recipe

Pots and pans

My interest in cooking started at a very early age. One of the first things I remember making was pancakes. My brother, Vernon, and I had just fixed up a toy hand mixer that my sister, Yvonne, used to play with. We inserted some batteries and found that it worked. We fetched a small bowl from our kitchen and started making batter.

We weren't actually trying to make anything, we just wanted to test the mixer. I remembered using milk, an egg, flour, salt and worst of all, maize meal. We were supposed to stop at that point, but Vernon decided to take it a step further. We fried the batter and the result was pancakes. A bit on the bland side, but hey, I was 8 and it was my first time mucking about with this.

My next brush with cooking was getting my mom to teach me how to make a simple dish using tinned corned beef, tomatoes and onions. This was a dish she'd whip up when we came home from school and had nothing to eat, and it was easy to prepare while she tended to customers in the shop.

From there, my love of cooking just grew and grew. I cannot resist buying good cookbooks, and a favourite is an older edition of "The Joy of Cooking", which I'd first discovered while at the Johannesburg Library - I was just browsing during a break after doing research for an assignment. I put myself at risk by saying that I infringed copyright law by getting my brother to photocopy the whole tome for me. The book was so thick that by the time the middle of the book was reached, it was very feint, with the lack of toner in the copy machine. I decided that I would endeavour to purchase a proper copy when I could afford to. In fact, I later bought 3 copies - one for myself, and 2 as wedding gifts. It is an updated version, and has its pros and cons, I found that it is missing a lot of stuff that was in the original, but it is still regarded as my "bible" in the kitchen. You can get it yourself by heading for this next page:

Amazon.com: buying info: The All New Joy of Cooking

Over the years, whenever I try a new dish or have an old favourite I'd like to recreate myself, I make it my mission to acquire the recipe. At times, especially when I was house-sitting for friends and colleagues at the radio station I worked for, I'd have to improvise with whatever they had in stock - and create my own recipes.

Coming from a Chinese home with mostly Chinese ingredients, I was limited in what I could make, as I could not afford at that early age most of the ingredients or equipment called for. I would not just go and buy cream to make a dish that required just a tablespoon of it, as we'd have no use for the remainder of it. In my recipes, I try to give my opinion on what is an optional ingredient and what is essential to the taste of the dish.

Here are some recipes that I have used or come up with while I've been living away from home over the past 16 months.

BACON AND CHEESE LOAF *you simply have to try this one!!!

Checkered Veggie Bake

Quick Chicken, Bacon and Veggie Bake

Hongster's Crispy Chicken (Chui Pei Gai) *my version of a classic Chinese dish*

Duck and Cherry Pie (not a joke, but a truly tasty dish)

Hongster's Lasagne Magic

Lamb Shuwarma

Leek & Potato Soup *****NEW ADDITION*****

Cream of Mushroom Soup *****NEW ADDITION*****

Quick Chicken Shuwarma

Quick and easy Shuwarma Sauce (Yoghurt based)