Friday Stoep Visits

Time spent together with family and friends is so treasured. I love nothing more that sitting around a table with my nearest and dearest; chatting; eating and listening to the kids play in the garden. My friends and I have a very special tradition, that we started a few years ago. It’s called a ‘Stoep Sit‘ (stoep meaning patio/veranda in Afrikaans). We started our Friday Stoep Sit Group while our kids were all still very little and because us Moms needed to get together; chat about the week that was; have a glass of wine; eat some good food; and let the kids just play! It is a Friday tradition that has lasted. We each have a turn to host and our kids have created the most fabulous bond. They look forward to these Friday visits as much as the adults!

And then the best part of all…. for our Year End Stoep Sit – the Moms spend a night away! We usually book accommodation at a lovely AirBnB in Johannesburg, the city we live in. Even though it is close to home…. it’s a chance to really relax, put our feet up, stay up late and chat the night away.

I cherish this group of girls who are my confidants, friends and Soul Sisters! When one of our kids get sick; have a birthday; or when anyone is going through a tough time – these are the women we turn to for support and love. And best of all… our partners all get on well too and often join in the Friday get-togethers, as they often go on much longer than expected, late into the night.

One of the things I miss so much during COVID-19 lockdown, is not being able to have our Stoep Visits – we keep in touch via our WhatsApp group and Zoom calls – it’s just not the same though! Nothing beats human contact and just being with your friends. Something so many of us miss. Thank you to these amazing women! Love you all dearly.

Yours in Good Food,

Dianne @ Pauli’s Food Co

My favourite Soul Food recipe

There are times I wish I had more time to prepare dinner (don’t we all!) and especially during this very interesting time of lockdown…. I think that I have so much time in the day to prepare a wholesome dinner for the family. Then the hours just pass by… with homeschooling, tidying up, running a business… I know that we are all feeling overwhelmed by lockdown, so we have to just do what we can.

Today I felt like a warm, home-cooked dinner… time was not on my side and I still had a long list of ‘To-Do’s’ to finish. I remembered my easy recipe of what our family calls Sausage Italian – loaded with vegetables, protein and our super versatile Pauli’s Tomali Relish (a slow cooked Italian style tomato relish). You can add any vegetables that you have in the fridge like broccoli, spinach, peppers, cauliflower, butternut.

Recipe:

800 g sausage (lamb, beef or pork), cut into 4 cm pieces

1/2 an onion, chopped

1 carrot, diced

4 cabbage leaves, shredded

3 baby marrow, diced

A handful of frozen peas

1 can of brown lentils

1 can Italian chopped tomatoes

3 tablespoons of Pauli’s Tomali Relish

Smoked paprka

A splash of olive oil

Salt and Pepper to taste

Serve with rice, mash or cauliflower rice

Method:

In a wok or heavy based pan/pot – heat the oil and add the onion and carrots and other vegetables. Stir and cook together to brown the veggies on medium heat for about 3 minutes. I love the smell of onions cooking – and this is when the kids know that something good is coming their way.

Add the sausages and stir together. Brown the sausages and cook all the ingredients together for another 3 minutes. Add the Pauli’s Tomali (if you have it available) and then add the lentils, stir again, add the can of tomatoes, salt, pepper and paprika. Give it one more stir to blend all the ingredients together and then put the lid on. Leave to simmer on a low heat, stirring occasionally, and cook for about 25 minutes.

The Pauli’s Tomali adds a rich, robust flavour – like a flavoursome tomato gravy. This meal is so satisfying – there are never any leftovers.

Enjoy and stay safe!

Yours in Good Food, Dianne

I have just added the sausages and about to start browning them together with the other ingredients.

Family Gatherings

I have a very big family. My Mom is one of 7 children, my Dad is one of 6. My late maternal Grandmother. Rita, is one of 11 children! I have cousins, aunts and uncles all over the world – and I am close to all 18 of my first cousins. I feel very lucky to be part of my family, and it is a family that continues to grow – as weddings and births are celebrated.

My sister gave birth to my precious nephew during lockdown. We live in the same city but I can’t visit them – meet my little Godson; and make my sister a cup of tea and give her love. This is very hard – for us all. My Mom isn’t able to meet him either. I remember that when I gave birth to my two children, the most comforting feeling was having my mom stay with us for a week – because Moms know best!

Today, would have been Rita’s 90th birthday. We have celebrated so many birthdays together as a family; everyone traveling from their various cities and countries to be together in one place. When I was a child, we would all get together on a Sunday and have lunch at Rita’s house. The adults would sit under the big, shady Mulberry tree, someone swaying in the hammock; while the children ran around the garden or played in the tree house. You can imagine Christmas lunches together! Lots of people, an abundance of food, presents, multiple conversations, laughter and of course the obligatory paper fight across the table. Every few years, a new addition would be added to the celebration.

These memories will forever be etched in my mind as great ones! And we have been lucky to carry on this tradition with our own children, the new generation. I remember Rita’s 80th birthday like it was yesterday. My son was only 4 months old, and Rita got to meet her first great-grandchild, Max.

Today, many of the family got together via the Zoom App to celebrate Rita’s birthday. It was great to ‘see’ everyone and it was just like a family gathering – talking over each other, tea drinking and laughter.

But when we were finished – I felt an immense sadness. I had always just taken these gatherings for granted. They just happened. And now they can’t happen in person, for a while I think, while the COVID-19 pandemic keeps us in lockdown. I am grateful for technology, but there is nothing quite like the happy noise of a big family gathering. Happy Birthday Rita!

Yours in good food and lots of love, Dianne

dianne@paulisfood.com

A different kind of Easter

This Easter, we are in LockDown in South Africa, like so many others in the world. The COVID-19 pandemic has changed so many aspects of our lives and we are all navigating a new kind of normal. Instead of spending Easter with family and friends as we normally do (and I suppose we took this for granted), this Easter will be a quiet one. However, I feel blessed to be able to spend it with our beautiful children, Max and Lua, and my husband Paul. This is probably the most amount of time we have all been together in one place, and we are all finding new ways of keeping busy.

We are cooking 3 meals a day, eating healthily and trying new recipes. We are very lucky to have our Pauli’s Sauces on hand to add robust and rich flavours to our dishes. Visit http://www.paulisfood.com if you would like to place an order.

Our supper for Good Friday was a beautiful fish and prawn dish that was so good – we all licked our bowls clean and there was nothing left over.

Ingredients:

700 g de-shelled prawn tails

200 g hake (filleted and cut into thick cubes)

4 large size baby marrow (julienned)

1 stick of lemon grass

1 can of coconut milk or cream

4 small baby leeks

150 g thinly sliced butternut or pumpkin

Splash of soya and fish sauce

2 forkfuls of Pauli’s Something Hotter

10 ml Thai Lime Juice

Salt and pepper to taste

Stir-fried cauliflower and cabbage (in place of rice)

Method:

Heat some olive oil in a heavy based wok; fry the leeks, butternut/pumpkin and add the lemon grass on a medium heat for about 3 minutes. Add the baby marrow and prawns. In a separate pan; fry the hake in butter, skin side down on a medium heat (we added some chilli flakes) until the fish is nearly cooked through and the skin is crisp and then turn to get colour on the other side.

In a blender or NutriBullet – blend the coconut milk/cream, Pauli’s Something Hotter, Lime Juice, Soya and Fish sauce together.

Add this liquid to the prawn dish; stir together and then add the cooked hake on the side of the wok. Add salt and pepper to taste. Simmer together for about 5 minutes on a low heat with the lid on the wok.

Cook the diced cauliflower and sliced cabbage in butter in a separate pan for about 5 minutes. We served this with our homemade French Bread – the best way to soak up all the juices and flavours.

Your meal is ready to serve! Simple, delicious and healthy. And also very low in carbs.

To those celebrating Easter – we wish you a blessed and safe one!

Yours in Good Food, Dianne – please share any ideas to dianne@paulisfood.com

Anytime Roast Chicken

Today I needed to prepare dinner in a hurry but I had about 2 hours for the meal to cook. So I decided to roast a chicken on a low heat during the 2 hours. This recipe literally took me less than 15 min to prepare and when it was dinner time … our meal was succulent, tasty and tender.

How did I do it?

Throw some chopped butternut, cherry tomatoes and sweet potatoes (skin on) into the roasting dish; place the chicken in the middle of the dish; pour olive oil over all ingredients and generously sprinkle with rosemary, thyme and oregano. Add about 4 forkfuls of Pauli’s Anytime Brinjal & Peppers into the dish (and stuff the chicken with another 2 forkfuls of Brinjal & Peppers). Cover with foil and roast at 140degrees for about 2 hours. Don’t forget to add salt and pepper to taste before roasting.

I quickly made some peas to go with the dish (to make sure we also get some greens in the mix) and used Pauli’s Tomali and a bit of red wine to make a gravy with the peas.

The results…. the kids asked for more and ate all their veggies and protein.

This recipe brings together robust, roasted flavours and cooks the chicken to tender perfection 👌🏽

Yours in good food,

Dianne @ Pauli’s Food Co

Pauli’s Food Co

Easy and delicious Prawn Curry with Pauli’s Saffron Chilli Chutney

I never knew how simple it was to make a Prawn Curry until I tried this recipe with our Pauli’s Saffron Chilli Chutney…

Ingredients:

300 g of shelled and peeled prawns (med – large)

300 g of hake / kingklip

1/2 a red onion, chopped

1 can of chopped tomatoes

1 carrot, peeled and chopped

1/2 a cup of white wine (optional)

4 tablespoons of Pauli’s Saffron Chilli Chutney (for a child friendly version, use Pauli’s Tomali in place of the Saffron Chilli Chutney)

2 tablespoons of Lime Juice (or juice of fresh limes)

Sprinkle of Paprika

1 tablespoon of Garam Masala (curry powder)

1 tablespoon of white vinegar (or apple cider vinegar)

1/2  a cup of cream

Coconut oil  and butter (for cooking)

Fresh coriander

Serve with Cauli rice / Basmati Rice / Sweet Potato Mash

Method:

Place the prawns in a bowl and pour the lime juice and paprika over the prawns.  Leave in the fridge while you are prepping the rest of the dish.   Heat the coconut oil in a heavy based pan / wok and fry the onion and carrot until slightly softened.  Mix the garam masala and vinegar together to make a paste.  Pour the paste into the pan and stir together.  Add the can of chopped tomatoes, the white wine and the Pauli’s Saffron Chilli Chutney and leave to simmer on a low heat for about 15 minutes.

In a pre-heated oven, grill the fish for about 10 minutes (baste the fish with melted butter, salt and pepper before placing under the grill).

Add the prawns into the sauce mix and cook with the lid on for about 5 minutes.  Then gently break up the hake / kingklip and add to the dish.  Pour the cream into the pan and cook together on a low heat for another 5 minutes.

Serve with either Cauliflower rice, Basmati Rice or Sweet Potato Mash.  Sprinkle the coriander over each serving and enjoy!  Simply delicious.

Yours in good food, Dianne

Pauli’s Food Company recipes

 

 

How to get the kids to eat their greens… and enjoy them

I have a very simple go-to recipe for a Monday night meal… Sausage Italian casserole made with our Pauli’s Tomali (tomato relish) and Pauli’s Anytime Zucchini & Peppers. 

Ingredients:

10 free range bangers (pork, beef or lamb sausage)

5 Tablespoons of Pauli’s Tomali 

5 forkfuls of Pauli’s Anytime Zucchini & Peppers 

6 heads of broccoli 

6 heads of cauliflower

Any other veggies you want to use up (a handful of peas, mushrooms, or chopped pumpkin) 

Sweet potato mash

Method:

In a casserole dish (I love to use my Le Creuset casserole dish), pour some olive oil or butter on the base of the dish.  Add the sausages and baste the Tomali and Anytime Zucchini & Peppers over the sausages. 

Throw over all the other vegggies and mix well together.  Cover with tinfoil and cook in a pre-heated oven (180 degrees) for about 25 min.  Take off the tinfoil and cook for another 5 minutes, or until the sausages are cooked to your liking.  

Serve on a bed of sweet potato mash. The Tomali and Zucchini & Peppers make a beautiful, robust and tasty gravy.  Pour the gravy over the sausages and mash and serve with a side salad.  This recipe never fails me. And what makes my heart so happy is that the kids clean their plate and always thank me for this yummy meal… Bon apetit! 

Yours in good food,
Dianne

dianne@paulisfood.com

Pauli’s Something Hotter Thai Curry

I love the story of how we named our third delicious sauce – a flavoursome combination of chilli, carrot, olive oil and ginger…  When we started Pauli’s Food Co, we started selling our Brinjali and Tomali sauces at food markets. People loved the flavours bursting from our colourfully labelled jars – and they would ask us “Don’t you have something hotter?” (well, those who loved chilli would ask that).  So Pauli developed our Something Hotter product – cooking together carrots, red chillies, fresh ginger and garlic, oregano and filling the bottle with cold pressed extra virgin olive oil.  It was a hit!  And heat seekers were happy to be able to add to their collection of Pauli’s sauces.   This product is sugar and sweetener free – so it is super healthy and can be eaten with everything, with no worry of eating a chilli product with harmful preservatives, hidden sugars or colourants.  Completely natural and oh so good!

This is a simple recipe using Pauli’s Something Hotter:

Thai Beef Curry

Ingredients:

1 medium red onion, finely chopped

400 g of beef strips (you can substitute with chicken / vegetables)

300 g baby marrow, julienned

150 g chopped butternut

100 g red pepper, julienned

1 tablespoon of coconut oil

30 g of finely chopped ginger

1 tablespoon of Pauli’s Something Hotter (add more if you like heat)

30 g fresh basil, chopped

2 tablespoons of honey

2 tablespoons of soy sauce

1 can of coconut milk

Method:

Heat the coconut oil, add the red onion and sauté until the onion softens.  Add the Pauli’s Something Hotter and ginger, sauté for another minute.  Add the beef strips and brown all the ingredients together (cooking on a medium heat for about another 2 minutes).

Add the baby marrow, butternut and red pepper and cook together for another minute.  Add the coconut milk and bring the heat down to low.  Add the honey and soy sauce (these ingredients will ensure the right balance between sweet and savoury).  Cook until the butternut is soft (about another 12-15 min on low heat). Serve with Jasmine or Cauli Rice.  Garnish with the chopped basil.

Yours in Good Food, Dianne.

Eat.  Cook.  Love.  Pauli’s Sauces.

http://www.paulisfood.com

 

Heritage Day – a.k.a Braai Day

We have a wonderful holiday in South Africa on the 24 September each year called Heritage Day a.k.a. Braai Day.   It is a well-loved day because not only does it celebrate the diverse cultures of South Africa – it also signifies the start of our glorious summers!

Braai’s (by definition – a social meeting, including the cooking of meat on an outdoor grill) are lit by South Africans from all cultures and creeds and families and friends get together to spend quality time with each other and enjoy their favourite recipes and flavours.

This year, we at Pauli’s Food Co teamed up with Munching Mongoose – an awesome company that sources and gathers great food and delivers straight to their customers doors – for Heritage Day.   Our delicious sauces were included in their foodie boxes with other great Braai Day ingredients.   One of our much loved recipe for the Braai is to use our Tasty Tomali Relish and marinade Lamb Chops with them… the result – an empty plate!

Ingredients:

600 g Lamb Saddle Chops; Maldon Salt; 150g Pauli’s Tomali; Some hot coals ready to braai!

Method:

Using a basting brush, spread the Tomali over each chop on both sides.  Generously sprinkle the salt over the chops.  Leave to rest in the fridge for about 30 minutes.

Tip – place the basting brush in a jug close to the Braai so that you can use the excess Tomali from the dish to re-baste when turning the chops.

When the Braai is ready – place the chops onto the grid and cook on one side for about 4 minutes.  Turn and re-baste using the excess Tomali.  Repeat until the chops are cooked to your liking.  Serve hot and enjoy!

Eat.  Spread.  Love.  Pauli’s Sauces.

 

www.paulisfood.com

Simple breakfast of Camberbet and Saffron

This morning I made a simple, scrumptious breakfast using our royal Chutney, Pauli’s Saffron Chilli Chutney and a camberbet cheese wheel.  It took less than 5 minutes to prepare and cook and was so yummy!

Ingredients:

1 small Camberbet cheese wheel (sliced into two – one wheel can make two portions)

1 tablespoon of Pauli’s Saffron Chilli Chutney

Serve with scrambled eggs or eat as a starter

Method:

Slice the cheese wheel into two separate pieces and then slice the one portion into two (through the middle)

Spread the Pauli’s Saffron Chilli Chutney on top of the cheese wheel

Close the cheese wheel and fry on a low heat in a small frying pan – about 1 minute a side and then flip over and fry the other side

Season with salt and black pepper and serve with scrambled egg.  Or serve as a starter to a gourmet meal. 

Simply scrumptious!

Yours in Good Food

Dianne