By Christine Salins.
Duncan Welgemoed has been called a “kitchen dungeon master” (Mike Patton, Faith No More), whose food is “like no other” (comedian Bill Bailey) with flavours, textures and colours “amped up to punk rock levels” (Brian Ritchie, Violent Femmes).
Rock stars, celebrities and gourmands alike flock to Africola, Welgemoed’s bold and quirky award-winning Adelaide restaurant that is laced with African influences
Born in South Africa and heavily influenced by his chef father and Portuguese and Italian godparents, the cultural melting-pot of South Africa is the foundation for his cooking ethos. He sharpened his craft at renowned French and British restaurants including Michelin-starred The Goose at Britwell Salome in Oxford before settling in Adelaide.
Welgemoed’s approach to food is fearless, take-no-prisoners, bold and exciting. His food is cooked on fire, in embers or ashes, in ovens, or cast iron pots – from whole smoked pig South African/Australian style, to homemade biltong, hot smoked mackerel and horseradish, whole roasted cauliflower with tahini sauce, and the world’s “greatest roast potato recipe for complete idiots”.
That’s the title of one of the recipes in Africola, his new cookbook published by Murdoch Books (RRP $49.99). An adventurous, curious, always evolving chef, Welgemoed’s words aren’t pretty, and he is refreshingly honest about the highs and lows of his industry and the people within it, delivering home truths for cooks and chefs alike.
“(Before Africola) African food hadn’t really been done outside of suburbia, not because of a lack of skill in the kitchen, but because of what African food presents: nourishment, survival and love, home-style in every sense. Not something that can be prettied up, not exactly insta-worthy,” he says in the introduction.
The recipes in the book include a great array of meats, as well as seafood and a slew of intensely flavourful, veg-forward dishes. There is also a culinary encyclopaedia of ferments, condiments and pickles – adding richness and complexity to any dish – along with tempting desserts and cocktails.
North African Fish Curry
Serves 4
Baharat spice mix
75 g cumin seeds
75 g coriander seeds
75 g paprika
350 g ground cinnamon
1 tsp grated nutmeg
1 tsp whole cloves
1 tsp chilli flakes
Curry
2 litres (8 cups) vegetable oil
2 onions, finely diced
6 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 tbsp peeled and finely chopped fresh ginger
1 cup Baharat spice mix
1 kg tomatoes, coarsely chopped
2 whole preserved lemons, roughly chopped
2 litres (8 cups) fish stock
250 g shelled prawns
1 kg mussels, scrubbed and bearded
1 kg clams
1 kg fresh calamari, cleaned and cut into thin rounds (ask your fishmonger to clean for you)
10 sardine fillets
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 bunch of green leafage of your choice, to serve
Drizzle of olive oil
To make the spice mix, put all the spices in a dry frying pan and toast until fragrant, then add to a mortar and pestle, spice mill or coffee grinder and grind to a fine powder.
Heat 1 litre (4 cups) of the vegetable oil in a frying pan and fry the onion, garlic and ginger until the onion just starts to brown. Remove from the pan.
Add the remaining vegetable oil to the pan, bring up to about 180°C, checking the temperature with a thermometer, then add 1 cup of the spices. Fry all the spices for a couple of minutes until fragrant, then add the cooked onion, tomatoes and lemon to the pan.
Add the fish stock and bring to the boil. Simmer for 1½ hours, then check the seasoning.
Add the prawns, mussels, clams, calamari and sardines and cook for 5 minutes. Serve straight away with a side of green leaves and herbs and a drizzle of olive oil.
From: Africola by Duncan Welgemoed; food photography by Simon Bajada, art photography by Emmaline Zanelli. Murdoch Books RRP $49.99.
