Lynette Johns
IT’S always an emotional time for Cariema Isaacs when she comes home to Cape Town, but on Friday it was even more so.
Her beloved father, Moegamad Isaacs, died two years ago and now she was coming home to both mourn and celebrate his life. As she walked into the arrivals hall her brother, Bienyameen Isaacs, was holding a beautiful recipe book – a body of work she had spent two years writing.
“I sobbed,” Isaacs said. She was seeing her finished book for the first time. She has lived in Dubai for the past five years, raising her sons, Tawfeeq, 17, and Tashreeq,12. She is a project manager for a multi-national oil company, while her husband Turhaan is an electrical engineer.
She is in Cape Town to launch her book, Cooking for my Father in My Cape Malay Kitchen. Two years ago, shortly after his death, she sat down to document family recipes, as he had suggested, but instead of just writing the recipes she realised the book was also a story of the very beautiful relationship she had with her dad.
The beautifully illustrated book is a collection of Cape Malay recipes, and includes anecdotes about her parents and family and how cooking has been an intrinsic part of their lives for generations.
Her maternal grandmother is cookbook author Zainab Lagardien, but it was her grandmother, Raghmah Hartley, who taught her about Cape Malay cooking. Her father took over and showed her how to mix spices.
For many years Isaacs’s dad worked as a driver for the Cape Times. His cooking skills were legendary and almost every day he made a pot of food for the drivers – and if reporters and photographers were lucky, they would also be offered a plate.
When he retired he spent hours reading, listening to music with his wife Rashieda and cooking. When his health failed, he took a trip to Dubai to spend time with Cariema and her family. The precious six months they spent together was the last she would see of him. When his health deteriorated even more, they made the painful decision that he had to return to Cape Town.
Bienyameen was living in Grahamstown and it was there that Cariema took him. She returned to Dubai with a heavy heart and her dad died 10 days later. Her eyes well up with tears and thoughts of not being with her dad in his last moments, and not being there to attend his funeral, haunt her. He was buried in Port Elizabeth, far away from Cape Town, his friends and family.
“I’ve never known such loss and such a feeling of emptiness, we had such a connection,” she said.
Four months later, shortly after she had prayed, she was inspired. Both she and her dad were passionate about Cape Malay cooking and he had suggested she write down the recipes – so it made sense for her to write a book in his honour. Writing the book and revisiting the memories was extremely cathartic, she said.
“But for two years this book was my life. I threw myself into it, spending weekends and nights working on it, getting my cousin to find pictures, recalling the memories.”
Her favourite recipe in the book is cauliflower bredie, not only because her dad taught her how to make it, but also because her memories of sharing it with him are so special.
When she was pregnant with Tawfeeq, and still living in Cape Town, she would make a quick trip to her parents, where a hot pot of the bredie would be waiting.
She laughs with embarrassment, but the ritual ended with the two of them scraping the last out of the pot with buttered white bread.
CAULIFLOWER BREDIE
2 tbsp (30ml) sunflower oil
1 large onion, finely chopped
1 green chilli, halved lengthways or 1/4tsp (1.25ml) dried chilli flakes (optional)
2 tsp (10ml) salt
700g – 1kg mutton (on the bone)
2 tsp (10ml) sugar
2 cups (500ml) water
1 large cauliflower, cleaned and cut into palm sized portions
3-4 medium potatoes, peeled and quartered
Method
1. Heat 1 tbsp (15ml) of the oil over a medium / high heat, add the onion and chilli
2. Cook for 2-3 minutes, stirring frequently, until the onion is lightly browned.
Season with salt. Add the meat and continue to cook over a medium/high heat, all the while searing the meat and browning it evenly. Add the sugar and cook a further 5 minutes.
3. As the meat and onion are just about to catch on the bottom of the pot, add 1 cup (250ml) water.
4. Ensure you stir the meat and gently scrape any bits from the bottom of the pot. Cook over a high heat for 5 minutes, covered, 2 minutes uncovered.
5. As the moisture evaporates again, stir the meat until you notice it browning again. Add another ½ cup (125ml) water.
Cook, covered, for a further 5 minutes over high heat.
6. Arrange the cauliflower florets on top of the meat and add the remaining ½ cup (125ml) water.
7. Turn the heat down to a medium setting and simmer for at least 45 minutes.
8. Gently wedge the quartered potatoes in between the cooked ingredients and cook, covered, for a further 20 minutes over a medium heat.
It’s advisable at this stage to taste for seasoning and add additional salt and/ or sugar to taste.
9. Cook, covered, over a medium to low heat for 15 to 20 minutes more, allowing the potatoes to soften and gently simmer in the warmth of the cooked cauliflower and meat.
10. Add remaining 1 tbsp (15ml) oil and remove from heat. Serve hot with fluffy white rice.