Looking back, I’m a little disappointed with a recent blog. I was writing about the World Cup soccer tournament in South Africa and somehow it morphed into a vehicle for a Paella recipe and Spanish food.

I lost my focus.

I missed an opportunity to write about African food and my history with some of that continent’s dishes. As a twenty something guy in Toronto, it was a firmly established fact that I liked to cook, I wasn’t that good at it yet, but compared to my friends, except perhaps Normand, I was the best or at least the most adventurous. Each week I’d scan the newspapers for recipes and ideas, pick a few and make them. I had little experience or technique and my kitchen had the same crappy equipment and knives everyone else’s did; yet I managed to prepare some exciting and eclectic recipes. Louisiana Gumbo, Spicy African Chicken Wings with Peanut Sauce, Pad Thai, Portuguese Pork and Clams, Guatemalan Papusas and a recurring favourite: Bobotie. All of these dishes share a common thread with Africa. Peanuts and Okra are native to that Continent and the spread of Colonialism and world trade took these ingredients across the globe. The Portuguese were busy in Africa, South India, Central and South America and the Orient. They brought corn (maize), chili peppers, beans, tomatoes and spices to these new worlds and took them home as well. My burgeoning interest in world history and its effects on cultural changes and foods had taken root.

Then we had kids.

My drive to explore and push boundaries in the kitchen took a detour during our initial foray into parenthood. As new parents, my wife and I, like so many insufferable Yuppies at that time, decided to do better than our parents did raising us. Considering my mother drank a fair amount of booze, smoked and took Thalidomide during her term with me, that wasn’t too difficult. We did all the correct things during my wife’s first pregnancy; ate better, attended pre-natal fitness, did the Lamaze classes, and wrote a Birth Plan. One “incorrect” thing we did was on a trip to England during my wife’s first trimester, I smuggled back some Wild Antelope Biltong (African air dried meat) that we discovered in that Disney Land of Food: Fortnum & Mason’s of Piccadilly. The baby survived and our daughter was born through natural childbirth, my wife doing a “Rambo” and forgoing any drugs. We had a midwife and all the touchy-feely crap we could option for. She breastfed the baby from day one, and like a true “sensitive new age guy”, I changed the very first diaper.

We bought a breast pump, and soon filled our freezer with little baggies of my wife’s best. I took over the solid food requirements, though occasionally I had to defrost a baggie or two and bottle-feed our little darling. I acquired a good food mill and started to fill ice cube trays with puréed peas, carrots squash and the like; all salt and sugar free; all organic if possible. My Austrian, old school, father, chastised us. He told us were being cruel, for not allowing his first grandchild to have any chocolate (if you go to an earlier blog:  Chocolate Soufflé Roll Cake, you can read about how he thwarted us in that department). My Dad was right, of course. I was a total hypocrite as I continued to make my elaborate, rich, spicy and over-the-top recipes. I just didn’t feed my daughter any.

Well it all came to ahead, on a fateful camping trip to a Provincial Park on the shores of Lake Ontario. We set-up camp and got the dinner going, mixed two tumblers full of Black Velvet and Coke, and soon it was dark. I had brought some African marinated chicken wings with peanut sauce and set about heating them up. We also boiled some water to warm some various types of vegetable purées for our daughter. We tried to get her to eat something but she just howled and refused. Avocado, banana, all the usual tricks didn’t work and we needed to get her happy or the weekend would be a bust. We got distracted somehow and, to our horror, our little ankle biting, creepy crawler had just disappeared. Since we were less than 100 feet from the shoreline with its crashing waves, true, mind-numbing fear set in. Don’t kid yourself, just because they can’t walk yet, doesn’t mean that they can’t travel very fast. With flashlights in hand, we found her over 20 feet away, heading directly for the water. Ever since that moment, I’ve firmly believed that an adult sized Depends should be included with every case of Pampers.

Back at the campfire, nervously laughing in relief, we indulged our little girl as she reached out a grubby fist and grabbed a chicken wing slathered in peanut sauce and started sucking on it. She was diggin’ it in a way she never did for unseasoned, steamed chicken breast and salmon. Happy with her newfound nourishment, she poached a slice of salami and a hunk of ham next. My wife and I looked at each other and wordlessly agreed that there was a new member in the Supper Club.

Many, years later, my discovery of Barbecue caused me to meet a purveyor of natural hardwood charcoal. Hendrik, a South African fellow with a lovely family soon became my personal friend. He imports a product produced by a co-operative that clears invading species of thorn trees in Namibia, turns the wood into charcoal, and restores grasslands to their previous glory. A few years back, Hendrik and I brought our families to Canmore Alberta to attend Kanasie, an African Music Festival, where we ran a Barbecue concession. If nothing else, this festival served to underline the realities of the new South African culture. It was organized, sponsored and paid for by expat, white Afrikaaners, most of the musicians were black and the crowd was a mix of all the races. It was good to see all these people (mostly) getting along, when, not too many years ago, in another land, they didn't. I was in heaven. Not only did we sell a huge amount of pulled pork sandwiches, but also we got to eat spit-roasted lamb, Boersworst sausages, Meali Pap (African cornmeal polenta) and Bobotie. The music was good too.

Before you go visit a Nando’s franchise as a way to shine a light on the Dark Continent, try these recipes instead. Bobotie is a fusion of spices and styles, like much of South Africa's cooking. In this meal, British, Dutch, Portuguese, Chinese and South Asian influences are all present. It is the country's signature dish, fiery (if you wish it to be), sweet and tart all at once. Bobotie is true comfort food, a casserole that can be tailored to almost any palette and is often made with lamb, not beef. It is a frugal dish, which allows you to clean out your fridge and panty and yet end up with something new and exciting. It is almost always served with yellow rice and a Sambal Salad. It is usually followed with Malvo Pudding. This sweet is the essential dessert of South Africa. It has the texture of a sticky toffee pudding and was traditionally enjoyed with a glass of Madeira, the sweet fortified wine from which it gets its name.

BOBOTIE

Ingredients

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

2 cups chopped onions

1 tablespoon ground ginger

1 tablespoon brown sugar

3 tablespoon curry powder or 1 tablespoon Indian curry paste

1 tablespoon turmeric

Salt and freshly ground pepper

1½ pounds (750 grams) ground lamb or beef

2 slices stale white bread

2 cups milk

2 tablespoons mango chutney

½ cup raisins

½ cup sliced almonds

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1 tablespoon apricot jam or orange marmalade

2 tablespoons tomato paste

Topping:

reserved milk

2 eggs

Pinch salt

1 teaspoon grated lemon rind

5 bay leaves

Method

Crumble bread and soak in milk for 5 minutes. In a strainer, over a bowl, drain off milk, squeezing and crumbling it into a lumpy paste. Reserve bread and milk separately.

Preheat oven to 350 F. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onions and sauté until softened (about 3 minutes). Add ginger, sugar, curry paste and turmeric and cook until fragrant (about 1 minute). Add ground beef or lamb and sauté for 2 minutes or until it starts to lose its pinkness. Add crumbled bread, chutney, raisins, almonds, lemon juice, apricot jam and tomato paste and season with salt and pepper. Cook this mixture, stirring for 5 to 7 minutes, or until flavours have come together. Season with salt and pepper to taste, then transfer to a greased, ovenproof casserole.

Beat together eggs, reserved milk, salt and grated lemon rind and pour over meat mixture. Float the bay leaves on top of the custard, and then gently push them down to submerge.

Bake for 45 minutes or until top is set and golden. Serves 6.

YELLOW RICE

The main ingredient in yellow rice is turmeric, one of the healthiest spices.

Ingredients

1½ cups water

1 cup long-grain rice, preferably Thai scented or basmati

2 tablespoons butter

1 teaspoon turmeric

6 green cardamom pods

2 pieces cinnamon stick

½ cup raisins

Salt to taste

Method

Combine water, rice, butter, cardamom, turmeric and cinnamon sticks in a pot and bring to boil over high heat. Turn heat to low, stir in raisins, cover and simmer for 12 to 15 minutes or until rice is tender. Fluff rice and season with salt to taste. Serves 4 to 6.

Sambal Salad

1 sweet onion, julienned

6 tomatoes, sliced

1 cucumber, sliced

1 orange or yellow sweet pepper, julienned

1 jalapeno chili, de-seeded and minced

2 cloves garlic, smashed and minced

3 tablespoons rice vinegar

1 tablespoon fragrant peanut oil (optional)

1 teaspoon sugar

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon Sambal Olek or Sriracha chili sauce

Soak the onion in very cold water for 10 minutes, drain and pat dry.

Arrange sliced tomatoes and cucumber on a platter. Scatter onions and sweet peppers over top.

In a small, non reactive bowl, combine chili, garlic, vinegar, salt, sugar and Sambal Olek. Whisk in peanut oil.

Serve the dressing on the side and allow each guest to drizzle some over their salad.

MALVA PUDDING

Do not soak or store the pudding covered, as it'll become too sticky.

Ingredients

Batter:

1 cup milk

1 cup sugar

3 tablespoon apricot jam

1 tablespoon butter

1 tablespoon baking soda

1 tablespoon white vinegar

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 large egg

Sauce:

½ cup milk

½ cup whipping cream

¼ cup butter

1/3 cup sugar

½ teaspoon vanilla

Method

Preheat oven to 350 F. Butter an ovenproof baking dish that will hold 6 cups.

Combine milk, sugar, jam and butter in a VERY large pot over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil and don't worry if it looks curdled. Whisk in the baking soda – the mixture will foam way up – then add vinegar and remove from heat. Whisk in flour and salt until combined.

Beat egg in a large bowl and slowly add the hot batter, whisking until uniform. Pour batter into prepared baking dish and cover loosely with a piece of buttered foil. Bake for 35 to 45 minutes or until browned and set.

While pudding is baking, combine milk, whipping cream, butter, sugar and vanilla in a pot over medium-high heat and bring to a boil. Boil for 2 minutes to combine flavours. When pudding comes out of the oven, use a skewer to prick holes all over the surface and pour about 1/3 of sauce over top. Allow it to sink in, then continue adding sauce until pudding is saturated. Serve it with any remaining sauce. Serves 6 to 8.