COOKERY books are often so much more than a collection of recipes - in the best there are narratives involved, a giveaway of the author's own character and tales of travels and friends.
There's a sense of warmth and sharing even between the pages and during these tough times, that's just what we all need.
Isaacs' book offers a compendium of recipes, ideas and a plethora of information. While the author was born in South Africa and gleaned much of her information and experience from her Ouma - her father's mother - where she stole with her eyes, her sense of smell, taste and touch, she has travelled extensively and currently works in Dubai where she continues dreaming up and cooking many masterpieces and well-loved favourites, even while working in marketing for a multinational company. In the book, she pays tribute to her friend and right-hand assistant Lani Jacob Aragon, who hails from the Philippines, and works intensively with Isaacs to create the magic in the kitchen...
If you're brought up in the Cape Malay quarter it's bound to have an indelible effect on your life and in Isaacs, it created an abiding passion for food - from fragrant slow cooked lamb stews, to koeksisters and bredies. But studying at the International Centre for Culinary Arts gave this veritable foodie a wide canvas, on which she paints and creates diverse food from different cuisines and the book offers delicious, exotic curries from many corners of the world. The secret to their creation is simply just to fire up your passion and follow the easily set out instructions and tips!.
As Isaacs writes in her introduction, the Cape Malay cook inside her will always leave a hint of heritage on her taste buds - think Sumatra, Jakarta and Batavia - for her the curries from these former colonies remind that our own home grown curries hold the narrative of Cape Malay forebears who arrived here in the 17th century. So the book is as much a guide as a collection of recipes and please don't gloss over the many informative chapters from which you'll learn and be inspired.
Starting off, there's a fabulous guide to ease your way into the kitchen: explaining the different curry pastes and spice combos (and yes it's cool to have these and use them) and they range from fiery Durban spices to Thai pastes and Japanese Dragon pastes.
Onto the recipes, Isaacs pays warm tribute to the Mother City where she grew up and her memories of some of the food she ate are recreated with her her unique touch - think of a luxurious crayfish, prawn and pineapple curry or how about a Cape Malay crayfish curry along with her version of the ubiquitous pickled fish we all eat during Easter.
I can't wait to make the cod fillets (other firm fish fillets will also do!) that is redolent of ginger and coconut milk in which it is cooked.Come autumn and winter you may want to try a lekker dhal curry that's easy on the pocket made from red lentils, boosted with lamb knuckles and shoulder meat or a hearty veggie stew, spiced up and flavoured with curry leaves, chillis, turmeric and tamarind juice and much, much more.
Curries range from the ornate to the simple and come from all over the world - from the Caribbean to Nepal, India, Sri Lanka and the Middle East. The golden thread that runs through them is flavour, fragrance and inspiration. Even a Sunday roast chicken is given the Isaacs imprint - spiced up in the oven with, among others, masala, paprika, cardamom, doused with lemon juice and massaged with yoghurt and served with cheesy naan breads. And talking of breads, you'll find a whole chapter dedicated to making them, as well as Cape seed loaf and blikbeker broodjies (breads baked in tin mugs); chapatis and flatbreads. So simply put that it looks like a doddle to make.
There's also tempting ways for salads and sambals and relishes and in case you didn't get it, I urge you to treat yourself to this book - it's a delight and super informative. Not to mention the fact that you'll be making curries every day for a while to come!
The beautiful photographs, by the way, are by Turhaan Samodien, Isaacs' husband.
This book can be purchased at www.loot.co.za (R260)
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