Veteran actress Euodia Samson has shared two of her family’s most loved recipes for Easter celebrations.
Her husband, Philip Beardwood, is the taste tester to ensure the pickled sauce is just right.
“There must be a balance between the spice, the vinegar and the sweetness,” she said.
She uses her late mom, Edna Samson’s, recipe. “I believe that boiling the onions three times is what makes all the difference.”
Pickled fish
Ingredients
Fish of your choice – I use yellowtail as it is a meaty fish
Coconut oil to fry in
5 onions, thinly sliced
500 ml vinegar
500ml water
Pickling spices mix
2 tablespoons mixed masala
2 teaspoons turmeric
Sugar or alternative, to taste (xylitol)
Instructions
1. Shallow-fry your fish in coconut oil and set aside,
2. Boil your onions in water, drain the water and repeat another two times for the gassiness to drain out of the onion.
3. To the onions, add:
Vinegar, water, all spices and sugar/sugar alternative
4. Boil together and adjust to taste. Your flavour profile must have the right balance of sweet, sour (from the vinegar) and spicy.
5. In a deep dish, layer the fish and the pickling sauce with onions until the last layer of fish is submerged under the pickling sauce.
6. Pickle for at least 4 to 6 days for an authentic Cape Malay pickled fish.
The second recipe is a roast leg of lamb inspired by her husband, a devout Catholic. After the month of Lent, the roast leg of lamb is a must, she said.
Leg of Lamb on the Weber
Ingredients
2 kg leg of lamb
Garlic cloves
Rosemary sprigs
Salt
Pepper
Olive Oil
Instructions
1. Make slits in the leg of lamb with a knife and stuff in as many garlic cloves and rosemary sprigs.
2. Generously spread olive oil and salt and pepper on the leg of lamb.
3. Place it on the Weber and allow for three hours of slow roasting for an average 2kg leg of lamb.
4. Add bushes of rosemary to the coals every half hour and close the lid to smoke the leg of lamb.