baby.

Henk scratched Kosie on his head, between his little horns, and then the lamb wandered off towards the compost heap. My chickens hopped out the way to let Kosie join their feast.

It was dark when I served up the moerkoffie, koeksisters and chocolate cake.

I turned off the stoep light and we all looked out at the stars in the big Karoo sky. We have got more stars here than anywhere else in the world. If you look and look, you will see that there are more stars than there is darkness.

When you look at a sky like that, you can never be afraid of the dark.

While we were sitting there, Kannemeyer reached out his hand for mine. I let him take it, but I felt a tightness in my chest. I think it was the pain from all the times I'd felt a fool.

He squeezed, but I did not squeeze back. He kept holding my hand, gently, like it was a bird in the nest of his hand.

Everyone helped clean up, but Kannemeyer stayed after they'd left and did the washing up.

‘Don't worry,' I said, ‘I'll finish off. You go home.'

‘Nearly finished,' he said.

I put the last koeksisters in the fridge and didn't offer him more coffee.

‘I'd better be going, then,' he said, when the dishes were washed, dried, and stacked away.

He looked at me as if I was a tasty koeksister in that dress, and stepped towards me, but I stepped back.

‘Can I see you again?' he said.

I looked down at my feet. My toenails did look pretty in those shoes.

‘I'm going to a wedding tomorrow afternoon in Riversdale,' I said. ‘If you want to come with, I'm leaving here at two o'clock.'

‘I'll be here,' he said.

CHAPTER NINETY-ONE

The next day he was there at quarter to two. The world had not ended yet, but maybe it was still coming. I wore my nice dress with the blue flowers, and the shoes Candy had given me. We set off in his car, with a tin of old-fashioned sweet biscuits on my lap.

‘You smell good,' he said.

‘It's the soetkoekies,' I said. ‘But they're not padkos for us. I made them for Kobus and Stella.'

I heard a bleating sound, and jumped. The lamb was on the back seat.

‘You didn't bring the lamb!?'

‘Kosie needs feeding every four hours,' he said. ‘I can't just leave him.'

I folded my arms to show I was not pleased, but turned my head to the window, so he couldn't see me smile.

I wished I
had
brought us some padkos – it was quite a long ride. We went through a beautiful pass between tall green mountains, full of fynbos plants. We did lots of looking out the window and only little bits of talking.

When we were coming down the steep pass, he said to me: ‘I've really missed you, Maria.'

And I said, ‘Look at that sugarbird on the protea bush.'

‘Lovely,' he said.

When he was all nice, it made my heart feel warm; but it also felt sore, like it was too full.

Henk sat at the back with the lamb because it was too hot to leave Kosie in the car. I sat in the front of the church, next to Kobus's brother. It was a beautiful ceremony. She looked so pretty, and he so handsome. But what made it extra beautiful was the sign language that Kobus used. Somehow his moving hands gave even more feeling than the spoken words.

After the ceremony there was a nice spread of tea and food in a big tent outside.

Henk tied his lamb to a tree and we went together to congratulate the happy couple. Henk touched my arm as we walked but I didn't want to hold his hand.

Stella was surrounded by people, but we managed to get close to Kobus.

‘Hello, Kobus,' I said. ‘I'm Tannie Maria. Congratulations.'

He grinned at me like I was a new bicycle on his birthday.

He held his hands at the centre of his chest and then let his fingers flutter out, like birds flying away.

‘Thank you,' he whispered.

I remembered a line from his first letter to me
: When she smiled at me, I felt like a bunch of birds was trying to fly out of my chest.
It looked like those birds had escaped now.

I know he was signing ‘Thank you', but it felt like he was telling me:
Open your heart and let the love fly out.

I reached for Henk Kannemeyer's hand.

And why not,
I thought.
Why not?

Tannie Maria's Recipes

Now the murder and love stories took up so much space there are not many pages left to write out the recipes. So I've chosen just a few of my favourite Karoo dishes. Some recipes that are not from the Karoo just pushed their way in because they are so lekker.

I am sorry for the vegan Seventh-day Adventists because most of the recipes have Karoo lamb or butter and eggs, but there are still a few they could try.

Make sure the meat and dairy you use come from a proper farmer: a free-range or game farmer. Animals should live in the sunshine and eat from the veld.

Using a hotbox

A hotbox is a big cushion filled with polystyrene balls with a soft hole in the middle for your pot, and a cushion lid. Using a hotbox saves a lot of electricity, and it is the best way to slow-cook food. It cooks overnight or while you are at work.

These days you can buy hotboxes. I got one at a church fête long ago; it is covered with a lovely orange shweshwe cloth. My mother used to put her pot on a wooden board and wrap it up in a duvet and put a pillow on top, and it worked just as well.

It is important that the food is covered with fluid and that the pot is almost full. (A half-full pot will stay warm, but won't cook.) A hotbox is perfect for soups, stews, curries, rice or other grains. Just bring the food to the boil and pop it in the hotbox. The pot will stay very hot for at least 2 hours. If you are cooking a grain, make sure you don't add too much water or it will overcook.

No moisture is lost in the hotbox so you may need to heat your dish in the oven or on the stove before serving if you want to cook off excess liquid.

Measurements

T = tablespoon (15ml)

t = teaspoon (5ml)

cup = 250ml

All eggs used are size Large.

MEAT

These meat dishes serve 4–6 people, depending on how hungry they are.

MARTINE'S TENDER MUTTON CURRY (WITH SAMBALS)

1 T ground turmeric

1½ T paprika

2 T ground coriander

1 t ground black pepper

1 t salt

¼ cup chopped fresh garlic (about 6 cloves or 30g)

3 T chopped fresh ginger (15g)

2–4 chillies, chopped

1kg mutton or lamb neck or knuckles (i.e. cut up lamb shank)

2 medium aubergines (500g), cut into 2cm chunks

5 T sunflower oil

1½ T cumin seeds

2 t fenugreek seeds

1 T mustard seeds

6 cardamom pods, cracked open

½ cinnamon stick

2 large onions, peeled and thinly sliced

800g large ripe tomatoes (about 8), peeled and chopped

4 medium potatoes, peeled and chopped into 2cm chunks

1 T garam masala

1 cup chopped fresh coriander

• Prepare 24 hours before serving – this is very important. The meat needs the long slow-cooking to become tender, and the spices need time to give the best flavour.

• Begin by mixing all the ground spices (except the garam masala) and the salt with the garlic, ginger and chillies. Rub the spice-mix into the meat very well and set it aside.

• Salt the aubergines with about 1 t salt and set aside. Heat the oil in a big, heavy ovenproof pot until very hot. Add the seeds and whole spices and stir until their smell fills the kitchen and the mustard seeds begin to pop. Add the onions and turn down the heat to medium–high.

• When the onions are soft, rinse the aubergines, add them to the pot and cook until they have a little colour.

• Now add the lamb with all its spices and keep stirring to stop the spices from catching on the bottom of the pot. When the lamb is just brown, add 1 cup water and cover the meat with the chopped tomatoes. Bring to a simmer and cook on the stove for about 15 minutes.

• Prepare your oven or hotbox. (See instructions above on using a hotbox.)

• In the oven: cook, covered, at 150°C for 2 hours. Then switch off the oven and leave to cool. Keep in the fridge overnight.

• In the hotbox: make sure your curry is hot and covered with liquid, and that the pot is almost full. (If there is a lot of empty space the food will not cook properly.) A cast-iron pot of 24–26cm is best. Leave the pot in the hotbox for about 4 hours or overnight, then reheat and put back in the hotbox. Repeat this every 4 hours if you have time.

• The next day, about an hour before you are ready to eat, boil the chopped potatoes in very salty water until they are well cooked (15–20 minutes). Drain and add to the curry, together with the garam masala. Put the pot in the oven without the lid and cook at 190°C for about 50 minutes or until the liquid has thickened.

• The hotbox method may have more liquid and may need more time. It will be ready quicker if you move the curry into a wider pot or dish when you put it in the oven.

• Taste, and maybe add a pinch of salt or pepper. Garnish with the fresh coriander and serve with basmati rice, sambals (see below) and poppadoms.

SAMBALS

Cucumber Sambal

½ cup plain yogurt

½ t salt

1 T chopped fresh mint

10cm piece of cucumber, diced

1 small red or yellow sweet pepper, deseeded and diced

½ red onion, peeled and finely chopped

3 T chopped fresh coriander

1 T vinegar

• Mix all the ingredients together.

Tomato Sambal

2–3 tomatoes, chopped

2 T lemon or lime juice

½ t finely chopped chilli, or chilli powder

½ t salt

1 t sugar

1 t toasted cumin seeds

1 spring onion, chopped

• Mix all the ingredients together.

REGHARDT'S BOBOTIE

⅓ cup raisins or sultanas

1 T ground coriander

4 t ground turmeric

1 t ground black pepper

1½ t ground cumin

½ t ground cinnamon

¼ t ground ginger

¼ t ground fennel seeds

¼ t ground fenugreek seeds

¼ t ground black mustard seeds

¼ t cayenne pepper

1½ t salt

Pinch of nutmeg

Pinch of ground cloves

¼ cup butter (60g)

2 onions, peeled and finely chopped

1 clove garlic, crushed

1 t chopped fresh ginger

500g mince (lamb, ostrich or game)

1 cup grated carrot

1 slice bread, soaked in 3 T milk, lightly squeezed then mashed with a fork

¼ cup flaked almonds (15g)

¼ cup apricot jam (home-made is best – see recipe on
SWEET
)

3 T lemon juice or 2 T wine vinegar

1 egg

Custard Topping

3 eggs

1 cup milk

1 cup cream or sour cream

½ t salt

½ t vinegar

Grated zest of ½ lemon

6 lemon leaves

• Soak the raisins or sultanas in hot water and set aside.

• Put all the ground spices into a small bowl, and mix together.

• Heat the butter in a large pan and gently fry the onions until they just begin to change colour. Now add the garlic, fresh ginger and the mixed spices, and cook for a minute or two.

• Add the minced meat and brown lightly, stirring to break up any lumps. Then add the grated carrot and remove from the heat.

• Stir in the rest of the ingredients, including the drained raisins or sultanas, adding the egg last so that it does not cook. Taste to check seasoning and then tip the mince mixture into a rectangular ovenproof dish (about 15 × 25cm and at least 4cm deep).

• To make the topping, beat the eggs and add the milk, cream, salt, vinegar and lemon zest, and mix well. Pour over the meat in the dish.

• Stick the lemon leaves into the bobotie until just the tips are showing.

• Bake at 200°C for 20–25 minutes until golden brown.

• Bobotie is delicious with anything, but is traditionally served with yellow rice (rice cooked with turmeric, raisins and cinnamon, with honey and butter forked in afterwards), fruit chutney, sliced bananas, and a chopped tomato and onion salad.

Tips

• If you are not able to use home-made jam (made with apricot kernels), you can add two crushed apricot kernels to give the bobotie that almondy flavour. You need to break the shell of the apricot pip with a hammer or half-brick to get to the kernel inside. You can also buy apricot kernels from health shops.

• If you prepare this dish in advance, keep the topping separate until just before you bake it.

• If you like it hot, add extra cayenne pepper, but then serve yogurt with your bananas to cool things down.

TAMATIEBREDIE

1kg tomatoes, peeled and chopped

5 T sunflower oil

1kg mutton neck or knuckles (if you can't get mutton, use lamb)

About ½ cup plain flour for coating the meat

2 medium onions, peeled and chopped

2 T butter

5 whole cloves

6 whole allspice

10 peppercorns

1 cinnamon stick

1 t whole coriander

4 t ground coriander

1 t ground cumin

½ t ground black pepper

Pinch of ground nutmeg

Pinch of ground mace

2–3 cloves garlic, chopped

2 t chopped fresh ginger

100g tomato purée

2 t salt

2 t sugar

4 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into 1–2cm cubes

1–2 T vinegar

• Cut a small cross in both ends of the tomatoes. Scald them in boiling water for two minutes and then plunge them into cold water. This makes the skins come off easily. Peel and chop the tomatoes.