Here in South Africa we tend to be creatures of habit when it comes to making curry.  Chicken, lamb and beef are usually the meat of choice, whether we are making an Indian or a traditional South African curry.

As goat curry is a very popular dish in India, we decided to make a curry with some of the springbok that we have in our freezer. Now I know that springbok meat and goat meat are not the same thing, but finding goat meat in South Africa is a bit of a challenge.  To take the fusion food thing a bit further we decided to make a potjie (a traditional South Africa dish cooked in a cast iron pot over an open fire).

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Legend has it that in 1574  there was a glassmaker’s assistant in Milan whose nickname was Zaffereno (Saffron).  He always mixed a bit of saffron into the colours for the stained glass to make it more vivid. The glassmaker used to joke that he’ll be putting it into risotto next.  When the  glassmaker’s daughter got married he did just that.  The steaming pots of golden rice was a huge success with the guests and it became a classic Milanese dish.

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Braciole (or involtini as it is known in Italy) are meat bundles with all kinds of delicious fillings.

Braciole is a beloved Sunday lunch in Italian American households. It is simmered for hours (often with meatballs and/or sausage) in a tomato sauce (called Sunday gravy).

All the recipes for fillings looked so delicious I could not pick just one. I decided to use 3 very different fillings – Braciole 3 Ways!

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I have not made nearly enough curries or South East Asian food lately, so  Beef Rendang was a good choice for this week’s date night.

Rendang originated in Indonesia and spread to Malaysia and Singapore when the Minangkabau settlers migrated to those countries.  This is a slow cooked dry curry, rich with spices and  full of flavour.

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