DIY Nutella

Read the full recipe at www.reclaimingprovincial.com/2012/09/19/homemade-nutella/:

Homemade Nutella

• 1 cup of hazelnuts
• 1/4 cup of cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup of icing sugar
• 3/4 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp kosher salt
• 4 tbsp coconut oil

Blend hazelnuts until smooth. Add the rest and keep blending until smooth.

Durban curry

| 2 big onions | 4 large garlic cloves
| 1 stick whole cinnamon | 2 tsp curry powder
| 3 tsp masala | 1 tsp jeera (cumin)
| 1tsp whole mustard seeds | 8 cardamons, bruised
| 4 bay leaves | 3 star aniseed | Handful of curry leaves
| Salt | Pepper | 500g Beef or lamb, cubed or minced
| 50g Tomato paste

Dice the onions and chop up the garlic. Fry them in ghee or butter, till it is glassy. Add the spices and fry for about 1 min. Add in meat. Fry till brown. Add in tomato paste and continue to fry. If you want a tomato curry you can add in a tin of tomato and onion mix. I have also added in butter beans, and potatoes at this stage. Add in a bit of water and simmer. Serve with basmati rice, cucumbers, chopped up tomato and onion salad, chutney and dessicated coconut.

Cooking

Hannah's date balls
| 500g pitted dates | 1 cup oats | 2Tbsp honey
| 1-1.5 cups dessicated coconut
|2 Tbsp good quality cocoa powder

Soak the dates overnight. Drain the water well. Add the oats, honey, coconut and cocoa (You can also add in ground up almonds, sesame seeds, etc.) and mix thoroughly. Add more oats or coconut if it is too wet. Roll into small balls and roll the balls in coconut, sesamy seeds , or ground up nuts. If the balls are a bit squishy store in the fridge until the oats have sucked up the liquid, making them firmer.

Hannah hopes you enjoy them!

Recipes

My basic bread recipe
| 4 cups flour | 2 Tbsp olive oil | 2 Tbsp honey | 1 egg | 1.5 tsp sea salt | 2 tsp dry yeast | 1.5 cups tepid water | optional: raisins, cheese, olives and/or sundried tomatoes

Mix all ingredients together and knead for about 8 min. You can do this in your Kenwood. It is very easy. Cover dough in the bowl with a damp cloth or oiled cling film. Allow to rise till double for about 2 hours. Knead for about half a minute. Shape it, and put it into well greased bread tins. Let rise again till double. You can brush egg and milk over the top and sprinkle with seeds. Heat oven till 180C. Bake for about 30 min, until golden brown.

This recipe works well for Challah, a traditional plated bread served at Shabbat meals.

We enjoy baking!

Smarty biscuits
| 400g brown sugar | 225g soft butter
| 2 eggs | 15ml vanilla | 300g flour
| 250g oats | 5ml bicarb | 2ml salt
| 300g Smarties | 125g chopped peanuts

Preheat oven to 180C. Combine sugar, butter, eggs & vanilla. Beat until light & fluffy. Add remaining ingredients except Smarties & peanuts. Beat slowly till mixed well. Stir in Smarties and peanuts. Drop tablespoons of dough, 5cm apart onto greased baking sheet and bake for 13-16 min. until golden brown.

Boeterkoek
| 520g flour (or ground almond)
| 400g butter | 400g sugar

Preheat oven to 180C. Mix ingredients till smooth. Press into two greased sandwich tins. (Optional: Decorate edge of cake with whole almonds.) Bake for 30 min. Cool for 10 min. before removing from tins. Best eaten cool.

We also like to eat Caleb's taffy.