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Daily Maverick
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Maverick
From K@k to Kasi: My culinary journey of mishaps, mastery, and avocado magic
A year ago, my editor Tony Jackman asked me to write a regular column, the K@k Cook, about my kitchen experiments that often ended in disaster. Today, after many successes in the kitchen, I'm proud to shed that name and embrace my roots as The Kasi Cook. Some chefs earn their stripes in Michelin-starred kitchens. Others, like me, get their nickname from the sharp wit of an editor. When Tony Jackman, my editor, called me last year and asked if I might like to write a regular food column, I said: 'but I'm such a kak cook'. To which he responded: 'Ah! Maybe that could be the name…' Since the column began a year ago, it has been rooted in experimenting with recipes and turning kitchen chaos into edible miracles. The name was an honour, especially considering that Jackman is a culinary legend with a penchant for savouring foie gras and fine wine. Some of my experiments in the kitchen have been disastrous. Remember my botched attempt at making soft and fluffy amagwinyas, which turned out dull, lumpy at the centre, and rock-hard on the outside? The above article launched my K@k Cook column, and a year later I've enjoyed even more successes in the kitchen. One of the many successes has been my series on avocado-based recipes. Over the past three weeks, I've been diving deep into the creamy world of avocados, experimenting with bold and unexpected flavour combinations. From combining avocado with pilchards to pap, each recipe has explored the versatility of this beloved fruit. I've also played with textures, pairing smooth avocado with crunchy, fresh ingredients to create exciting contrasts. And because of this experimentation, Jackman believes that the name K@k Cook is no longer fitting. He thinks I've graduated from my early kitchen mishaps and have become somewhat of a culinary expert. With each new recipe and successful dish, I've gained confidence and skill, transforming from a curious experimenter into a more seasoned cook. Okay, maybe calling myself 'seasoned' is a bit of a reach. So, dear reader, the time has come for a new chapter. I'm hanging up my K@k Cook apron and stepping into the spotlight as The Kasi Cook. If you are not au fait with South Africa and its culture, the word Kasi (also spelled 'Kasie') is a popular slang term for a township or location. I was born and raised in a township called Dobsonville, part of Soweto in Johannesburg. Kasi culture is rich, diverse, and an integral part of South African identity and history. I proudly celebrate my roots in the Kasi. The Kasi Cook is also sad to announce that the avocado series is ending. However, the series finishes on a sweet note with dark chocolate avocado muffins on the menu. It might sound like an unusual pairing, but chocolate and avocado complement each other beautifully, especially in desserts. Avocado's creamy, buttery texture adds richness and smoothness, while its slightly earthy flavour perfectly balances the deep, intense taste of chocolate. Many recipes use avocado as a healthy substitute for oil or butter to create silky, luscious chocolate desserts that are both nutritious and delicious. My dark chocolate avocado muffins turned out wonderfully, with the avocado providing much-needed moisture to what can often be dry muffins. Ray's chocolate avocado muffins Ingredients 1 cup flour ½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder 1 tsp baking powder ½ tsp salt 1 mashed avocado ½ cup milk ½ cup honey 2 eggs 1 tsp vanilla extract ½ cup dark chocolate, chopped into pieces Method Preheat the oven to 250°C and line a muffin tin with paper liners, or lightly grease it. In a medium bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients: 1 cup all-purpose flour, ½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder, 1 tsp baking powder, and ½ tsp salt. Set aside. In a large bowl, mash 1 ripe avocado until smooth. Add the wet ingredients to the mashed avocado: ½ cup milk, ½ cup honey, 2 eggs, and 1 tsp vanilla extract. Whisk until well combined. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture, stirring gently until just combined. Be careful not to overmix. Fold in the chopped dark chocolate pieces (½ cup) evenly throughout the batter. Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin tin, filling each cup about 3/4 full. Bake for 18-22 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the centre of a muffin comes out clean or with just a few moist crumbs.
Daily Maverick
13-05-2025
- General
- Daily Maverick
Souper Tuesday: Spicy coconut and sweetcorn soup
Sweetcorn and other vegetables bring colour to this lively soup, abrim with sweet spices and finished with coconut cream. For our second Souper Tuesday recipe of 2025, here's something pleasantly spicy. The core vegetable is sweetcorn, along with carrot, celery and onion. Bringing an undercurrent of spiciness are star anise, fennel seeds, cardamom pods, dried chillies and Thai lime leaves, which have other names including the one that we South Africans avoid using for fear of causing offence. This is not a blended soup, as processing would spoil the lovely pops of yellow and green and impair the slightly chunky texture. It's all brought together with coconut cream, and it doesn't take long at all before the soup is ready to eat. Tony's coconut vegetable soup (Makes 2 generous portions with seconds) Ingredients 3 Tbsp coconut oil 1 large onion, chopped finely 3 celery stalks, diced 2 medium carrots, peeled and diced 2 cobs of corn (sweetcorn) 1.5 litres vegetable stock 3 star anise 8 cardamom pods 2 tsp fennel seeds 3 dried chillies, chopped 4 Thai lime leaves 1 large potato, peeled and grated 400ml coconut cream Salt to taste Black pepper to taste Coriander leaves, chopped, for garnish Method Melt the coconut oil in a soup pot. Add the onion and cook for 2 or 3 minutes, then add the celery and carrot. (Don't add the corn yet.) Cook gently for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the vegetable stock, cardamom, star anise, fennel seeds, chillies and Thai lime leaves, and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and grate in the potato. Simmer for 5 minutes, then add the coconut cream and stir well. While the pot is simmering, trim the cobs of any fibres, and slice off the kernels with a sharp knife. Add them to the soup and stir. They're added late because if cooked too long they risk losing their crunch. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Be careful not to under- or over-salt it. The only way to do this is to add salt, stir and taste, and add a little more salt at a time until it is just right. Bear in mind that you can add more salt but you can't take it out. Simmer the soup for about 20 minutes. Stir along the way. Serve with a sprinkling of chopped coriander (cilantro) leaves. DM Tony Jackman is twice winner of the Galliova Food Writer of the year award, in 2021 and 2023
Daily Maverick
05-05-2025
- General
- Daily Maverick
Lekker Brekker Monday: Breakfast waffles with maple-glazed bacon
When Canadian maple syrup came my way for a recent birthday, I knew that some of it was destined for a breakfast of waffles with maple syrup-glazed bacon. It's all about maple syrup in this breakfast recipe. There's maple syrup in the batter for these waffles, and fried rashers of back bacon are glazed in an air fryer (or under the grill) to be served with them. Then, just to be sure you're getting enough of a maple syrup hit, you drizzle some on the cooked waffles as well. There are a couple of details to consider when making a batter for waffles. Very unusually, the batter should not be smooth. This isn't necessarily because you want lumps in it — it's because waffle batter contains both baking powder and bicarbonate of soda, which leaven the batter, creating tiny bubbles. Over-beating gets rid of these bubbles, and the resulting waffles may turn out heavy and dense. So a light hand with the whisk, even if there are lumps in the mixture, is a good thing. There are plenty of eggs in this batter, so even though you cannot see them, you are having eggs with this breakfast. Tony's breakfast waffles with maple-glazed bacon (Makes about 8) Ingredients For the glazed bacon: 8 rashers back bacon 2 Tbsp Canadian maple syrup Cooking oil spray For the waffles: 300g cake flour 3 tsp baking powder 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda 80g salted butter 4 jumbo eggs ⅔ cup maple syrup ⅔ cup full cream milk Extra maple syrup for drizzling over the waffles Method Fry the bacon rashers on both sides and set aside. Sift flour into a bowl and add baking powder and bicarbonate of soda. Set aside. Melt the butter in a small pan until it starts to brown. In a small bowl, whisk the eggs well. Add the milk, maple syrup and melted butter and stir well. Now add this dairy mixture to the bowl with the flour and combine. It needs to be a bit lumpy. Spray the waffle iron and the bottom of the air fryer basket with cooking oil spray. When the iron is hot, spoon the mixture into it and cook each waffle for about 4 minutes until golden. But check it when it seems to be done or nearly done — you can always shut the iron again and cook a little longer. Preheat your air fryer to 200°C or put it on the grill setting if it has one. Brush a little maple syrup over the cooked bacon rashers, using a pastry brush, and cook for 3 to 5 minutes. Serve the waffles with bacon piled on top and a generous drizzling of maple syrup. DM Tony Jackman is twice winner of the Galliova Food Writer of the year award, in 2021 and 2023.
Daily Maverick
29-04-2025
- General
- Daily Maverick
An autumnal chicken salad with crunch and a sweet surprise
Leftover chicken becomes a cool supper the following night with the addition of some perky condiments, plenty of crunch and a little surprise to finish it off. Not every night has to be a cooking night, even for me. I had thought of turning the leftover meat on this carcass from the previous night's roast chicken (for which you'll find the recipe here tomorrow) into a coronation chicken salad, but decided to create my own version of that instead. The shoulder season is slowly giving way to the looming winter, so try to get this kind of recipe in once or twice before we all turn to the soups, stews and curries to come. And I can't wait for those but, not just yet… So this follows, more or less, the idea of coronation chicken – shredded or chopped cooked chicken in a sauce based on mayonnaise but with other bits and pieces in it for added interest. I like this kind of salad to have crunch, so I included celery, spring onions and a red pepper, with a base of shredded lettuce at the bottom of the bowl drizzled with olive oil, topped by the dressed chicken and finished with tomato and the surprise element of halved seedless red grapes. But it's the condiments that make the difference in this salad – mayonnaise, Rozendal lavender botanical vinegar and tamari soy sauce. Tamari soy is thicker and less salty than conventional soy, and contains little or even no wheat. Rozendal vinegars are superb, with a delightful sweetness that makes it much less 'vinegary' than many condiments. Tony's autumnal chicken salad (Serves 4 as a meal) Ingredients 2 cups leftover chicken 2 celery stalks, diced 1 red pepper, trimmed and diced 3 spring onions, chopped 2 cups lettuce, shredded 12 baby roma tomatoes, sliced in half 16 seedless red grapes, halved 1 garlic clove, cut in half 1 cup decent mayonnaise 3 Tbsp Rozendal lavender botanical vinegar 2 Tbsp tamari soy sauce Salt to taste Black pepper to taste Method In a bowl, mix the shredded or diced cooked chicken with the mayonnaise, vinegar and tamari soy sauce. Add the diced and chopped celery, spring onions and red pepper to the chicken mixture, season with salt and black pepper, and combine. Most of the bulk of the salad is now contained in the chicken mixture, just like coronation chicken. Rub the bottom of a salad bowl with both pieces of the cut garlic, and discard them. This will come through when the salad is tossed and served. Place the shredded lettuce at the bottom of the bowl, and drizzle lightly with extra virgin olive oil. Spoon the chicken mixture onto the lettuce. Scatter halved baby tomatoes over, and the halved grapes. Season lightly with salt and black pepper. There's no need to serve it with anything – it's a meal in itself. DM Tony Jackman is twice winner of the Galliova Food Writer of the year award, in 2021 and 2023.
