Graham - Home. Food from my kitchen

Besides cooking, some of my very favourite moments are spent with Rob, Sophie and our little Isla, who make up our family of four. Without them and the rest of my wonderful family and friends and their endless encouragement, this would all be aimless and empty.

Special thanks to Peter Bhasa, my most able assistant, who patiently, diligently and smilingly helps me every step of the way.

And to my recipe testers and tasters, scattered all around the world, who are all wonderful and amazing and a whole slew of good things in between and who painstakingly get stuck into a final round of re-testing, tasting and note taking for me, and then send through vital feedback. The deal is that they have to be ruthlessly honest. This time around, they included:

Hilary Barker, Kate Barker, Lucy Bell, Kimbo Brown-Schirato, Debbie Buchner, Kate Chittenden, Wendy Conolly, Tracy Dane, Bronwyn Diering, Ashleigh Graham, Babs Graham, Robyn Graham, Judy Grondel, Teneale Holley, Sarah Hough, Jenna Hutchings, Catherine Lewis, Mandy Liddle, Megan Massingham, Nikki Mullins, Leanne ODonoghue, Justine Passaportis, Tamryn Paterson, Luciana Popiol, Ruth Tanser, Yvonne Turner, Katherine Tyler, Claire van Tonder, Elsie Velacott, Melanie Watts, Helen Xavier.

Published in 2015 by Struik Lifestyle
(an imprint of Penguin Random House (Pty) Ltd)
Company Reg. No. 1953/000441/07
Estuaries No. 4, Century Avenue (Oxbow Crescent), Century City, 7441
PO Box 1144, Cape Town 8000, South Africa

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Copyright in published edition: Penguin Random House (Pty) Ltd 2015
Copyright in text: Sarah Graham 2015
Copyright in photographs: Penguin Random House (Pty) Ltd 2015

ISBN 978 1 43230 480 5

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publishers and copyright holders.

Publisher: Linda de Villiers
Managing editor: Cecilia Barfield
Editor and indexer: Joy Clack
Designer: Beverley Dodd
Photographer: Warren Heath
Food stylist: Lisa Clark
Food stylists assistant: Andrea Hirschberg-Dohlhoff
Proofreader: Samantha Fick

Reproduction by Hirt & Carter Cape (Pty) Ltd
Printed and bound by 1010 Printing International Ltd, China

In Swahili, that beautiful lilting language that is native to parts of East Africa, safari means journey. And I love that. I love that I have had the privilege of seeing so much of our continent, and the picture it has given me of our food heritage in Africa being such a melting pot of colour and character, food that has been cooked and shared against a beautiful backdrop of lives lived in all its magnificent corners, of stories told, of meals shared around campfires, wood stoves, BBQs (braais) or full and happy tables. And I also love coming home. I love sharing the ideas and inspirations that are gathered along the way.

I grew up in our own little corner of Africa, where my parents have a small game reserve and run a lion conservation project. Where the savanna bends gently against the breeze and the sun seems to shine endlessly out of an enormous blue sky. Responsible tourism has always been at the heart of what my family does, and through it Ive been lucky enough to walk with Maasai in remote parts of northern Kenya; feel the exquisite white sand of Zanzibar between my toes; ride elephants and bottle-feed lion cubs in our own backyard; stare in awe at the glory of Table Mountain in the rose-pink light of sunset, and so much in between.

Through our work, there have also been visits to Istanbul, the bright lights of Beijing, New York and so many other special places. With this book, I wanted to share some of that with you, and some of the food that makes these memories come alive. Food thats connected to places that Ive been, and places Id like to go.

What I think Im trying to say is that this book is about more than just recipes, its an account of sorts, with heartfelt anecdotes that I hope will keep you company in your own kitchens as you prepare food for feeding the people who you love. Its about our sense of home, with all the splashes of colour that we add to it as we journey through life.

There are, of course, more ordinary dishes that give us a generous helping of simple, uncomplicated everyday food anyone who knows me knows that Im all for delicious kitchen quick-fixes and I have never claimed that my food is revolutionary. You will also see my own twists on so many old South African favourites, just their names conjure up an exquisite kaleidoscope of food memories and moments for so many of us: bobotie; snoek; milk tart (melktert); malva pudding; chakalaka And then there are the dishes that take a little longer to coax to glory, but its so worth making their acquaintance. Those quiet moments at the stove are moments well spent.

So, heres to full and happy tummies and empty plates around merry tables. I hope that you will enjoy this little kitchen companion that is packed full of an abundance of all of the beautiful, simple, honest and sincere recipes that I love to cook; the meals that keep us company as we all meander through our colourful lives.

With the firm belief that there is no point in reinventing the wheel, these are adapted from bitten. (my first book) and then further updated from smitten. (my second book), and remain my firm favourites in my little arsenal of kitchen what-to-dos.

Clean up as you go along; this means you dont get to the end of the cooking process and your kitchen looks like a bomb went off. I usually keep the bin in the middle of the kitchen floor when Im cooking more than one thing at a time, so that I can just discard things quickly and easily as I go along. Also, peel vegetables directly over a piece of newspaper for easy cleaning up afterwards.

If we are having people round, I always lay the table before I start cooking. This means that on the odd occasion when you might still be enshrouded in steamy kitchen chaos and hear their knock at the door, it still looks like youre ready for them. It also means that you are not the host who spends most of the evening in the kitchen instead of actually sitting and chatting with your friends.

Wherever possible, I encourage you to explore where the food you are buying comes from, and to opt for well-loved ingredients. If that means eating fewer, but better quality meat and seafood dishes, then go for it. Try to buy free-range or organic where you can, and also take the time to read more about meat-free Mondays and other tips for how to be selective omnivores on my blog.