The Chilli Chocolate Chefs Faatimah and Zainab Paruk have released their fourth cookbook, “Bringing It Home”.
The launch of their latest cookbook took place on Sunday at 20 on Barham in Durban and is all about bringing it back to basics.
The Durbanites grew up in a suburb called Parlock, which is a very close-knit community, something they treasure as they grew close to many families.
The duo’s fourth cookbook came about when the sisters decided to go on holiday to get their creative energies flowing, giving themselves space to dream, and visualising a recipe book that they would be proud of.
The buzz words during this time were: simplicity, delicious flavours, appetising, effortless, and back to basics.
This is exactly what their customers have been telling them – wanting simple and easy things to prepare, that taste as good as it looks, if not better, and did not require slogging away in the kitchen.
Faatimah said the chapters in the book have been carefully curated with specific and varied themes in mind. These include: cool as ice, alfresco dining, gourmet feasts, Italian country cooking, and their favourite “my big fat Indian spread”.
“Before the healthy food mafia wants to wage war on us, let us declare that there are salads in this recipe book.
“As you look through our recipes, you will realise that the emphasis is on food that is not too overpowering, nor complicated to make, and not too intimidating to even venture to try out,” she said.
“What makes this recipe book different from the previous books, is that the book epitomises the back-to-basics concept.
“It’s the fresh flavours we grew up with, the different styles and tastes that we gathered from the various restaurants we worked in to the amazing chefs we have worked under,” she said.
Faatimah said the production of the book was also very different.
“We acquired the services of a food stylist, photographer, and a creative director to oversee the creative process so we could focus on food.
“The visual style is also very different from the other books, where in the past we did a zoomed-in food image. We have gone with a more approachable lifestyle feel that accentuates and blends into our new look brand identity.
“As chefs and cookbook authors, there is unexplainable magic felt when seeing months of hard work being realised when people all over the world can enjoy your recipes.
“We hope that like our previous books, our new book will be a means of endless memories while surrounded by food and great company,” she said.
Asked about their love for cooking and where it comes from, Zainab said they come from a very close-knit family; when they were kids they learnt to cook at their gran’s house, where the family would get together on weekends.
She said every occasion was celebrated with food, from losing a tooth, and good school results to weddings and more.
“As a whole, it has been exciting but there have been challenges along the way. We started as two young girls who entered a male-dominated catering industry.
“In the past few years, we have also had to deal with adjusting our business model due to Covid-19,” said Zainab.
“When we started out as Chilli Chocolate Chefs, the only thing we had was our skills and not much finance. We had to borrow space in our aunt’s garage, had to borrow equipment and we operated without a name or identity.
“To save on costs we opted to do everything ourselves, from driving to invoicing and more. We were lucky to have learnt relatively quickly from our failures and kept adapting our business model.
“During the Covid-19, lockdown, and riots, we have had to take a step back, re-evaluate and change strategy. It has been such a journey,” she added.
The sisters advise any woman considering a career as a chef to have passion for the industry and also to be brave and take risks because failure is inevitable, but it is all about how you bounce back.
‘Bringing It Home’ is available for purchase from www.ccchefs.co.za or from their kitchen store which is located at 5 Tinsley House, 225 Musgrave Road.
The recipe book costs R500 and includes over 85 recipes, with beautiful pictures and helpful tips.