Chinese Chicken Salad

You could use beef strips in place of the chicken if you prefer

This is another recipe I came up with one day when we felt like eating Chinese inspired food (without the effort of having to actually cook it !)

I made the dressing up with whatever ingredients I had on hand, and it seemed to work quite well and this recipe has since become a “keeper”.

Chinese Chicken Salad

1 Lettuce, sliced into ribbons
1 Carrot, coarsely grated
Bunch of Spring Onions, finely chopped
200 gm’s pan-fried Chicken breast, cut into small pieces

Dressing:
75 ml Orange Juice
25 ml Sesame Oil (or use Olive oil if you like)
25 ml Soy Sauce
¼ tsp fresh Ginger, finely grated
¼ tsp fresh Garlic, finely grated
Szechuan Pepper

Combine all the salad ingredients – except the chicken - together on a large platter.

Whisk all the dressing ingredients together – except the Szechuan Pepper - and allow the cooked chicken pieces to marinate in the dressing for about 30 minutes. Then remove the chicken from the dressing, and scatter over the salad. Pour the remainder of the dressing over the salad just before serving, and top with a few twists of freshly ground Szechuan pepper. (The pepper really ‘lifts’ the flavour of the salad and brings all the ingredients together nicely. Use freshly ground black pepper if you have no Szechuan).

Hearty Farmhouse Soup

A lovely warm bowl of soup on a cold day always goes down a treat !

It’s still raining quite a lot on the farm, and the weather is a bit chilly (although not as chilly as the weather which some of my family are experiencing in the UK at the moment with their sudden snowfall yesterday – brrrr – so much for Spring, eh ?!).

Anyway, it is what you would call “cold” in Africa at the moment, and seeing as I have lots of lovely fresh vegetables in my pantry right now, I thought that it would be the perfect time to make some soup.

This recipe is one I’ve just made up over the years as I’ve gone along. You could puree the soup after cooking if you prefer a smoother texture – but I find it much more filling when the veggie pieces are left whole and chunky like this. This soup also freezes really well.

We had this for lunch today and it was very tasty -:


Hearty Farmhouse Soup

2 tbsp Olive Oil
3 Onions, sliced
1 tbsp Garlic, minced
1 large Leek, sliced
3 sticks Celery, sliced
4 Carrots, sliced
3 Baby Marrows (Courgettes), sliced
1 tin whole peeled Tomatoes
2 Beef stock cubes dissolved in
4 cups of boiling Water
Salt & freshly ground Black Pepper (to taste)

In a large (deep) pot, heat the oil. Add the onions and minced garlic & cook until golden. Then add the leek, celery, carrots and baby marrows. Cook until slightly brown and then add the tin of tomatoes and the beef stock water, as well as the salt and pepper. Simmer, uncovered, for 30 to 45 minutes until all the liquid has reduced and the vegetables are soft and cooked through.

Kilimanjaro Salad

It makes a great side salad & the addition of the biltong makes it filling enough as a light lunch, served with some crusty bread

This is a salad which I make quite often. I usually have all the ingredients on hand so it is easy to throw together in a hurry. (The biltong is my ‘lure’ to get my fussy husband to eat it - and it usually works !)

Biltong is basically strips of dried, seasoned meat. It is usually made from beef or game meat and it is eaten quite a lot here in Africa, especially in the South of the continent. We grew up almost teething on the stuff in Zimbabwe (Rhodesia) and it is very popular in South Africa, too. It keeps for ages, “travels” well and hence it is great for long car trips or school lunchboxes. It is mostly eaten on it’s own as a snack, but can be used in recipes as I have done here.

It’s delicious to eat and I guarantee that you won’t be able to stop after just one piece !


Kilimanjaro Salad

1 head of Lettuce, torn into smaller pieces
2 large Tomatoes, sliced
1 small Carrot, “peeled” into slivers (use a potato peeler for this)
½ Cucumber, sliced
2 sticks Celery, finely sliced
1 bunch Spring Onions, tails sliced & tops snipped
Handful of Biltong (dried meat)

Toss all ingredients together in a large salad bowl, except for the celery, spring onions and biltong, which can all be scattered over the top before serving.

Serve with a dressing if you like.

Simple & Tasty Two Bean Salad

You could substitute the kidney & butter beans for any that you happen to have on hand

This is a really simple recipe, easily made from store cupboard ingredients. It is best served chilled and can even be served as a light lunch, accompanied by some crusty bread rolls.

Two Bean Salad

50 ml Olive Oil
1 Tbsp red wine vinegar
3 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley
salt and black pepper
1 can butter beans, drained
1 can kidney beans, drained
8 Cherry tomatoes, chopped (or 2 large tomatoes)
50 g Olives, stoned & chopped

Make a dressing by whisking together the olive oil & vinegar. Add the parsley & season with salt & pepper. Combine butter beans, tomatoes and olives. Moisten with the salad dressing and mix lightly.

An Easy Potato Salad Recipe

This potato salad seems to taste even better the next day !

I believe that less is often more when it comes to cooking. (Especially when it comes to simple dishes like this one.)

I’ve never had an actual recipe for this potato salad - I’ve always just made it from memory after watching my mother making it when I was growing up. (I added the mustard idea, though.)

Whenever I make this, people always ask me for the recipe and there are never any leftovers – always a good sign !

It’s best to make this the day before you plan to eat it, as the flavours are more intense the next day as the potatoes have had time to really absorb the mayonnaise mixture -:

Simply Delicious Potato Salad

5 large potatoes, peeled & chopped in to cubes
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 cup of Mayonnaise (a ‘tangy’ type works well)
1 tsp English Mustard
Salt & Pepper to taste
Chives or Spring Onion tops, snipped

Boil the potato cubes in salted water until cooked through & edges are soft. Strain, add the onion, salt & pepper and leave to cool. Add the mustard to the mayonnaise and mix well to blend. Pour over the cooled potato cubes and toss everything together gently until the potato cubes are well coated. Garnish with snipped chives or spring onion chops.

I always make sure that the potatoes are well cooked – there’s nothing worse than underdone potatoes in a salad … ewwww ! The mustard really brings the flavours of this salad out and when I haven’t had English mustard on hand, I’ve also used Dijon or Wholegrain.