CONCORD, N.H. (AP) – For me, Africa is all about the wine.

Admittedly, although South Africa is producing some amazing wines of late, that’s not an entirely fair assessment. It is a continent of amazing cultures, foods and geography. Wine is but a tiny fraction of what makes it such a wonderful place.

Yet for me, wine is the dominant feature. Blame my odd career path.

Before becoming a food writer, I taught philosophy at a university in South Africa. I loved the country, but hated the job.

While I felt no shame in popping a cork alone, I always ate when I drank, and thus was introduced to much of the nation’s amazing cuisine, from simple mealie meal (a corn porridge) to complex curries with plantains, lentils and potatoes.

Biltong was a favorite – a spiced, peppery dried meat that was great alone as a snack or cut up into stews.

Then there were the rusks, best described as African biscotti. These sweet, hard biscuits are intended for dunking in coffee and tea, but I found they went wonderfully with sweet white wines, too.

When I returned to the United States, I found it disappointingly difficult to get the southern African foods I’d come to enjoy, and it would be several years before South African wines were common enough to get their nation dubbed the “new Australia.”

While the foods of Tunisia and Morocco are wonderful, I wanted the bobotie (a sort of meat and fruit custard) of a few thousand miles south.

Almost a decade later I still hadn’t found a good source, until I recently read Josie Stow and Jan Baldwin’s The African Kitchen, a beautiful and thorough accounting of African fare.

Though the entire continent is covered in the book, Stow’s bias is to southern Africa, where she worked as a cook on safari reserves.

I was intrigued by a chilled curried apple soup, grilled sweet potatoes with ginger and lime dressing, a green lentil and banana salad, and a savory sauté of nuts, dried fruits and fresh cilantro.

Even the bobotie (a tasty but not often attractive dish) looked appealing. Though I didn’t test this, I think a frozen ground-meat substitute would work well in this recipe.

I ended up testing (and enjoying) a couscous recipe that includes caramelized onions with raisins. Though couscous is more typical of northern Africa, the topping of caramelized onions with raisins reminded me of a dish from a café near where I lived.

The Zulu cabbage also was quite nice – tasty and simple. Stow said the recipe was given to her by a Zulu chief from the Kwa-Zulu Natal region of South Africa.

My only complaint is the recipes’ size. Most of the recipes make six to eight servings, a bit large for the typical home cook. I chopped the couscous recipe in half and had no trouble.

(Preparation 45 minutes)

4 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and chopped

3 3/4 cup almonds, lightly toasted and coarsely chopped

1 yellow onion, chopped

6 tablespoons butter (3/4 stick)

2/3 cup raisins

2 1/2 tablespoons brown sugar

1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

4 cups vegetable stock

Pinch saffron threads

2 3/4 cups couscous

Several sprigs fresh mint, chopped

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

In a medium saucepan over a medium flame, melt 4 tablespoons of butter. Add the onion and sauté until soft, about five minutes.

Add the raisins, sugar, ginger and cinnamon. Reduce heat to low and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions caramelize, about 10 minutes. Cover and set aside.

In a medium saucepan, combine the stock and saffron and bring to a boil. Remove pan from the heat. Add the couscous and remaining butter, then cover and let stand 10 minutes.

Fluff the couscous with a fork and stir in eggs, almonds and mint. Season with salt and pepper. Transfer to a serving bowl and top with caramelized onion mixture.

Makes eight servings.

(Preparation 45 minutes)

1 small white cabbage

1 green bell pepper

1 onion

2 to 3 tablespoons sunflower oil

1 1/2 cups chopped canned tomatoes, with juices

1 tablespoon curry powder

Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Core the cabbage and pepper. Roughly chop the cabbage, pepper and onion.

Heat the oil in a large sauté pan over a medium-high flame. Cook the onion and pepper until the onion is translucent, about six minutes. Add the cabbage, cover and cook until it begins to wilt, about five minutes.

Reduce heat to low, add remaining ingredients and cook 30 minutes, stirring occasionally and adding water if needed to prevent sticking. Serve hot.

Makes six to eight servings.