Tannie Maria’s Recipes
One day, I’ll write a proper cookbook, then I won’t have to squash in just a few recipes at the end. How can I choose when they are all so lekker? I want to give you a taste of the Karoo – coffee, beskuit, apricot jam and brandy. And flavours of autumn – pumpkin, sweet potato, pomegranates, figs . . . And some cake recipes – cakes are so kind and clever. And then there are the delicious dishes that travelled to my kitchen from faraway places – Scotland, Somalia, Greece and New York. Oh well, I can’t give them all, but here are a handful of my favourite recipes.
Of course it is the best ingredients that will make the best meals. Buy your meat and dairy from a free-range farmer, where the animals are happy, out in the veld.
Measurements
t = teaspoon (5 ml)
T = tablespoon (15 ml)
cup = 250 ml
All cup measurements are unsifted, unless otherwise stated
All eggs are size Large
MEAT
LEMONI’S MOUSSAKA
(Serves 8–10)
3 T butter
1 medium onion, chopped
750g mince
½ cup tomato ketchup
½ cup white wine pinch of salt
½ t ground black pepper
½ t grated fresh nutmeg
2 T chopped fresh oregano, or 1 T dried
1 cup grated Cheddar cheese
4 medium aubergines
2 T salt for aubergines
sunflower oil for frying
¼ cup dried breadcrumbs
Béchamel sauce
4 T butter
6 T cornflour
4 cups (1 litre) milk
pinch of salt and ground black pepper
1 t grated fresh nutmeg
2 egg yolks, beaten
Topping
1 T dried breadcrumbs
1½ cups grated Cheddar cheese
1 T butter
Heat the butter in a large frying pan and brown the onion. Add the mince and stir-fry until brown.
Add the tomato ketchup, wine, salt, pepper, nutmeg and oregano. Simmer for 30 minutes and then stir in the cheese.
Slice the aubergines lengthways and sprinkle with salt. Leave them to stand for 30 minutes to remove bitterness. Rinse very well and pat dry with paper towel. Fry in hot oil until golden brown.
To make the béchamel sauce, melt the butter in a saucepan, then take it off the heat and add the cornflour, stirring to a thick smooth paste. Return to a medium heat and slowly add the milk, stirring until thickened. Stir in the spices and beaten egg yolks.
Preheat the oven to 180°C. Grease a big ovenproof dish (about 30 × 40 cm) and sprinkle a thin layer of breadcrumbs over the base. Top with a layer of aubergine, followed by a layer of mince. Alternate the bread-crumb, aubergine and mince layers until they are all used up. Pour the béchamel sauce over the top.
Sprinkle over the breadcrumbs and cheese for the topping and dot with butter.
Bake for 20–30 minutes until golden brown.
OUMA’S KAROO LAMB PIE
(Serves 6–8)
Sour-cream pastry
3 cups plain flour
1 t salt
250g cold butter, cubed
1 cup sour cream
Sift the flour and salt three times in a large bowl and use a small knife to cut in the butter. The knobs of butter should stay pea-sized and not become as small as breadcrumbs.
Add the sour cream and cut in with a knife. When it is well mixed, knead the dough until it holds together and makes a ball. Don’t add extra liquid – just carry on kneading lightly – the dough will become manageable and start to stick together.
Leave the dough to rest for half an hour or longer – overnight is best.
Roll out the dough on a floured surface and fold it into quarters. Turn the dough parcel half a turn, so that the open side faces towards you.
Roll and fold once more in the same way. Let the dough rest for another half an hour.
Repeat the ‘roll and fold’ twice more. The dough is now ready for use and can be refrigerated for 3 days or frozen for 3 months.
Pie filling
2kg lamb on the bone (shoulder, neck or knuckles, or a mixture of the three)
2 cups water
1 whole onion, peeled and spiked with 10 whole cloves
1 bay leaf
5 peppercorns
1 t ground coriander
1 clove garlic, crushed
½ t dried red chilli flakes or cayenne pepper
2 t mustard powder
2 t white sugar
2 T vinegar
2 t salt
½ t ground black pepper
5 t cornflour or potato flour mixed with a little cold water to make a paste
1 whole onion, peeled and spiked with 5 whole cloves
1 egg, beaten for pastry
In a large saucepan, simmer the lamb very gently with the water, onion, bay leaf and peppercorns for about 2 hours until the meat is completely tender and starting to fall off the bone. (You can also leave it in a hotbox for an hour to help it soften.) Remove the pan from the heat and allow the meat to cool in the liquid. Remove all fat, bone and gristle from the cooled lamb. Flake the meat lightly and return it to the stock in the pan. Remove the onion, bay leaf and peppercorns.
Add the coriander, garlic, chilli, mustard, sugar, vinegar, salt and pepper to the meat and bring it to the boil. If too watery, thicken with the cornflour paste.
Preheat the oven to 190°C. Dish the meat mixture into a pie plate, about 23 cm in diameter. Put the second spiked onion in the middle to stop the pastry from sagging. Leave to cool down.
Roll out the pastry until very thin and use to cover the pie. Trim and scallop the edges and brush with the beaten egg. Decorate with pastry leaves cut from the pastry offcuts. There will be pastry left over that you can store for another time.
Bake the pie for 1 hour until golden brown.
Tips
• You can make your own sour cream for the pastry by adding 2 T lemon juice to fresh cream. Or you can use half fresh cream and half plain yoghurt.
• This pastry can be used for savoury or sweet dishes.
• The lamb pie can be prepared well in advance and frozen before baking.
FATIMA’S LAMB LIVERS AND RICE
(Serves 4)
⅓ cup sunflower oil or 5 T ghee
1 onion, chopped
1 tomato, chopped
½ green pepper, deseeded and chopped
1 green or red chilli, chopped, or ½ t chilli powder
grated zest of 1 medium lemon
juice of 1 medium lemon
1½ t ground coriander
3 T chopped fresh coriander or Italian parsley salt and ground black pepper to taste
500g lamb liver, cut into thin strips
Heat the oil or ghee in a frying pan and fry the onion until soft and light brown. Add the tomato and simmer over a medium heat. Add the green pepper, chilli, lemon zest and juice, ground and fresh coriander or parsley, and salt and pepper.
Stir in the liver and cook until tender. After 10 minutes, take out a piece of liver and test for tenderness. Serve with Somalian rice.
Somalian rice
½ cup olive or sunflower oil
1 stick cinnamon
½ t ground cumin
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 whole cloves
3 cardamom pods
1 chicken stock cube or 2 t chicken stock powder
¼ t ground nutmeg
¼ t saffron
1 small onion, thinly sliced
2 cups basmati rice, rinsed until the water runs clear
1¼ litres chicken stock or water
½ cup frozen peas
Garnish
1 small onion, chopped
2 T butter or ghee
Heat the oil in a saucepan and add the cinnamon, cumin, garlic, cloves, cardamom, chicken stock cube or powder, nutmeg, saffron and sliced onion. Fry until the onion is translucent.
Add the rice and stir-fry for 3 minutes. Add the liquid chicken stock or water and the peas, and steam-boil until the liquid has reduced.
For the garnish, fry the chopped onion in the butter for about 2 minutes and then sprinkle over the rice.
Tip
• You can also use goat, cow or sheep liver.
WEST AFRICAN CHICKEN MAFÉ
(Serves 8–10)
2 hot chillies, chopped
1 t salt
2 T finely grated fresh ginger
1 T paprika
2kg chicken pieces peanut or sunflower oil for frying
4 cloves garlic, chopped
2 onions, chopped into big chunks
4 ripe tomatoes, cut into big chunks
400g canned tomatoes, chopped, with juice
2 T fresh oregano, chopped, or 1 T dried
6 T crunchy peanut butter
200ml chicken stock, made with 50ml water and 150ml coconut milk
3 medium sweet potatoes, cut into chunks
50ml cornflour mixed with a little cold water to make a paste
2 limes or lemons, cut into wedges
Mix the chillies, salt, ginger and paprika in a bowl and then dip the chicken pieces into it to coat.
Heat some oil in a frying pan and brown the chicken in batches (5 pieces at a time). Remove all the chicken from the pan.
Lightly fry the garlic and onions in the same pan. Add the chicken pieces, the fresh and canned tomatoes, then the oregano, peanut butter, chicken stock and sweet potatoes.
Bring to the boil and then simmer for 30 minutes. Scoop out half a cup of hot liquid from the stew and mix it with the cornflour paste. Stir this back into the mafé to thicken it. Simmer for another 5 minutes, then put in a hotbox for at least an hour. (You can leave it longer to keep it hot before eating.)
Serve with rice and wedges of lime or lemon.
Tips
• If you cook your rice in chicken stock and then add 2 T oil when ready, it is extra yummy. West African recipes use palm oil, but if it’s hard to find you can use peanut or sunflower oil.
• Your rice can also be cooked in a hotbox. See page 307 for the hotbox story.
SWEET
VENUS CAKE
(Serves 10–12)
1½ cups freshly brewed hot strong coffee
3 cups (380g) plain flour
2½ cups white sugar
4 t bicarbonate of soda
½ t salt
1 cup (110g) Dutch cocoa powder
1⅓ cups sunflower oil
1½ cups buttermilk
3 eggs
1 t vanilla extract
approx. 9 T crunchy peanut butter
approx. 3 T apricot jam
Coffee-chocolate icing
1½ t instant coffee granules
180g dark baking chocolate, broken into pieces
60g butter
3 T milk
Topping
1 t instant coffee granules, crushed to a fine powder
Get your coffee started. Make it lekker strong. Preheat a convection oven on the fan setting to 180°C. Grease two 20-cm cake tins and line the bottoms with baking paper.
Sift the flour, sugar, bicarbonate of soda, salt and cocoa into a large bowl and whisk thoroughly by hand or with an electric mixer. This mixes them together and lets in air.
Gently add the oil, followed by the buttermilk and then the eggs, one at a time, mixing thoroughly after each addition. Stir in the vanilla extract.
Put the hot coffee in a jug and add it to the mixture, pouring it down the side of the bowl.
Divide the batter between the two tins and bake for 20 minutes, then turn down the temperature to 160°C and bake for a further 25–35 minutes, or until a knife inserted into the centre of a cake comes out clean.
Allow to cool for at least 20 minutes before removing from the tins, then let the cakes cool completely on a wire rack. Once cool, if the tops of the cakes are bumpy and crusty, you can use a bread knife to cut them flat. (It is important the cake that will form the bottom layer is flat.)
Spread a generous layer of peanut butter on the bottom cake-layer and top it with a comfortable layer of apricot jam. Put the second layer of cake on top.
To make the icing, melt the ingredients – except the teaspoon of crushed coffee – together in a double boiler. (You can also melt them in a mug inside a bowl of boiling water.) Use a fork to mix the ingredients thoroughly.
Allow to cool and thicken, then spread the icing on the top and sides of the cake.
Allow to cool some more (you can even pop the cake in the fridge for a while), then sprinkle over the teaspoon of coffee powder.
Tips
• Dutch (or Dutched or Dutch-processed) cocoa is more alkaline than plain (it has a pH of 8; normal cocoa has a pH of 5) and has a different texture and flavour. But if you use plain cocoa the cake is still delicious.
• Your dark chocolate should be about 40 per cent cocoa; 70 per cent will be too dry and bitter.
• If you like a neat cake, you can cut the upper crust off both layers, then turn the top layer upside down, so it has a very flat top. If you like a pretty cake, garnish with apricot slices or cherries.
• For the best texture, it is important to let the cake layers cool completely before icing. I know this is hard to do, because you will be impatient to gobble up this amazing cake.
CANDY’S CHEESECAKE
(Serves 10–12)
Crust
200g Brazil nuts, crushed
75g digestive biscuits, crushed
100g desiccated coconut
finely grated zest of 2 oranges (approx. 4 t)
1 T caster sugar
150g butter, melted
Cake
750g plain cream cheese, softened
finely grated zest of 2 oranges (approx. 4 t)
finely grated zest of 1 large lemon (approx. 2 t)
1 cup caster sugar
3 eggs
¼ cup lemon juice
¾ cup (180g) sour cream
Sour-cream topping
1 cup (240g) sour cream
2 T caster sugar
2 t lemon juice
finely grated orange zest for garnishing
Use a pestle and mortar or a food processor to crush the Brazil nuts (I like them a little crunchy). Use a rolling pin to crush the digestive biscuits, and add these to the nuts, along with the coconut, orange zest and caster sugar. Add the melted butter and mix well.
Grease a 24-cm springform cake tin. Press the crust mixture lightly onto the base and sides of the tin. You want a thin crust on the base (5–7 mm) and it doesn’t matter if the crust doesn’t go all the way up the sides of the tin or is uneven in height. Put in the fridge for half an hour.
Preheat the oven to 180°C
To make the cake, blend the cream cheese, orange zest, lemon zest and caster sugar in a large bowl, then add the eggs, one at a time, blending well after each addition. Add the lemon juice and sour cream.
Pour the mixture into the cooled crust. Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes, then remove from the oven and cool for 15 minutes.
Make the sour-cream topping by mixing the sour cream, caster sugar and lemon juice in a bowl. Spread over the cheesecake and bake for a further 20 minutes or until set.
Leave the cheesecake to cool in the oven, with the oven door ajar. Then refrigerate for at least 3 hours. Garnish with a little finely grated orange zest.
Tip
• This recipe has flavours of Karoo and New York, and is the best cheesecake I have ever eaten. For an extra-fancy cake, garnish with brandied muscadels (muscadel raisins simmered in a little brandy, water, honey and sugar).
SWEET-POTATO CAKE (Serves 10–12)
2 cups (300g) plain flour
1 T baking powder
1 t ground cinnamon
1 t ground nutmeg
pinch of salt
2 cups white sugar
1½ cups sunflower oil
¼ cup boiling water
4 eggs, separated
1½ cups (200g) peeled and coarsely grated sweet potato
1 cup (100g) chopped walnuts
1 t vanilla essence
Icing
2 cups (250g) icing sugar, sifted
4 T (50g) butter, at room temperature
250g plain cream cheese
ground cinnamon for dusting
½ cup (50g) chopped walnuts
Preheat the oven to 180°C. Grease two 23-cm cake tins, dust them with a little plain flour and shake out the excess flour.
Sift together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt.
In a separate large bowl, beat the sugar and sunflower oil together. Add the boiling water and beat well. Add the egg yolks and the flour mixture and stir. Mix in the sweet potato, walnuts and vanilla essence.
In a clean bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff and fold them gently into the mixture.
Spoon the batter into the cake tins and level them off. Bake on the middle shelf of the oven for about 40 minutes or until a knife inserted into the centre of a cake comes out clean. Let them cool a little in the tins before turning them out carefully onto wire racks to cool completely. It is crumblier than sponge cake, so be gentle.
To make the icing, mix the icing sugar and butter well; the mixture will be like fine crumbs. Add half the cream cheese, one tablespoon at a time, stirring gently to avoid lumps.
Spread the rest of the cream cheese on top of each cake layer. Spread the icing on top of the cream cheese and sandwich the layers together. Dust a little cinnamon over the cake and top with the walnuts. Cool the cake in the fridge before serving. Store any leftovers in the fridge.
Tips
• This cake is a little crumbly but very delicious, and you will have people guessing what it is made from.
• It is even nicer the day after baking.
HENK’S FAVOURITE
(Serves 8–10)
4 eggs, separated
2 cups white sugar
2 cups milk
½ cup (70g) plain flour
⅔ cup orange juice
4 t grated orange zest
2 T lemon juice
⅔ cup Van der Hum liqueur
Preheat the oven to 180°C and grease an ovenproof dish, about 25 × 25 cm.
Beat the egg yolks and sugar together in a large bowl. Add the milk, sift in the flour and beat well to get rid of any lumps. Add the orange juice, orange zest and lemon juice. Finally, add the liqueur and mix well.
In a separate clean bowl, beat the egg whites until they are stiff and fold them carefully into the mixture.
Spoon the mixture into the greased dish and bake for about 45 minutes. The pudding will have a brown crust on top and be soft underneath when done.
PIKKIE’S PUMPKIN PIE
(Serves 8–10)
3 cups cooked pumpkin (or butternut squash) mashed
2 t olive oil
2 eggs
1 cup cream
1 cup brown sugar
1 t salt
1 cup milk
¼ cup melted butter
1 cup (140g) plain flour
2 t baking powder
ground cinnamon, for dusting
Cook the pumpkin and allow it to dry and cool in a sieve before mashing. The best way is to roast it on a baking tray, tossed with 2 teaspoons of olive oil.
Preheat the oven to 180°C and grease an ovenproof dish, about 23 × 23 cm.
Whisk the eggs, cream, sugar, salt and milk together, then whisk in the butter. Add the flour and baking powder and beat well. Finally, mix in the mashed pumpkin.
Spoon the mixture into the greased dish and bake for 50–60 minutes. The pie should be nicely browned on top. If you shake it, it will be a bit jiggly, like firm jelly. It will get firmer as it cools down. Dust with cinnamon before serving.
Tips
• If you use butternut squash instead of pumpkin, you can reduce the sugar to ¾ cup. It’s important that the pumpkin is as dry as possible, which is why it’s best to roast it. But you could also cook it in a very little water or oil and then drain it in a sieve for a while.
• This pumpkin pie can be served hot or cold as a pudding, with cream or custard. It will also go nicely as a side serving with any of your meat dishes.
AUNT SANDRA’S MALVA PUDDING
(Serves 8–10)
½ cup white sugar
1 T butter, at room temperature
1 egg
1 cup (140g) plain flour
1 t bicarbonate of soda
½ t salt
½ cup milk
1 T vinegar
1 T apricot jam
Sauce
1 cup milk
⅔ cup white sugar
6 T butter
⅔ t vanilla extract
Preheat the oven to 180°C and grease an ovenproof dish, about 23 × 23 cm.
Cream the sugar and butter in a large bowl, then beat in the egg.
In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, bicarbonate of soda and salt, and alternate adding this and the milk to the creamed mixture. Then add the vinegar and apricot jam and mix well.
Pour the mixture into the greased dish and bake for 40–45 minutes. It will have a golden crust when done.
To make the sauce, bring the milk, sugar and butter to the boil in a saucepan, stirring all the time. Boil for about 5 minutes, then remove from the heat and add the vanilla extract.
Pour the hot sauce over the pudding as it comes out of the oven. Let it stand to absorb the syrup.
Serve hot with pouring cream or homemade custard.
LASSIE IN LOVE’S SHORTBREAD
(Makes about 4 dozen biscuits)
2½ cups (350g) plain flour
1 cup (110g) cornflour
1 t baking powder
250g butter, at room temperature
½ cup caster sugar
1 egg yolk
Preheat the oven to 150°C and lightly grease a baking tray, about 20 × 30 cm.
Mix the flour, cornflour and baking powder in a bowl.
In a separate large bowl, cream the butter and sugar. Mix in the egg yolk and then gradually mix in the flour mixture to form a soft dough.
Knead firmly with your hands. When the dough forms one smooth lump, turn it out onto a floured wooden board. Flatten with a rolling pin to about 2 cm thick and then roll and shape the dough to fit the baking tray. Score the dough with a knife, making outlines of narrow biscuits (approx. 2 × 6 cm), and prick all over with a fork.
Bake for 25–30 minutes. Turn off the oven and remove the tray.
While hot, cut the shortbread along the scored lines and return the tray to the warm oven, leaving the door slightly open, for an hour or overnight to dry out. Store in an airtight container.
Tip
• You can use a cookie cutter to make shortbread biscuits in different shapes.
VAN DER HUM LIQUEUR
(Makes about 1 litre)
5 whole cloves
½ fresh nutmeg
2 sticks cinnamon
2 T finely sliced naartjie peel
750ml (1 bottle) good brandy
¼ cup rum
Syrup
1 cup white sugar
½ cup hot water
Bruise (but don’t powder) the cloves, nutmeg and cinnamon with a pestle and mortar. Tie these into a piece of clean cheesecloth.
Scrape out and discard the white of the naartjie peel, and slice the peel finely before measuring. Put the spices (in the cloth) and naartjie peel into a big clean jar, and pour in the brandy. Put on the lid and shake the jar gently every day. (If you forget some days, it doesn’t matter.) If you hold it against the light when you shake it, you will see the flavours coming out through the cloth in little ripples.
After a month, the flavours should have come through nicely. It can get bitter if you leave it longer. Strain the brandy through cheesecloth.
Boil the sugar and water together until it makes a thick syrup. Let it get cold and then stir it into the brandy. Add the rum and let it rest for a week or two before drinking.
Tips
• If you can’t get naartjies, use tangerine or mandarin peel. If you can’t get these, use the peel from a tasty orange (e.g. a Valencia orange).
• Your spices must be fresh.
• This is very easy to make and worth waiting for; it is very, very delicious.
BREAD AND RUSKS
MOSBOLLETJIE BREAD AND RUSKS
(Makes 3 loaves)
250g seeded raisins with stalks on
3 cups boiled water, cooled to room temperature
1 T white sugar
(or 3 cups ‘must’ wine)
2.5kg plain flour, sifted
1 T salt
1½ cups white sugar
1 T aniseed
1 t grated fresh nutmeg
250g butter
1 cup boiling-hot milk
2 more cups boiled water, cooled
3 T melted butter for brushing
sugar water made from 3 T white sugar dissolved in
3 T warm water
‘Mos’ is ‘must’ and ‘bolletjies’ are ‘little buns’. If you live in a wine-making area, you may be able to get some ‘must’ wine. If not, you can make your own. Bruise the raisins using the back of a spoon, then put them in a glass jar with the 3 cups water and 1 T sugar. Leave to stand in a warm place for at least 24 hours, until the raisins float and the grape juice ferments and becomes ‘must’. Strain out the raisins (through cheesecloth in a sieve).
Add just enough of the flour (about half a cup) to the must wine to make a slack dough: soft like pouring batter. Cover and leave in a warm place to rise until it is frothy and full of gas bubbles. (This can take about 2 hours.) Keep a little of this slack dough as a yeast starter for any kind of sourdough bread (see Tips below).
Combine the rest of the flour with the salt, sugar, aniseed and nutmeg in a large bowl, and make a hole in the centre. Melt the 250g butter in the hot milk and stir this and the frothy batter into the flour mixture. Add at least 2 more cups of water to get it to a manageable dough.
Turn out the dough onto a floured surface and knead very well with your hands. Fold and knead. Fold and knead. Then fold and knead some more. For about 45 minutes. Invite others to help. Think peaceful thoughts or listen to a programme you like on the radio.
Allow the dough to rise in a warm place until it has doubled in volume. Now you can leave it for longer. Overnight is good. If it is a cold night, you can wrap it up and take it to bed with you for a while, and then put it in your hotbox.
The next morning, knead the dough gently and form into 24 buns. Pack the buns tightly into three greased loaf tins (8 buns per tin). Brush with the melted butter and again allow to rise until doubled in size. This can take between 1 and 3 hours.
Bake at 200°C for 45–55 minutes until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. When you tap the top of a loaf, it should sound hollow. Brush the loaves with the sugar-water solution and bake for another 5 minutes.
Eat some as fresh mosbolletjie bread with farm butter and then prepare the rest for rusks. Tear the loaves into buns and then slice these into tall, thin rusks. Spread out on oven trays and leave overnight in the warming drawer, or bake in a low oven (80–100°C) for 4–6 hours until hard and dry. If the rusks go brown, the oven is too hot.
Tips
• This recipe takes a few days, but it is worth it. It’s not as difficult as it sounds; much of the time is waiting, with some time kneading, and it all makes you feel very peaceful. The kneading is hard work, so get someone to help you if your arms need a rest.
• It is best to use raisins that are organic or unsprayed, so that the yeast from the grapes is still alive.
• Mosbolletjie dough rises best in a summer thunderstorm.
• If it’s cold, and there is nowhere warm in your kitchen, you can wrap your dough in a thick towel and put hot water bottles above and below it. Then wrap it in another blanket or put it in your hotbox. The bottle must not be too close to the dough, because the dough must be warm, not hot, to rise nicely.
• You can use the raw slack dough as a starter to make any kind of sourdough bread. Add a little milk and flour to the raw dough, let it rise and bubble overnight, and then store it in the fridge. Keep feeding it like this with flour and milk every few weeks and it can last you forever. It might also pick up some of the wild yeast in the air in your kitchen (or in your garden, if you leave it outside to harvest yeast). This will give your dough a special local flavour. Sourdough bread is heavier and more filling than bread made with instant yeast.
USING A HOTBOX
A hotbox is a wonderful way to slow cook your food. And it saves lots of electricity too.
You might be able to buy a hotbox (usually made with Styrofoam balls). It is a big cushion with a soft hole in the middle for your pot, and a cushion lid. I got a nice one covered with shweshwe cloth from a church fête a while back. But they are also easy to make. You can put your hot pot on a wooden chopping board, wrap it up in a towel and then a blanket, and it will work as well as a hotbox.
You will need to bring the pot to the simmer on the stove first. Then wrap it up or put it in the hotbox. This will keep the food cooking for about 4 hours, and keep it hot for 10 hours. For some dishes (especially curries) I like to cook my meat slowly for 24 hours. I leave it in the hotbox overnight, and during the day I put it back on the stove for 5–10 minutes every 5 hours or so.
The food will only cook in the hotbox if it is covered with fluid and the pot is almost full (a half-full pot will stay warm but won’t cook). It works best if you have a thick cast-iron pot. The hotbox is perfect for making soups, stews, curries, rice and other grains. It will get your meat very tender, falling off the bone. No moisture is lost in the process, so if the end result is too wet, you can heat the food in your oven afterwards to cook off the extra liquid. If you are cooking grains, make sure you don’t add too much water or they will overcook.