--- airs weeknights on SBS Food at 7.00pm and 10.30pm, or stream it free on . Catch Janice Petersen in the 'locally sourced' episode (streaming now), and upcoming 'prunes', 'chickpeas' and 'biscuits' episodes. ---
"My parents are from Cape Town, South Africa and they both love food and cooking," says SBS World News presenter and journalist Janice Petersen.
In fact, it was the kismet catalyst that brought the two together.
The baker and the cool customer
"In the 1970s in South Africa, my dad worked in a bakery. He had this very good-looking customer who would often come in short skirts and cool boots. That was my mum and that's how they met," Petersen explains.
After working in the bakeshop, her dad developed a love of baking. This love led to a timeless sponge cake recipe he liked to use for special occasions.
"Whenever I had a birthday, he always made the most amazing sponge cake. It could be but into any shape or letter. He made an epic Moana cake for my daughter on her birthday. It was incredible! It had rolling waves and everything."
While her dad was skilled in the baking department, her mum was prolific in making the family's day-to-day meals.
Petersen's dad baked a Moana sponge cake for her daughter’s birthday. Source: Janice Petersen
"She was amazing, particularly when it came to curries. She also made her own sausages. South Africa is a melting pot of different cultures, like African, Indian, Malay, English and Dutch. Mum's cooking and the different ways we would eat were influenced by those cuisines."
Bechamel sauce and spices
Petersen recounts that her parents shared the cooking and that she and her brother were invited to join them in the kitchen.
"My mum had a fish and chips shop so she was very busy there; so my brother and I would often do our own thing in the afternoons.
If her mum worked late, she, her dad and brother were in charge of dinner. Because both parents cooked, Petersen says it's quite controversial to choose who gave her the most important cooking lesson, but learned from both the foundational lessons that she went on to use in her own cooking.
The recipe for bechamel sauce however came from dad.
"It's come in very handy. It's second nature to me now to make it," she says. "I use the bechamel sauce he taught me in voulevant with salmon and dill. These days, I also use it in fish pie. It's such a good building block."
Meanwhile, her mum taught her how to roast spices.
If you opened the lid, you would get knocked out by all the aromas.
"Mum had this plastic thing that was almost like a toolbox. She had all her spices there. If you opened the lid, you would get knocked out by all the aromas."
Petersen laughs, "It was very disorganised, but it was like this catalogue of amazing spices."
“We lived on the Central Coast of NSW, around an hour and a half from Sydney. She was very particular about her spices so she would always travel to Sydney to very select stores to get them."
Grandma's koeksisters
Janice Petersen as a baby. Source: Janice Petersen
Petersen remembers cooking her paternal grandmother's koeksisters in Cape Town.
"My grandmother Violet made koeksisters, or basically, fried doughnuts. They're so beautiful and comforting to eat. They're light and fluffy inside with a nice crisp coating."
She says the dough is spiked with a candied orange peel. They're usually coated with cinnamon sugar, but she prefers them dipped in sugar syrup and rolled in coconut.
"I remember walking into my grandmother's kitchen and I would see the care and time she would take making the doughnuts – from rolling the dough and waiting for it to rise. Her kitchen was like a little nursery, with each piece being given a lot of care and attention. I loved that."
Photographs by Janice Petersen
