The Lazy Makoti helps all to ‘adult’
JOHANNESBURG – For cook book lovers, there is a book with quick and easy African recipes by Mogau Seshoene.
Readers who appreciate cookbooks were not left out of the South African Book Fair at Constitution Hill this year. Author of The Lazy Makoti’s Guide to the Kitchen, Mogau Seshoene shared her book and birthday with attendees on the day.
Author of Miss Behave, Malebo Sephodi chatted to the author about her book at the fair. On being asked how it all began, Seshoene responded, “It started when a friend of mine was due to get married and she really wanted to impress her in-laws. I remember how she kept saying they would disapprove of her because she can’t cook. I started giving her cooking lessons and started networking with other people and that’s how the name makoti (bride) was born.”
She added that she specialises in teaching people how to make healthy chakalaka for instance.
Sephodi asked, “For someone like me who doesn’t believe in the institution of marriage, does the book accommodate me?”
Seshoene replied that the book is definitely for everyone and she was cautious to make the recipes quick and easy. “The title makoti is synonymous with working and adulting, so it’s liberating to add the word ‘lazy’ to it.”
Seshoene added that the cookbook is tailor-made for an everyday South African to be able to use the recipes supplied.
Sephodi asked her if she was not pressured or worried when going international with the book considering that the ingredients and recipes in book are quite homely and South African. Seshoene explained that her departure point was that this cookbook is 100 per cent for South Africa – at some point, there were suggestions to do a South African take on Italian or Japanese dishes, but she insisted on keeping the authenticity.
Sephodi mentioned the last chapter of the book where Seshoene is pictured with another chef and how she also uses recipes from the rest of the African continent such as the Jollof rice dish. Seshoene said she had learnt the recipes from her friends from other African countries and decided to include them in the book.
The Lazy Makoti author encouraged everyone to keep things indigenous and support the people who sell African dishes, “If you can buy expensive prawns you can also buy mopane worms without compromising on the price as both dishes are nutritious.”
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