Hot & Sour Prawn Soup (Dtom Yum Gung) Hot and sour soups are a classic on Thai menus. Although the version containing prawns, dtom yam gung, is perhaps the best known in Australia, ‘dtom’ simply means to boil and ‘yam’ to mix or toss together and these soups can be as basic or as complex […]
Hearty corn soup is popular in many parts of the Caribbean, including Jamaica, Trinidad and Barbados … this is my take on the Bajan (Barbadian) version inspired by one Paul Carmichael told me about; I enjoy the three different textures of corn. Bajan corn soup often contains pumpkin or sweet potato, which I find a […]
Rasam This spicy, tangy southern Indian soup is a great start to any meal served with some crisp papadums; it’s also fun in shot glasses for a cocktail party. It’s traditionally served as a light meal over steamed rice, especially to people who are feeling poorly. Rasam means ‘juice’ or ‘essence’ in Tamil and the […]
Bánh mi are one of our take-away mainstays. They’re a healthy quick lunch to grab on the run and fun to serve as finger food or an entrée if you turn them into little open sandwiches on slices of baguette. Inspired by leftover bits and pieces from a few weeks recipe testing for A Month […]
I love the way food travels around the world, weaving aspects of one culture into another. The French brought their crisp, fluffy baguettes to Vietnam in the mid-1800s and just over a century later, the Vietnamese brought them to Australia. Now bánh mi are one of our take-away mainstays. While they’re a healthy quick lunch […]
I love recipes that are so simple they’re hardly a recipe at all – where great produce and flavours shine and I don’t have to do too much. That’s what these simple fried cheese sandwiches are all about, especially served with this vibrant green sauce (which keeps for a week in the fridge and is […]
Variously written as bisteeya, bastilla, bestela, bastila, pastilla or pastila, this Moroccan pie has many variations but is traditionally an elaborately spiced preparation of pigeon, egg, almonds and warqa pastry, which is similar to Greek fillo pastry. It works well with almost any birds, including quail, chicken and guinea fowl, and is a great way […]
Guacamole & Pico de Gallo Guacamole is one of the quickest snacks to toss together and serve with drinks. It seems lime juice is not traditional – but it’s the best way I know to stop the avocado from browning, and I like the tang it adds (storing it with the avocado seed in the […]
My lamb kefta & egg tagine recipe is inspired by a dish from Moroccan chef Hassan M’Souli that I had at his Manly restaurant Out of Africa. I love eggs and I love the way this dish looks with them cooking in the sauce as it arrives at the table. A mainstay of Moroccan cooking, […]
We always want to eat well, but don’t always want to spend hours in a hot kitchen. That’s when throw-together-dishes. using whatever’s on hand, are more welcome than ever, which is exactly what this recipe is. It came about one evening when Muriel Chen from Blue Eye Dragon Taiwanese Restaurant gave me some pickled vegetables […]
