Dinner Life : Ouma's where the Heart is - Ouma's Kitchen
WE CONTINUE OUR SERIES OF DINING DIARIES WITH FOOD COLUMNIST AND FOUNDER OF DINNER LIFE (@DINNER.LIFE) DAISY WATSON. OUMA’S KITCHEN IN CLIFTONVILLE IS NEXT ON THE MENU.
It was a grey day in Cliftonville when I went to visit Ouma’s Kitchen, a South African café and plant shop. But, stepping inside, I was transported to some kind of tropical apothecary shop. The owner, Brenda Henderson, kept much of the original interior as it was and the rest has been artfully curated. Everything about this warm, welcoming space felt super friendly with just a lil’ smidge of fancy.
Brenda, raised in Durban, came to England around 1999. After a career in HR, she embarked on a new journey and opened Ouma’s (meaning grandmother) Kitchen. Here, with the team, she serves the authentic South African recipes her mother taught her, plus some of her own. Dishes like Bobotie, Aubergine Curry or Brenda’s mac and cheese, feature on a daily-changing menu. Plus, there’s a dreamy selection of loose leaf and flowering teas.
Photo Credit: ©Dinnerlife.co.uk /@dinner.life / @yellowdoor.photo
Intended as a temporary solution to COVID restrictions, the kitchen initially opened selling a range of frozen dishes. Aside from being convenient, nutritious and inexpensive, these meals provide members of the community with something they might not be able to give themselves, through lockdown and beyond. For some that means a scratch-made dinner, prepared with love and care. For others, it’s the nostalgic taste of Ouma’s cooking. It proved so popular that Brenda had to keep it going.
Working ethically and sustainably is important to Brenda. She regularly donates surplus food from the café to the Thanet Iceberg Project, a local initiative tackling food poverty and inequality. Anything else is transformed into a bunch of different homemade sauces, pickles and candied preserves which you can pick up in store, along with some South African larder staples, like Ouma Rusks.
Getting to spend time with the team and learning about South African food was a real treat for me. My late mum spent part of her life growing up in the Suburbs of Cape Town. She did a cracking accent and would always remind us of it when she saw a bit of Biltong in the supermarket. I remember her telling me stories of how she would play with penguins on the beach as a kid, but sadly, other than that, I don’t know much. So it goes, I have a lot of questions that I wish I could ask her now. What was it like? How was the food? Seriously, penguins? I left Ouma’s Kitchen with a full belly, a big beautiful Elephant plant (how could I not?) and a couple of those questions answered.
With winter not fu**ing off anytime soon, I can see this warming recipe becoming a comfort food fave. Not only is it an incredibly fun word to say, Bobotie (ba-boor-tea) is hearty, delicious and super simple to make. Using Dutch technique, this dish is traditionally made with minced beef or lamb, onions, garlic, and raisins. It is fragrantly spiced by its Indonesian influence with curry, cinnamon and ginger. Like a kind of pie, it’s topped with a perfectly set savoury egg custard and eaten with a nice tangy chutney.
Traditional Bobotie
Serves 4
600g beef mince
1 large white onion, diced
1 big cloves of garlic
1 tbsp ginger
1 tbsp dried coriander
1 tbsp cumin
1 tbsp madras curry
powder (or to taste)
2 tbsp turmeric
1 tbsp garam masala
1 cinnamon stick
Half a cup of raisins (plus a few more if you fancy it)
1 thick slice of bread soaked in a glug of milk
2 eggs
Salt
Pepper
Dried mixed herbs
1.
First, a bit of prep! Preheat your oven to 180°. In a bowl, combine all of the spices and set the mixture aside. Put a slice of bread into another bowl, pour over enough milk to cover and set aside to absorb.
2.
Place the beef mince into a large mixing bowl and lightly salt. Massage the mince through with your hands, squishing and softening to create a smoother texture. Set aside.
3.
Put a large saucepan on a medium-high heat. Sauté your onions and ginger in sunflower oil. Once translucent, add the garlic and continue to sizzle.
4.
Throw your spice mixture into the pan. Keep it moving to allow the spices to bloom without burning.
5.
Add the raisins and the beef mince you prepared earlier. Stir everything together super-thoroughly until fully combined.
6.
Cook on a medium heat until the moisture from the pan has been simmered away and the meat is cooked through. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
7.
Squeeze the milk out of the soaked bread and add that bread to meat mixture. Stir until the bread has disintegrated. Transfer the mixture into a baking dish and flatten down with the back of a spoon.
8.
Take the left-over milk, whisk in 2 eggs and season to taste. Pour over the meat mixture, sprinkle with some dried mixed herbs and get it in the oven.
9.
Bake in the oven at 180°C until the egg custard on top has turned golden. About 30 minutes.
10.
Remove your Bobotie from the oven and allow it to set as it cools down.
11.
Serve warm with some crunchy toasted seeds and some chutney.
Wolf it down.