Food is her passion, literacy her cause
For award-winning Food and the Fabulous blogger Ishay Govender-Ypma, writing about the delicious meals from her kitchen table is a satisfying hobby rather than a job.
However, the Cape Town resident, who grew up in Pietermaritzburg, says it has brought with it many delightful highlights - such as the opportunity to contribute to a wide range of food-dedicated publications as well as to use her writing to draw others to the causes she cares about.
Blogging - or web logging - is an increasingly popular way of keeping a digital journal that other people can read on the internet.
For Govender-Ypma, blogging is a way of sharing her love of food and her writing with others.
She credits her mother and grandmother for her love of cooking and food.
"The freedom to share whatever comes out of my kitchen - or, more realistically, out of my drafts folder - holds great appeal for me," she says.
"Knowing that there is someone out there reading the post definitely helps to sharpen my focus and attention to detail.
"When I choose a particular spoon or cloth from my burgeoning prop cupboard, it isn't haphazard, even if it may appear casual in the picture. I want to showcase the dish the best I can with the limited camera skills I have. It's both a frustrating and rewarding process. The cooking is the very best part, naturally."
Govender-Ypma, who now adds writer to her other skills - she is a non-practising commercial lawyer - runs a stock-trading business with her husband, Jelle, by day. She says she blogs best at night.
"I enjoy the solitude. If you came for a visit, you'd find I often have some music playing in the background - anything from VH1 hits to classical radio - a glass of cold water or herbal tea in winter, scatterings of notes scribbled on pieces of paper, menus in a folder and some fruit and occasionally chocolate."
She won the Best Food & Wine Blog Award at last year' s South African Blog Awards.
"Food and the Fabulous has its roots in tweets - I'd cook a meal or eat something interesting at a restaurant and tweet a picture and description on my cellphone. I started engaging with a few food bloggers and one evening in September 2010, I just took the plunge and created a push-button blog on blogger.com.
"I bought the blog name that night as well. I knew the design did not fit me, though, and hired a developer to help me fashion a blog as an ode to Julia Child (the American chef who popularised French cuisine), just in terms of colours and pattern."
Govender-Ypma has had no formal training. She prefers to keep the cooking experimental and steadily build her skills.
"I've cooked with Reza Mahammad [Star of India restaurant] when he was in Franschhoek, Enrica Rocca in Venice (I learnt how to make good risotto and prepare a whole bream with her) and chefs in Barcelona - all through the blog."
Govender-Ypma supports the help2read campaign, and has a link to the organisation's website on her blog. It helps primary school children learn to read through one-on-one sessions with volunteers.
She says literacy is "exceptionally important" to her. "Perhaps the fact that my paternal grandmother was illiterate has on some level fuelled the desire and urgency to transform all children into fully literate adults."
She is also involved with the World Food Programme and the Peninsula School Feeding Association in the Western Cape.
"I don't think we need to feel guilty for enjoying what we do - though the excess enjoyed by the food and wine community can be obscene at times - and neither do we need to pity the poor, but there will be nothing but an empty future if we do nothing.
"We have the voices to effect change, and hunger is the one problem we can solve in our lifetime. I believe that."
Her blog can be found at www.foodandthefabulous.com and her twitter handle is @Foodandthefab
SOUTH-INDIAN CRAB CURRY WITH A TWIST
Ingredients
- 1.4kg crab pieces (frozen is fine, if it is difficult to find fresh ones)
- 3 tbs sunflower oil
- 1 tsp fenugreek seeds
- 2 cinnamon sticks
- 150 g onions, sliced finely
- 2 green chillies, slit lengthwise
- 8 medium cloves of garlic, sliced into eighths
- 2 tsp ginger and garlic paste
- ½ tsp turmeric
- 4 tsp medium-hot masala/curry powder
- 2 x 410g tins chopped canned tomatoes, blended till smooth
- 2 tsp palm or brown sugar
- 125ml water
- 3 tbs tamarind, soaked in 60ml hot water or 2 tbs tamarind paste
- 200 ml coconut milk (optional)
- 12 curry leaves
- Salt to taste
- Juice of ½ a small lime
- Fresh coriander to serve
Method
I always use crab pieces, so there is no preparation involved, apart from leaving them in the fridge, covered overnight or for half a day, to thaw.
Heat a wide, heavy-based pot on medium-high heat and add the oil.
Once the oil is hot, add the fenugreek seeds and cinnamon and fry for a few seconds.
Add the onions and fry until they are translucent. Turn the heat down if they start to brown.
Add the green chillies and half the curry leaves and stir.
Add the turmeric and masala and stir briskly, as you don't want the spices to burn. Fry for five to 10 seconds, stirring, and ensure heat is low.
Add the garlic slivers, ginger and garlic paste, and stir.
Add the tomatoes and sugar, and turn up the heat to medium-high. The mixture will come to the boil.
After one or two minutes, turn down the heat to medium, add the tamarind water (remove the stones), remaining curry leaves and water.
Mix well and cook for a further five to six minutes.
Add the coconut milk, if using, and stir.
Add salt to taste.
Add the crab. Bring the mixture to the boil and cook for 10 minutes, turning the pieces over gently so they all cook evenly.
Turn down the heat, add the lime juice and adjust the seasoning.
Garnish with fresh coriander and serve with lime wedges, basmati rice and plenty of paper serviettes. (Cloth napkins stain and the marks never wash out - a lesson I've learnt the hard way.)
The best results are achieved if you prepare this curry in advance, preferably the night before.