They may be a support act, but great side dishes can transform a meal. Breads, salads, rice, potatoes and veggies, some can even be transformed into the main attraction with a little inspiration. Here are my favourite side dish recipes.
Cacik Like this recipe? You’ll love my online Turkish cooking class inspired by Somer Sivrioğlu! Yoghurt is a great accompaniment to anything fried as the acid cuts through the richness. I especially love it mixed with garlic and cucumber to make cacik (çaçık in Turkish, pronounced jajuk). Cacik is similar to Greek tzatziki except that […]
Roti Chanai Like this recipe? You’ll love my online Malaysian cooking class inspired by Simon Goh! Roti chanai (or roti canai) is popular in India, Malaysia and Singapore. This flaky flatbread is an essential accompaniment to many curries, in fact it’s ideal for soaking up any sauces. My friend Simon Goh, founder of the Chinta […]
Risotto Milanese (Saffron Risotto) Join my small-group food & wine tour to northern Italy to discover more regional specialties! Risotto Milanese originated in Milan, where it’s the traditional accompaniment to ossobuco. Lombardy is the home of risotto, and my friend Alessandro Pavoni is the king of risotto making. He was born in Brescia in Lombardy […]
Nasi Lemak (Coconut Rice) Like this recipe? You’ll love my online Singaporean cooking class! Nasi lemak literally means ‘creamy rice’ and this fragrant rice makes a delicious side dish for any curry or stir-fry. Nasi lemak is also sometimes seen as a standalone dish, especially for breakfast, topped with a few interesting sambals, some fresh […]
Tzatziki Like this recipe? You’ll love my online Greek cooking class inspired by Janni Kyritsis! Yoghurt is served with just about everything in Greece and throughout the eastern Mediterranean – plain, drained as labne, or mixed with garlic and often cucumber. This combination is perhaps best known by its Greek name, tzatziki, while the Turks […]
Bolo do Caco Like this recipe? You’ll love my online Portuguese cooking class! Bolo do caco, simple rolls that look a bit like English muffins, are flatbreads from the Portuguese island of Madeira. Bolo means cake in Portuguese and caco is the stone hotplate on which they’re traditionally cooked. On Madeira bolo do caco are […]
Sabzi Khordan (Persian Fresh Herb Platter) Like this recipe? You’ll love my online Persian cooking class! Persian food reminds me of Vietnamese with its love of fresh herb platters served at every meal. In Iran it’s any combination of mint, parsley, coriander, dill, tarragon, basil, chives, green onions and radishes; other wild or seasonal greens […]
Maast-O Khiar (Persian Yogurt Dip) Like this recipe? You’ll love my online Persian cooking class! Yoghurt and rice are natural companions and, given that rice appears at virtually all Persian meals, so does yoghurt. At its simplest it’s a bowl of thick, tangy natural yoghurt, but it’s also often maast-o khiar, which is a little […]
Baps (Scottish Morning Rolls) Like this recipe? You’ll love my online British cooking class! I have a wonderful memory of being at my Auntie Mary’s house in Glasgow and scurrying down the road early one morning to buy beautifully soft floury baps from the local baker for our breakfast (the scurry was necessary as it […]
Sauce Gribiche Like this recipe? You’ll love my online French cooking class Inspired by Damien Pignolet! I love this deliciously easy variation on tartare sauce, made using cooked egg yolk instead of the usual raw egg. Parsley is traditional but you can add other herbs – I take inspiration from Matt Moran who uses chervil […]
