Through the Eyes of an African Chef

‘Through the Eyes of an African Chef’ retraces chef Nompumelelo’s journey of rekindling her love for African cooking, returning to the soil and the seasons to provide the freshest of ingredients and traditional farming and cooking methods.

Her recipes incorporate time-honoured tech­niques, passed down through the ages. The skills and equip­­­ment used then are just as relevant in today’s kitchens and nothing can surpass the simple joy of creating and sharing a meal prepared using the freshest, natural components.

In this book, you will rediscover old favourites and startle upon fresh new ways of practising, preserving and upholding Africa’s finest culinary traditions.

Aimed at both chefs and amateurs, this beautiful full colour, hardcover cookery book includes all the usuals such as starters, side dishes, mains and desserts. It also includes extras such as recipes from Mpume’s international travels, including cream cheese and bread making from her time at Ballymaloe Cookery School under chef Darina Allen, some of her father’s traditional recipes, and a few Khoisan classics, such as honey-glazed springbok. This book includes something for everyone, from really traditional meals and beverages to dishes with a modern spin.

Some of the recipes you can expect to find in the book include:

• Amadumbe salad, served with home-made pesto
• Chakalaka-filled amadumbe
• Isinkwa sombila (corn bread)
• Imbuya/amaranth and potato
• Game stew
• Insima (herby pap)
• Goat curry
• Coconut rice and beans
• Amadumbe gnocchi served with ostrich fillet
• Imifino yezintanga
• Chomalia (African kale) in peanut sauce, served with uphuthu (pap)
• Samp and beans in bone marrow
• Venison mushroom burger served bare
• Samp risotto served with lamb chops
• Isijingi (pumpkin pudding)
• Baobab cheesecake with blueberry reduction
• Sugarcane granita
• Marula sorbet
• Butternut souffle
• African wontons
• Amahewu drink
• Utshwala besiZulu (Zulu beer)
• And many more…!

Read the media reviews and articles:

• Radio 702
• Kaya FM 959 (Podcast) with Jenny Crwys Williams
• Sunday Times – Times Live
• Juice (FlyMango Inflight Magazine)
• The Star (online)
• The Star (print)
• The Witness
• BlackLight Magazine
• Le Creuset – Nompumelelo’s Christmas with African flair
• Destiny Man
• Sowetan Live – Mqwebu’s cookbook a fusion feast
• Food 24
• Sawubona (SAA Inflight Magazine) – Book Review
• South African Embassy Switzerland
• Brand South Africa
• LinkedIn
• YouTube (video clip of launch)
• Ozy.com
• Press Reader
• Mzanzi International Culinary Festival