If there’s one thing Dell and Sanchia Hadlow of Knysna’s Firefly Eating House are addicted to, it’s experimenting with spices
 

Spice. What a wonderful word, it conjures up so many things in my mind – and has done so in the minds of others throughout history. At Firefly Eating House and Chai Bar in Knysna, spice is what it’s all about, orchestrated by the mother and daughter team of Dell and Sanchia Hadlow – the fire behind this enchanted restaurant. Their spicy magic is woven like a golden thread through the entire menu. It’s little wonder they call themselves ‘Spice Alchemists’.

Good food and the passion to make it runs deep in the veins of the family. Dell has been cooking since she was a little girl helping her grandmother in the kitchen. “She used to put me on a box and say ‘kneed that dough’,” Dell fondly recalls. “Sometimes she’d send me off to the shops on a bicycle to get ingredients to make konfyt.”

Dell is now famous for her konfyt, particularly her watermelon konfyt.

Sanchia, besides having also grown up in the kitchen, had other plans. She wanted to become
a clinical psychologist and it was only while travelling overseas that she discovered her true passion, cheffing. It so happened that both she and her mother adore spices, Dell having discovered them while growing up on the South Coast near Durban and Sanchia revelling in it during her travels.

For years Sanchia dreamed of opening her own restaurant, and when the the right spot became available, she and Dell jumped at the opportunity.
The building is not hard to miss, painted bright red and clearly visible from the N2 on the way into Knysna. According to Eastern philosophy, red is
a colour that promotes good appetite – a fact they only discovered later – but I can certainly vouch for the truth of it. The colour is more than just a visual appetiser, it’s the first clue as to what you might find inside Firefly. The name, they say, came about during a warm summer’s evening while Sanchia and Dell where sitting in the garden watching the fireflies at play. Naturally the name is fitting, given the two chefs’ spicy inclination and magical flair.

Sanchia and Dell have taken it upon themselves to push the boundaries of ordinary cuisine and boldly take their guests on a flavourful adventure, educating and enticing them to try new things. Spices in new and ingenious combinations, layered into notes, top middle and high, like a perfumer would produce a fine perfume, and changing the strength of their dishes from subtle and aromatic to bold and strident.

Flavours are built from the ground up. They take one spice and work from there, creating an amazing sorbet, or another gorgeous culinary combination. They experiment all the time, every now and then jetting off to Madagascar to research vanilla or to India to find new spices and teas. They specially import spices that you’d be hard-pressed to find anywhere else in the country. Their latest venture is the introduction of the Eastern tea ceremony, complete with a tea sommelier to help diners match teas to particular dishes and even whiskys.

These girls are inspired, and happy to share their passion with a gracious flair and scintillating attention to detail. From an idea that no one believed would work, Firefly has carved its place as one of the Garden Route’s dining treasures.  

Sumac Prawn Salad

Serves 4

12 small prawns, shelled
5 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
5 tsp sumac spice*
1 pack summer salad greens
200g black pepper feta
fruit of your choice, cut into bite-sized pieces
1 red onion, finely sliced
200g pack/bottle black olives
2 tbsp lime or lemon juice
1 tbsp mint, finely chopped

Method: Place the prawns in a bowl, cover with 3 tablespoons of the olive oil and 3 teaspoons of the sumac. Marinate for about 20 minutes. In a pan or wok on medium heat, cook the prawns for 2–3 minutes or until done. Remove from heat and cool. In a bowl or on a plate, build the salad with the salad greens, feta, fruit, red onion and olives. Top with the prawns. Combine the remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil with the remaining 2 teaspoons sumac, the lemon or lime juice and the mint, and pour over the salad.
Sumac is a reddish-purple berry with a fruity but mildly astringent lemony flavour. It’s used frequently in Lebanese and Turkish cooking.

Cucumber Chutni

Serve as a sambal with a spiced dish or curry.

½ cucumber, grated
1 packet coriander, finely chopped
3 tsp white sugar
2–3 green chillies, finely chopped
¼ cup white vinegar

Method: Mix together and serve immediately, or refrigerate in a sealed jar.

Dukkah Raita with  Oak-smoked Sea Salt

Serves 6
Serve as a savoury dip or side dish (raita) with spicy food.

¹/³ cup white sesame seeds
2 tbsp coriander seeds
1 tbsp cumin seeds
¹/³ cup hazelnuts
1 tsp oak-smoked sea salt
½ tsp ground black pepper
500g double thick Greek yoghurt

Method: In a frying pan on low heat, separately dry-fry the sesame, coriander, cumin and hazelnuts until brown and starting to release their aroma (1–2 minutes). Allow to cool. Mix in the salt and pepper and roughly grind in a mortar. Sprinkle a little on top of yoghurt.

Cumin & Peanut Chicken

Serves 4

4 cloves garlic,
finely chopped
vegetable oil
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
½ tsp shrimp paste
1 small red chilli (or more), finely chopped
1 tbsp soya sauce
1 tbsp sugar
400ml coconut milk
1 tbsp lime or lemon juice
½ cup roasted peanuts, crushed
1kg chicken breasts,
cut into bite-size pieces
1 tbsp fresh coriander, chopped

Method: Sauté the garlic in a little vegetable oil in a wok or pot over medium heat. Add the cumin, ground coriander, shrimp paste and chilli and stir for 2–3 minutes or until fragrant. Lower the heat and add the soya, sugar, coconut milk, lemon juice and nuts. Add the chicken and cook on low heat until tender.  Sprinkle with the fresh coriander or bamboo shoots and serve with jasmine rice.

Star Anise Caipirinha

Serves 1

1 lime cut into quarters
crushed ice
30ml cachaca (Brazilian rum) or other rum
30ml star anise syrop de gomme

Method: To make the star anise syrop de gomme, place 1 cup of water and 1 cup of sugar in a medium pot on low heat and then add 3 star anise. Allow to simmer until reduced to a thin syrup (about 20 minutes). Cool before using.
Now take a tumbler and put 3 of the lime quarters in it. Using a muddler, mash the lime to release the juice. Place a little ice in the tumbler, then pour in the rum and mash a little more to mix the flavours. Add a little more ice then pour in the star anise syrop de gomme. Mash to mix the flavours again. Finally, add crushed ice until the tumbler is three quarters full. Garnish drink with a lime leaf and the remaining lime quarter.

Chai Spice Biscuits

Makes about 20

¾ cup cake flour
½ cup self-raising flour
6 tsp chai spice
80g butter, soft
¼ cup soft brown sugar
1 egg

Method: Combine the cake flour, self-raising flour and chai spice in a bowl. Cream the butter and sugar together in a food processor then add the whisked egg whites. Fold in the spiced flour and mix until a soft dough is formed. Remove, cover and leave to rest for 10 minutes. Set oven to 180°C. Roll out the dough to 2cm thickness and cut with a cookie cutter. Spray a baking tray and bake cookies for about 10 minutes or until brown.

Cassia Bark, Sugar and Rosewater Puffs

Makes about 30

2¼ cups self-raising flour
½ cup almonds, ground
90g ghee (or butter), melted
¾ cup plain yoghurt
¼ cup warm water
1 tsp rosewater
extra ghee or oil for deep frying
2½ cup caster sugar
1 tbsp cassia* bark, ground

Method: Sift flour and combine with almonds in a large bowl. Rub in the melted ghee or butter. Combine the yoghurt, water and rosewater and stir in. Mix to a soft dough. Turn dough onto floured surface and knead until smooth. Divide into about 30 portions, rolling into balls then flattening with fingertips. Melt the extra ghee or oil in a medium pot then deep-fry the puffs a few at a time for about 6 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from pot and drain on absorbent paper. Combine the caster sugar and cassia bark and toss the hot puffs in the mixture.
Cassia is an aromatic bark, similar to cinnamon.