Introducing Don’t Feed The Monkey – a delightful cook book of 50 easy-to-prepare recipes that children can make, neatly woven into a wonderful adventure story, featuring African wildlife.
In Don’t Feed The Monkey, we meet Mitch the perpetually hungry monkey living his best life. He lives in a tree above a restaurant where he observes the meals served. Being a bit of a cheeky monkey, he’s learnt to satisfy his hunger by dining on ‘gifts’ from the restaurant’s clientele. But panic sets in when the chef puts up a sign, reading ‘‘Do NOT Feed The Monkey!”
Mitch must now reconsider where his next meal will come from and learn how to prepare his own food. So off he sets to find out what the other animals of the African savannah are cooking and eating. Each animal he encounters shows him how to cook their most enjoyable food, from dungballs, dazzle disco apple doughnuts, kudu-gette chips and meerkat melts to brilliant baboon bobotie, stay afloat potato boats, snappy biscuits and hot chocolate bombs, Mitch discovers how to make and enjoy meals.
Don’t Feed The Monkey is written by Marleen Lemmers, a freelance writer and children’s book author. Marleen grew up in the Netherlands and has moved around at lot, spending time in various countries in Southern Africa, working with non-profit organisations. This is her first cookbook venture and, like Mitch, she learned quite a bit (and ate a lot of good food) in the process.
Don’t Feed The Monkey is beautifully illustrated by Cape Town-based, self-taught illustrator Anja Stoeckigt. Anja has created the most charming and engaging depictions of the animals and the recipes for this novel cookbook. She loves drawing upside-down birds with top hats, look carefully and you may spot some in Don’t Feed The Monkey.
Don’t Feed The Monkey is aimed at children aged 6–12 and the recipes are suitable for them to make without adult supervision. There is a list of utensils and equipment needed, a glossary of cooking terms and a section on safety in the kitchen.
We share two recipes from Don’t Feed The Monkey.
Eggy Breakfast Pizza, compliments of an egg-eating snake
Makes two servings
Ingredients
- 2 squares (15 x 15 cm) frozen puff pastry, defrosted
- Splash of olive oil
- 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
- 100g fresh spinach
- 100g cheddar, grated
- 2 free-range eggs
Method
Preheat the oven to 200 °C. Line a baking tray with baking paper. To create a raised edge around the pizzas, fold over the sides of the puff pastry squares. Try to create a border of around 1.5 cm. Place both pastry squares on the lined baking tray and bake them for about 10 minutes, or until they are light brown and nicely puffed up.
Meanwhile, heat a little olive oil in a frying pan and fry the garlic for a few minutes, then set aside.
Bring a saucepan of water to a boil, add the spinach and boil for 1 minute. Drain the spinach well and add it to the garlic in the frying pan. Mix well.
Remove the pastry from the oven, but leave the oven on. Spoon the spinach and garlic mixture into the middle of each pastry square, and add the cheese to each one.
Break the eggs, one at a time, into a small bowl, then carefully slide them onto the centre of each breakfast pizza. Put them back in the oven for about 10 minutes. Make sure the eggs are set but the yolks are still slightly runny. Enjoy the pizzas!
Chocolate Bark, compliments of a pack of wild dogs
Makes a large chunk
Ingredients
- 400g milk chocolate, broken into pieces
- 250g mix of dried fruit and nuts (your choice of raisins, cranberries, almonds, hazelnuts, cashews and pistachios)
Method
Melt the chocolate. You can either do this in the microwave or in a double boiler on the stove top. (And, if you don’t own a double boiler, a glass bowl that fits snugly over the top of a saucepan will work, too).Line an oven tray with baking paper. Spread out the melted chocolate on the tray in a thin layer. Evenly spread the dried fruit and nuts over the chocolate, and push them down slightly so that they sink into the chocolate.
Leave it out to set. It might take a while, depending on the temperature of your kitchen. Keep checking and once it’s set, your chocolate bark is ready! Break it into chunks and share with your pack.
Don’t Feed The Monkey is published by Penguin Random House.
