Quail wat stew
Last week I did a walk across central Johannesburg. It was just as well I walked because I needed something to burn off at least some of the calories that I consumed as I passed in and out of the garlicky black-eyed pea fritters of the Polly Street Mozambican market, through the frankincense-infused coffee ceremonies of the Little Addis Ethiopian centre in Jeppe Street and into the Poulet Director General (so named because it is so full of opulent ingredients) of Yeoville’s Cameroonian restaurants. Along the way there were nibbles at fried plantains and the temptation of fromage du Kivu cheese in the Congolese market. And that’s just the African eating opportunities – don’t even get me started on the epicurean bliss that was Chinatown...
The conventional wisdom is that Cape Town is the culinary capital of our country (and I love foams and frills as much as the next girl) but it is the metropolitan messiness of the golden city that I find truly mouthwatering (and occasionally gob-smacking).
Perhaps most marvellous is that over the past few years I have watched and tasted as what started out as a set of distinct diets began to merge into a uniquely Johannesburg-style food genre. Unlike the pomposity of the posh nosh restaurants, the inner-city dives have a deliciously relaxed pickand- mix approach to cooking. So, right there, amidst the fong kong shoe shops and Nollywood movie stalls, 21st-century Johannesburg-style fusion food is stirred and simmered into being.
I was so inspired that I went home and made an Ethiopian-style berberespiced quail wat stew (wat meaning stew in Amharic). I fiddled slightly with a recipe that Ethiopian friends have given me in the past and, in so doing, I felt that was well within the culinary ethos I had encountered on my walk. As I cooked I had the what-to-drink conversation with my nearest and dearest.
While Ethiopia has a lovely indigenous honey wine genre and a less lovely Italian-style Eurocentric wine industry, I decided to pair the meal with an Avondale Organic Chenin Blanc. The highly seasoned sauce worked well with the crisp, quince-laden quality of the wine. The dense juicy tang delivered a firm freshness which balanced the warm generosity of the berbere spice blend (red pepper, cardamom, cinnamon, clove, onion, garlic and other seasonings).
Those conversant with wine speak are almost overly familiar with the term terroir but they tend to apply it to rustic, rural settings rather than the hustle and bustle of inner-city living. Call me crazy, but I think that Ethiopian cuisine with a South African organic Chenin Blanc is the taste of my terroir. And it tastes damn fine.
QUAIL WAT
SERVES TWO
3 T olive oil
3 quail, portioned
1 red onion, finely chopped
2 T butter
1 T ginger (fresh)
1 T garlic (fresh)
2 T berbere (see recipe below)
1¼ cup chicken stock
juice of half a lime
¼ tsp ground cardamom
salt and pepper to taste
Berbere ingredients
1 teaspoon dried ginger
1 teaspoon dried onion
½ t cardamom
½ t coriander
¼ t fenugreek
¼ t nutmeg
½ t cloves
½ t cinnamon
½ t all spice
½ cup paprika
2 T hot pepper
❶ Toast and grind the berbere ingredients into a powder.
❷ Brown the quail in a hot pan with the olive oil. Remove from the pan and set aside.
❸ In the same pan fry onions in butter over a medium
heat. When soft add the garlic, ginger and mix well. When garlic is cooked add the berbere. Allow to cook through and the spices to release their aroma.
❹ Add the stock and simmer until the sauce has begun to thicken. Blend the sauce smooth.
❺ Cook over a medium heat until the sauce has reduced to a nice mop-up-with-bread consistency.
❻ Return quail to the pan with the sauce and cook it through (approximately a further five minutes).
❼ Season to taste. Add a squeeze of lime juice and sprinkle over the ground cardamom right at the end.
PERFECT PAIRING
Wine magazine recommends
REYNEKE WOOLWORTHS
CHENIN BLANC 2009
★ ★ ★ ★
NOTES: Citrus fruit, a slight sweetness and bright acidity.
OTHER OPTIONS: Groot Parys Die Tweede Droom Vatgegis Chenin Blanc 2009.
