A Kitchen Safari. Stories & Recipes From The African Wilderness, from Dumi Ndlovu and Yvonne Short

A Kitchen Safari. Stories & Recipes From The African Wilderness, from Dumi Ndlovu and Yvonne Short. Random House Struik. 2nd edition. Cape Town, South Africa 2009. ISBN 9781770078079 / ISBN 978-1-77007-807-9

Beautifully illustrated, Dumi Ndlovu's and Yvonne Short's A Kitchen Safari: Stories & Recipes From The African Wilderness is not only a cookbook but also a practical souvenir. Its fabulous scenic and wildlife photography brings to life the food and safari experience.

Yvonne Short  

We wanted our food to exude the essence of Africa’s richness, its history and its soul. We were determined that our food would celebrate rather than corrupt the continent’s fresh produce with Western fads and fussiness. The freshest of the fresh locally produced food was our aim, purchased from surrounding communities: lusty limes, fragrant vanilla pods, luminous lemon grass shoots, heady handfuls of mint, ruby-red tomatoes bursting with flavour and nourishment from the African sun. African food is wholesome and natural, not drowned in sauces and over-processed, over-reduced and over-presented. We invite you to feast your senses on Africa’s culinary glories.

Example: Recipe for Orange Pistachio Pastries

80ml Amaretto liqueur
250ml pistachios, shelled
2ml ground cinnamon
2ml ground nutmeg
2ml ground cardamom
2ml ground ginger
500ml orange juice, strained
250ml white sugar
250ml water
400g frozen puff pastry, thawed
oil for deep frying
125ml fresh mint leaves, shredded (optional)

How do it:

Peel and segment the oranges. Cut the rind of 2 oranges into thick slices, remove pith and blanch the rind for 2 minutes in boiling water. Drain and set aside. Soak the oranges in the Amaretto for at least 6 hours. Drain the oranges and set aside. Reserve liquid for later use. In a medium-size bowl, mix the pistachios, cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom and ginger. Bring the orange juice, sugar and water to a boil in a medium-size saucepan. Reduce the heat and simmer for 15 minutes or until the syrup thickens. Remove from the heat, add the nut and spice mixture, orange segments, orange rind and reserved Amaretto. Leave to stand at room temperature. Prepare the pastry by rolling it out to a 2 mm thickness. Cut into 5 cm squares. In a deep frying pan, heat the oil. Fry the pastry squares until crisp and light golden in colour. Drain on absorbent paper. Dip the pastries into the syrup, pile them into a dish and pour over the syrup, orange segments and nuts. Leave at room temperature for at least 2 hours and scatter with shredded fresh mint leaves (optional).

This is an excerpt from the cookbook A Kitchen Safari. Stories & Recipes From The African Wilderness, from Dumi Ndlovu and Yvonne Short.

Title: A Kitchen Safari
Subtitle: Stories & Recipes From The African Wilderness
Author: Dumi Ndlovu; Yvonne Short
Struik Publishers
2nd edition. Cape Town, South Africa 2009
ISBN 9781770078079 / ISBN 978-1-77007-807-9
Hardcover, dustjacket, 21 x 21 cm, 192 pages, throughout colour photos