Heading up one of South Africa’s most popular food blogs is Lila Lerie. We find out how a decades-long love for food was brought to life.
For some, a love for cooking is something they’re born with, while for others, it’s something that’s built over time. For Lila Lerie though, it was a case of both. In her earliest memories, there was her mother, a bustling kitchen and endless creative recipes that would later come to define her childhood. ‘There, my mother ignited my love for cooking,’ she says. ‘She was always able to make the most, using very few ingredients, and I respect her for that. I remember that every meal felt like a special feast for our little family.’
Very soon, Lila was hard at work herself, trying her hand at recipes. ‘After I came home from high school in the afternoons, I would get dinner started, and then my mom would take over when she got home.’ Lila remembers watching carefully, learning each step and trick, and tasting every morsel: ‘I would regularly overcook the rice, and undercook the chicken, but I was a proper apprentice sous chef in her kitchen, learning as I went along.’
Thinking back to that time, the smells and tastes from her mother’s kitchen conjure vivid memories for Lila. ‘Her dishes always had a Mediterranean flair to them,’ says Lila. ‘She made the most flavourful pasta, roast vegetables and meat dishes.’ Her guilty pleasures? Well, she admits there are quite a few. ‘To this day, my mother makes her Melanzane bake with layers of rich tomato sauce that delivers the perfect balance between acidity and sweetness with layers of the roasted aubergines lending somewhat of an umami flavour.’
Lila also recalls the influence her grandmother had on the menus from her childhood. ‘Her boontjiesop on Sundays … her cooking was sometimes traditional, like Boerekos, but it was so, so delicious. My mother brought the Mediterranean flair, and my grandmother brought the Dutch influence, and those two styles come to life in my kitchen today.’
But while food was a cornerstone of her youth, Lila didn’t always know it would become a career. In fact, for a very long time, she didn’t know what she wanted to do or where her passions lay. Cooking for her was a way of contributing to the chores at home, but not necessarily a career. That all changed when she started cooking for her boyfriend – now husband – and something started taking hold. ‘It’s not that I wanted to become a professional chef,’ she says, ‘but something was born out of the comfort of my own kitchen. I always say I’m just a home cook with a big bite.
You don’t have to be a qualified chef to bring people together and feed them well.’ It wasn’t long after that when Lila started sharing her creations with others online, and The Big Tasty Bite was brought to life. While The Big Tasty Bite grew to become a business – and a space where countless people find inspiration – for Lila it also turned out to be a space of learning and self-growth. ‘For me, cooking is like therapy,’ she says, ‘and through it I have learned so much about myself and about life.’ For one, she explains, it’s taught her to let go of certain things. ‘Life is tough, and we so want to be in control, but cooking teaches that sometimes things don’t work out, and you simply have to let go, compromise or start over again.’
The result of this process? She is able to celebrate every victory in the kitchen. ‘This experience has also taught me that I need to trust myself more,’ she says. ‘It’s taught me to be more confident and be more present at the task at hand. I like to think that cooking has helped me discover my inner strength. We all have a medium that forces us to face our true selves, and cooking does that for me.’
Lila’s top 3 cooking tips
– Less is more: ‘Very often, you need only a few ingredients to make a dish shine. For example, when I have only a few ingredients and I’m too lazy to go shopping, or the budget’s a bit tight then I use what I have. More often than not it ends up being the best dishes. It really is all about celebrating the unique flavour of each ingredient. That is what cooking is about.’
– Clean as you cook: ‘This changed the way I cooked. By cleaning as you go along, you can enjoy your meal without the mess waiting for you afterwards!’
– Patience is everything: ‘Take it slow and steady. Be mindful and allow yourself to go into a trance-like state, this is where all the magic happens. This is obviously something that develops over time. Through trial and error you’ll start to understand how certain ingredients act and how their flavour develops depending on the application and time.’
Lila shares her delicious 15 minute Miso Ramen with Soy Marinated Chicken
15 minute Miso Ramen with Soy Marinated Chicken
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup regular soy sauce
- 6 tbsp vegetable oil/olive oil
- 4 chicken breasts
- 1 large white onion
- 5 cloves of garlic
- 1/2 cup Hikari Yellow Miso Paste
- 4–5 cups lukewarm water
- 1/2 tsp ground ginger
- 4 tsp Hondashi stock granules
- 1 tsp brown sugar
- 2 tsp dried chilli flakes
- 2 tsp sesame oil
- 1 tsp soy sauce
- 250 grams button mushrooms, sliced
- 300 grams ramen noodles of choice
- Toasted sesame seeds, chilli oil & sliced spring onion for garnish
Instructions
Start marinating the chicken by adding ⅓ cup soy sauce, 3 tbsp olive oil, 2 tsp salt and the chicken breasts to a bowl. Make sure the chicken is fully coated with the liquid. Set aside.
Add the raw onion and garlic to a blender and blend until smooth.
Add the 3 tbsp oil, pureed onion-garlic mixture into a large pot and sauté for
5 minutes on medium-high heat. Once the onion-garlic mixture has turned translucent, add the miso paste.
Lower to medium heat and add 4 cups of lukewarm water, ground ginger, Hondashi stock granules, sugar, chilli flakes, sesame oil, and soy sauce and then simmer on low for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, bring a medium saucepan to medium-high heat.
Add the marinated chicken breasts.
Sauté on one side for 5 minutes, ensuring the chicken and the sauce don’t burn, flip and cook for another 4 minutes. Remove the chicken from the heat and set aside to rest. Keep liquid from the rested chicken.
Remove the broth from the heat and add 1 more cup of water (based on personal preference). Now your miso broth is ready. Set aside until all the other elements are ready.
Once the chicken is done add the sliced mushrooms to the same pan and sauté until charred on medium-high heat. I like adding the liquid from the rested chicken to the mushrooms, but no additional oil will be needed, the moisture from the mushrooms and/or chicken juices will suffice.
Once the mushrooms are fully cooked and have a lovely char on them, set them aside.
Allow all elements to rest while you prepare your noodles. Cook as per the packet instructions and rinse under cold water prior to adding to your ramen.
Start assembling the ramen by adding the broth first, then the noodles and finally the chicken, mushrooms and additional garnishes.
ALSO SEE: Priyanka Govender’s Tandoori Lamb chops
Photos: Peet Mocke
Written by Edwain Steenkamp, as published in the Food&Home Autumn issue.
