Chopsticks, Pots & Wooden Spoons
Home cooking from a South African Chinese kitchen: reinvented leftovers and the recipes I actually cook
Melanie Radloff Minnaar 朱山梅 (朱云兴)
About the book
Chopsticks, Pots & Wooden Spoons is home cooking, not basic cooking: the food I cook in my South African Chinese kitchen. It starts with ginger chicken soup, congee, and dumplings, then moves on to fish and seafood, Sunday roasts and stews, fresh pasta and pizza, salads, sauces, breads, rusks and puddings. There are 132 recipes in eight chapters, plus a kitchen guide to leftovers, freezing, building a meal, simple swaps, planning the week, and growing your own.
Recipes rarely get followed perfectly.
This book is for people who adjust, taste, swap and make do, and still care how the food looks on the table.
From the back cover
You do not need a perfect kitchen or fancy ingredients. You just need good sense, a little curiosity, and the confidence to make each recipe your own. Cook well. Waste less. Make it worth eating again.
About the author
Melanie Minnaar is South African by birth, with Chinese, German and British ancestry. She grew up holding her mother's apron strings, in her grandmothers' kitchens and in family restaurants in East London. Chinese food is her home food. Next to it sit Italian dishes from her partner's table, South African pots, and everything else the house eats, which is why Nigerian-style pepper soup sits next to paella.
What's inside
132 recipes in eight chapters
From My Chinese Kitchen (16 recipes): The home base: soups, congee, braised pork, fried rice, and dumpling and wonton wrappers made from scratch.
Fish & Seafood (11 recipes): Steamed, crisp-fried and pickled fish and shellfish, plus fishcakes from leftovers.
Roasts, Stews & Sunday Food (16 recipes): Roasts, slow pots and stews, paella, and the pastry and pie that use up what's left.
Everyday Mains, Pasta & Pizza (17 recipes): Mapo tofu and stir-fries, fresh egg pasta and lasagne, samp and beans, and thin-base pizza.
Sides, Salads & Vegetables (19 recipes): Rice, pap, mash and roast potatoes, colourful salads, greens and spring onion pancakes.
Sauces, Dips, Pickles & Pantry Helpers (22 recipes): Dipping sauces and chilli oil, classic French sauces, stock, dips, and South African favourites like monkey gland and peri-peri sauce.
Breads, Breakfast & Everyday Baking (12 recipes): No-knead loaves, buns from leftover mash, rusks, granola, muffins and marmalade.
Sweets, Puddings & Desserts (19 recipes): Milk tart, tiramisu, custards and puddings, family biscuits, and a bottle of limoncello.
Also inside: How to Use This Book, What to Cook First, Planning the Week, The Kitchen Guide, The Shopping List, Measurements & Oven Temperatures, Grow Your Own, Kitchen Notes, a glossary and an index.
Recipe highlights
Giong Gai Thong Ginger Chicken Soup 姜鸡汤
Leftover-Chicken Fried Rice 鸡肉炒饭
Pork & Cabbage Dumplings 猪肉白菜饺子
Pan Ngiuk Braised Belly Pork 客家焖五花肉
Steamed Fish with Ginger & Spring Onion 清蒸鱼
Cape Malay Pickled Fish
Cantonese Crispy Roast Duck 广东烧鸭
Leftover Chicken Pie
Mapo Tofu 麻婆豆腐
Potato Buns from Leftover Mash
Sichuan Chilli Oil with Crunchy Bits 红油
Milk Tart
Coming in 2027
Chopsticks, Pots & Wooden Spoons is coming to Takealot and Amazon in 2027. Signed-copy gift vouchers are available now.
Give a signed copy this Christmas
Chopsticks, Pots & Wooden Spoons: Home cooking from a South African Chinese kitchen: reinvented leftovers and the recipes I actually cook.
Buy a signed-copy gift voucher for R550 (courier included). Once your payment is confirmed, your voucher, with its own unique code and a personal note from me, is sent to you by secure email, ready to print, wrap or forward.
Your lucky person redeems the voucher here on melanieminnaar.com by entering the code and their delivery details. Signed books will be couriered within South Africa from February 2027, and I'll email when each copy is on its way. Delivery: Courier included.
Order by 12:00 (SAST) on Thursday 24 December 2026 to get your voucher before Christmas.
How do I get the voucher?
By secure email as soon as your payment is confirmed. It has a unique code, so keep it safe.
How does the recipient get the book?
They enter the voucher code and their delivery details on melanieminnaar.com. Signed copies are couriered from February 2027.
Can I choose who it's signed for?
Yes. Add their name and a short message when redeeming, and I'll write it in the book. Within reason, please. My handwriting has limits.
What if delivery is delayed, or I want a refund?
If the date moves, I'll tell you honestly by email. You can get a full refund any time before the book ships. See the Voucher & refund policy.
Can I buy more than one?
Yes. One voucher per person, so each copy is signed for its own recipient.
Gift Voucher & Refund Policy
Chopsticks, Pots & Wooden Spoons: signed-copy gift vouchers
What you're buying
A gift voucher for one signed copy of Chopsticks, Pots & Wooden Spoons. Once your payment is confirmed, your voucher is sent to you by secure email with a unique code.
Redeeming your voucher
The recipient redeems the voucher on melanieminnaar.com by entering the code and their delivery details. Each code can be used once. Signed books will be couriered within South Africa from February 2027, and I'll email when each copy is on its way.
Christmas orders
Order by 12:00 (SAST) on Thursday 24 December 2026 to receive your voucher by email before Christmas.
Changed your mind?
You can cancel within 7 days of buying your voucher for a full refund, no questions asked.
Prefer not to wait?
After that, you can still ask for a refund at any time before your book is dispatched, less a 3% admin fee (R16.50 on a R550 voucher). Just send me a message through the contact form with your order number.
If the book is delayed
If the delivery date moves, I'll let you know by email straight away with a new date. If the book has not been dispatched by 30 June 2027, you can choose a full refund or keep waiting.
Damaged or wrong book
If your book arrives damaged or isn't what you ordered, contact me within 7 days of delivery with a photo and I'll replace it at no cost to you.
Once the book is signed and shipped
Because each copy is signed personally for its recipient, books can't be returned for a change of mind once they have been dispatched, unless they arrive damaged or incorrect.
How refunds are paid
Refunds go back to the card or account you paid with, within 10 working days of your request.
Voucher terms
Each voucher is for one signed copy, can be redeemed once, and can't be exchanged for cash. Vouchers can be passed on to someone else. Please keep your code private: anyone with the code can redeem it.
Questions? Send me a message through the contact form.