Comfort food in times of stress

WHEN many of us feel hunger pangs, we can amble over to the biscuit tin and find an oatmeal cookie to munch. Or we can raid the fridge and snack on the remains last night’s macaroni cheese.

This will tide us over until supper is served at 7 pm on the dot, and provide the energy required to complete an urgent article, do the ironing or respond to the emails that tend to proliferate when you WFH. But eating when hungry is not an option for those who suffer from chronic hunger, and following the economic destruction caused by coronavirus, millions of people across the world don’t have enough to eat.

Roast chicken, the essence of all that is comforting.

In America, the world’s wealthiest country, unemployment is on the rise and hungry people, whether on foot, in beat-up vehicles or driving Mercs, are queueing at food banks and mobile pantries, desperate for food packs. Charities in the wealthy city of Geneva are hard pressed to keep up with the demand from poor, working people for free food parcels, and aerial footage taken in South Africa shows three kilometre-long queues of desperate people hoping to receive maize meal, bread, hampers of food, face masks, soap and hand sanitiser.

The situation at home is no better, with Zimbabweans attempting to contend with drought, a galloping rate of inflation and Covid-19. Assistance is coming from many sources, but none more heart-warming than the efforts of @Semalho Samantha Murozoki, immigration lawyer turned philanthropist, and her team of volunteers, to feed the poor and vulnerable in Chitungwiza, a high density dormitory town outside Harare. Hundreds of social-distancing children, all wearing face masks, line up early each morning for a bowl of porridge. In the early evening, Samantha and her team provide families with a meal of sadza and beans.

If you can afford to buy a chicken, this can be made into many tasty and cost effective meals. Food writer and chef Nigella Lawson says that the smell of chicken roasting is ‘the essence of all that is comforting’. To make a classic roast chicken, season the bird with salt and pepper, stuff it with two lemon halves and a sprig of thyme, cover with softened butter and place on a bed of chopped onion and carrots. Roast in the middle of the oven at 180C for just over an hour. This is a great dish for Sunday lunch, or a special occasion.

If there are any leftovers, make a chicken salad with sliced or diced white meat, layered with crisp Iceberg lettuce, cucumber, celery and finely sliced red onion. To be healthy, leave out the mayo, and add instead a spoon of Greek yoghurt to a vinaigrette salad dressing. Garlic lovers can add a small clove of garlic, grated on a microplane, to the dressing. For stress relief and vitamin C, sprinkle a tablespoon of chopped parsley and thyme onto the salad.

To make fried rice, the ultimate comfort food, use both the white and dark meat. Boil a cup of white rice in advance, drain, and spread out to cool on a plate. (If the rice is hot, the dish will be soggy.) In a large frying pan, fry a chopped onion in a little oil, and when translucent, add a small handful of dried kapenta. When the kapenta takes on a little colour, add the diced chicken, and stir in a tablespoon of soy sauce. Add the cooled rice, fold all ingredients together and heat through. A nice touch is to garnish with thin strips of an omelette, made in a separate pan.

There’s nothing like the healing power of chicken soup to treat colds, flu and coughs, so don’t let the chicken carcass go to waste. Place the chicken bones in a large stock pot, with vegetables such as onion, celery, onions and carrots. Cover with cold water, add salt and pepper, and simmer for an hour or two. Remove the bones with a slotted spoon, and strain the soup through a sieve. Use this stock to make the soup, adding finely diced carrot and celery and a spoon of rice or pasta.

Make the best meals you can from what is in your store cupboard and from the simple ingredients you can afford to buy. And the next time you tuck into your favourite dish, consider ways to help someone who has lost their livelihood, and is no longer able to put food on the table.    – A Matter of Taste Charlotte Malakoff

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