It’s interesting what you miss when you’re away from home for a long time. Of course my bed, my shower and the familiarity of my life in my apartment. I also missed my kitchen.
Self-catering has its limitations. While you can get by feeding yourself, it is within the limitations of always only shopping for what you can consume before your checkout date. You’re not buying garlic or shallots in a self-catering unit, you don’t have your spice rack and you don’t have your favourite saucepan.
My bare fridge had to be restocked upon my return. I’m always so deeply grateful when I do a food shop. Having access to affordable, good quality food is never something I take for granted. The first thing I made with my fresh supply of vegetables, was soup.
Soup is my only defense against the misery of the cold and wet of a Squamish winter. The soup is same vegetable soup my mother made. In my childhood home soup was a Ramadan practice more than an winter practice – and we only ever that one kind of soup. I make all sorts of great soups now, but this one is a favourite – as much for the taste as it is for the association with the joy of gathering around the table to eat our soup.
Next I made a tomato chili jam that I had enjoyed at a Bootlegger in Cape Town. Bootlegger is a chain of coffee shops and most coffee shops in South Africa do, they have a full menu. I had the tomato chili jam as an accompaniment to a breakfast sandwich I had ordered. The tomato chili jam is ridiculously easy to make and so versatile.
The next thing I made was a chili crisp in an attempt to replicate the chili crisp purchased from the Oranjezicht market, also in Cape Town. It’s a glorious food and floral market with culinary delights at every stall. I was there with cousins who had come to Cape Town to visit me from Johannesburg. We had four glorious days together, basking in love, recalling childhood memories and crafting new ones. I’m not sure how much of my affinity for the chili crisp is related to the deliciousness of it, and how much is related to remembering where I was and who I was with when I was first introduced to it.
I am struggling a little to settle back into the dark of winter after two glorious months spent beneath the African sun with the most lovely people having great adventures. I think this comfort I derive from time in my kitchen creating food that somehow extends my South African experience is perhaps one way to soothe the longing for what I’ve left behind.
Today I’m making haleem – again a traditional soup associated with Ramadan. This is an Indian soup with a lentil base. It’s thick and spicy and flavourful and comes with warm memories of my aunty who lived around the corner from us and made the best haleem.