My Food Heroes – Manny’s Need Lotsa Bread for dipping Spicy Chicken Soup

Coming home from Uni was always wonderful. I got to lie on the couch sipping Milo and watching the food channel all day long. It was absolute bliss. More importantly than the relaxation was getting home and seeing my family and friends. It was sometimes difficult coming back and missing so many things that happened, the birthdays, the parties, the memories but even so was the new friends that had inadvertently become my new friends. I’ll always remember the story Amy told me about this girl she met at her Uni up in Joburg and all the shenanigans they would get up to. They had become instant friends but I never really got much of a chance to meet her or even hang out. When I was home for Amy’s 21st birthday I finally got to meet Tammy. She had planned this beautiful slide show of stunning pics of Amy throughout her childhood and older years. It was a really special thing to see and I realised then and there that Tammy was such a great and caring friend and was excited to get to know her more. We hung out a few times at the ever famous O’hagans and drank way too much but never enough haha. I got to meet and visit her amazing family on a few occasions and finally adopted them as my own lol. Sharing so many similarities and dreams it felt like I had known Tammy my entire life.

It was awesome coming home every 3 or 4 months to such a great friendship group where it felt like no time had passed at all. There was always a glass of wine to be had and a story to be told and one such night embodied all of the above and one delicious bowl of soup. It was probably the months leading up to before I left for Korea that Tammy invited me over for dinner. YAY! I love when people cook for me. I brought enough wine to keep us entertained for the night knowing that her fridge was most probably full of wine already and probably a few bottles of beer too. There is NO such thing as too much wine.

We sat on her couch sipping glass after glass chatting about all of life’s ups and downs. We had really connected as friends over those last few months when I was still in South Africa and it was such an emotional and spiritually important time for the both of us. It’s a time I will always remember and cherish and all around a steaming bowl of delicious spicy soup lapped up with so much bread it could fill a bakery. It was so comforting and hit you like a ton of bricks but represented so much of what our friendship was; an instant kick you in the teeth kinda love with a dash of respect and understanding.

And here is the recipe straight from my wonderful friend herself. It made me chuckle for a good few minutes as I was reading the whole recipe in her voice. haha lol.

Ingredients

You need:
2 x wine glasses (1 for me and 1 for you)
1 x red wine (1/2 for you, 1/2 for me:) )

6 x chicken breasts chopped into cubes or heart shapes, what ever
1 x chicken stock
250ml cream
200ml boiling water
1 x fresh red chili finely chopped (more if your enemy is coming to dinner)
1 x chopped onion, finely chopped
1 x garlic clove crushed
1 x chopped green pepper
– take a sip of wine…
1 x table spoon of marmite or bovril
1 x table spoon curry powder
1 x bowl of crispy bacon (I say bowl as you can never have too much bacon)
– take a sip of wine and cheers your friend to good times
2 x whole tinted tomatoes blended
2 x cups of cooked lentils
3 x baguettes

Now here is the hard part….

Put it all in a big pot and stir on a medium heat until the chicken is cooked and everything smells yummy!
– sip wine every 5 mins

Toast your bread in the oven

Pour soup in bowl, pour more wine and serve!

Love u too much my Manny ❤

My Food Heroes – Amy’s Marmite Fritters

Your typical breakfast can be anything from a small bowl of cereal to a slice of toast to anything as extravagant as eggs, bacon and four hundred different kinds of side dishes.  Unfortunately I’m not one of those “breakfast people” that lives for a full on english or continental spread. I’d rather skip breakfast all together and miss out on all those wonderful creations, chefs from all over the world have made. Who would have thought that one of my best friends Amy could turn me into a breakfast person with something as simple as a marmite sandwich.

I remember the day as clearly as it was yesterday. We were at Amy’s parents house on the Vaal River and Amy’s mom Sorene had suggested we should make marmite fritters. I had absolutely no clue what to expect. Fried marmite? Eek!!! Marmite mixed with something else and then fried? I had no idea. So I just stood back and watched. It seemed simple enough but I knew there was definitely something special about this specific tasty snack that would stick with me. Well it has been almost 10 years and that first marmite fritter still lingers on my taste buds.

Ever since that first taste, marmite fritters have been constructed at gatherings, birthdays, breakfasts, lunches and for midnight snacks. I’ll never know who ever invented this amazing recipe however many years ago but I will always remember the family that introduced it to me. It brings back so many wonderful warm memories spent with my amazing friends that I could even tear up right now thinking about it all. So let’s get onto the recipe before I start getting all mushy.

Compliments of my awesome friend Amy Trevarthen here is the recipe that is bound to change your breakfast time forever.

Ingredients:

2 slices soft white bread

1/2 Tablespoon of butter

1 Tbs Marmite or Bovril depending on your fancy

100g Freshly grated Cheddar

3 Tbs Flour

1tsp Potato Spice/Aromat/Salt (some kind of MSG inducing saltiness)

Water

Sunflower Oil

Instructions

Make yourself a marmite sandwich with the bread/marmite and butter. I put marmite and butter on both sides of the bread and the closed it up. Cut the sandwich into four squares.

So much marmitey buttery goodness

Make a paste with the flour, seasoning and water. The paste should resemble a kind of pancake like batter.

Heat up your pan with the oil. Dip each square into the batter making sure to cover all the sides and fry till golden brown.

As suggested by Aimz you can also add cheese to your sandwich before you fry it. I however like to put my cheese in right at the end; burning my fingers trying to pry open the square, releasing the steamy goodness and shoving freshly grated cold cheese inside, closing it up and again and shoving it straight into my mouth. It’s heavenly, indescribable really.

The salty marmite, the soft creamy cheese and the crunchy outside = Che’s heaven breakfast!!

Love to my stunning friend Amy for her recipe ❤

Melty Cheesey Marmitey Heaven