A refreshing and tasty Vietnamese Coffee Jelly, the perfect end to any meal. Recipe with step-by-step photos.
Summers in Switzerland have gradually become more hot and humid, sometimes so unbearably so that it is hard to think of it as a country where it also snows in the winter months. One summer, I was trying to think of what dessert I could bring to a picnic with friends, one which was also vegan and gluten-free.
Soft and chewy Butter Mochi Cake. Make this delicious Hawaiian dessert for your next party or potluck dinner! Recipe with step-by-step photos.
Mochi is currently having its time in the limelight, which makes me very happy because I love it in all its variations. I grew up eating Vietnamese and Chinese-style mochi, and a recent discovery for me is this Hawaiian Butter Mochi Cake.
Serve dinner in less than 30 minutes with this incredibly tasty and easy Coconut Chicken Noodle Stir Fry using basic Asian ingredients which you can find at your local supermarket.
This is one of my go-to recipes for when I need to get dinner on the table quickly. Any by quick, we’re talking less than 30 minutes!
Make this easy Thai green curry paste and turn it into a delicious Thai Green Curry with Chicken or make it vegetarian with your favourite vegetables and tofu. The choices are endless!
There comes a time during the week when I find myself with lots of bits of vegetables in the fridge, none which can be used on their own to make any meaningful meal, but it would be a shame and a waste to otherwise throw them away. Oddly enough, this fridge raid often occurs on a Monday evening, the night when I try to empty the fridge in readiness for my weekly trip to the farmers’ markets on Tuesdays.
A deliciously tangy Keralan Fish Curry with Lemon Rice which is easy to make and takes only about 30 minutes to cook!
With spring just around the corner, my thoughts have been turning to more light and fresh meals. A cookbook which I frequently turn to during the warmer months is Nigella Lawson’s Forever Summer (re-titled as Nigella Fresh in the US).
I have long been a fan of Nigel Slater, his books having been instrumental in my initial forays into the kitchen, along with Nigella Lawson and, dare I say it, the Australian Women’s Weekly. One of my favourite cookbooks would have to be Appetite, a hefty book filled with amazingly delicious recipes but provided in a manner that encourages the cook to develop some intuition in the kitchen. Rather than call for, say, 100 g of tomatoes, Nigel Slater’s recipes would instead ask for 3-4 medium-sized tomatoes, not only making it a bit easier to shop but also allowing the cook some flexibility.
I have been distracted in recent years by cookbooks from other authors, but this year hopefully marks a revisit of some old favourites. I was only reminded of Nigel Slater recently when hubby and I were browsing in the bookshop and Nigel Slater’s Tender Volume 1 & 2 were being sold together in a limited edition boxed set. Having lusted after these books for some time but trying to sensibly refrain from hoarding too many cookbooks in one year, I couldn’t resist a boxed set. And upon realising that Volume 1 was all about vegetables, and Volume 2 was dedicated to fruit, hubby generously offered the books to me as a gift, on the condition that they supported his New Year’s resolutions to eat more vegetarian and healthy food. Of course, honey …
With pumpkins in season, I was instantly taken by Nigel’s recipe for pumpkin laksa in Tender Volume 1. As a lover of all noodle soups, from the robust and herbal hit of a Vietnamese Pho to the equally comforting but milder-flavoured chicken noodle soup of the western palate, and not to mention the 2-minute noodles (or pot noodles) of my student days, I can rarely turn down a recipe for comfort in a bowl.
