This is a Malay dish famous in Kota Kinabalu, a coastal city in East Malaysia. Asam Pedas translates to ‘sour and spicy’ and is best known as a fish curry, with modern variations using okra, aubergine, and pineapple. However, I have only really seen the oxtail version cooked in that region. The main difference with…
Everything great starts with an allium. That is the solemn fact of cooking. And so it is true here as well – an impromptu dinner salvaged by onions and dill, in tandem with mottled slate grey lentils slowly braised in coconut milk and vegetable stock. Both dishes are carb-heavy, but that doesn’t have to be…
Tempe orek is one of Indonesia’s most beloved ways of enjoying tempe. This Javanese dish is a staple that marries tender, nutty tempe with fragrant spices to create something rich and deeply comforting. Made with simple ingredients yet bold in flavour, it transports you to the heart of dining tables across Indonesian homes. Growing up,…
Autumn brings with it so much to feast on: leaves change colours, heat gives way to piercing coldness, and time shrinks into oblivion. The colours change in the kitchen too: from deep red beets and gloriously orange squash and sweet potatoes to hearty apples, pears, and root vegetables. In all, there is a lot of…
Both the provenance of this aubergine recipe and the aubergine itself have something in common: they share a serpentine history of origin and lineage. Let me get the recipe out of the way first: this is a mashup of my mother’s recipe for podi kathirikkai (aubergine with a powdered spice mix) which she got from…
Some days call for moderation in eating. Some days call for amends. And there are days, more often than not, when only pure indulgence will do, drawing on reservoirs of pleasure (minus the guilt). For such days, I always make a version of chole (also known as chana masala) or chickpea curry to spoon on…
Last night I hosted with a friend, and the guests were ourselves. We cooked for each other, together. This particular friend is an excellent cook, our friendship being formed through the accumulation of instances in creative home cooking with one another, each delicious outcome cementing our friendship further, in a series of alchemical bondings in the…
If you’re on Instagram then there’s a large chance you’ve come across a user named @byashleyenglish one of those who broadcasts her ‘everything I eat in a day’ reels from an idyllic pastoral location in America. While stroking ponies and walking barefoot on the beach, she’s seen sipping raw milk, smiling eerily at the camera…