Mix chili, ginger, lemongrass, garlic, soy sauce and tomatoes together. Pour sauce over fish and steam for 15 minutes or microwave 5 minutes on high.

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Preheat oven to 225°C.

Sieve the dry ingredients into a large bowl. Scoop up handfuls and allow to drop back into the bowl to aerate the mixture. Add enough buttermilk to make a soft dough. Now work quickly as the buttermilk and soda are already reacting. Knead the dough lightly - too much handling will toughen it, while too little means it won't rise properly.

Form a round loaf about as thick as your fist. Place it on a lightly-floured baking sheet and cut a cross in the top with a floured knife. Put at once to bake near the top of the oven, for 30-45 minutes. When baked, the loaf will sound hollow when rapped on the bottom with your knuckles. Wrap immediately in a clean tea-towel to stop the crust hardening too much.

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Preheat oven to 170°C. Season flour with salt and pepper. Roll lamb shanks in flour to coat. Heat oil in frying pan and brown lamb shanks for 1-2 minutes on all sides. Transfer shanks to a casserole dish.

Add onions, garlic and carrots to the pan and cook over medium heat for 4-5 minutes or until soft. Increase heat to high and cook, stirring, for 10 minutes or until caramelised.

Add thyme, bay leaves, paprika and stir until aromatic. Add wine to deglaze the ban and simmer for 5 minutes. Add stock, tomatoes and tomato paste and bring to the boil, then pour over lamb shanks. Cover and bake for 1 ½ hours, turning once during.

Add mushrooms and return to cook for 30 minutes. Serve with mash potatoes or rice.

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Heat olive oil in a pan. Saute onions and garlic until onions are translucent. Add nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, salt and pepper.

Put beans in a pan and saute for 1 minute. Put tomatoes and saute for another minute.

Add rice and the appropriate amount of liquid (1 cup to start, add more if necessary), using the reserved liquid for some of it and topping up with water.

Cover the pan, let simmer until the rice is cooked.

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Cook macaroni in boiling water. Drain and set aside. Make cheese sauce as per instructions.

Mix together cooked macaroni, cheese sauce, creamed corn and salmon. Top with grated cheese and place under hot grill until golden.

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In a small ceramic bowl, add boiling water to the cous cous. Cover in plastic wrap and stand for 5-10 minutes. Fluff with a fork.

Variation: Add chicken/vegetable stock powder/cubes to the boiling water and/or 1 tablespoon of fresh herbs such as parsley or coriander.

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Cut off the tough, woody part of asparagus (approx 1/3). Boil the beans for 1 minute, add asparagus and boil for a further minute. Refresh under cold water, then drain. Combine the beans, asparagus, tomatoes and olives in a bowl.

Divide the salad among four bowls, then add four egg quarters to each. Flake tuna over the top, then sprinkle with parsley. Season.

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Cut the chicken into small cubes. Heat oil in wok. Stir-fry chicken over high heat until chicken turns white.

Add spring onions and chillies and stir-fry 1 minute. Add the sauces and crushed sugar, toss briefly and then add the basil leaves.

Serve with steamed rice.

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Season chicken with salt, pepper and paprika. Brown in oil. Remove and set aside. Add celery, onions and capsicum to the pot and cook until tender.

Stir in rice, stock and seasonings. Return chicken to the pan. Cover and simmer for approximately 20 minutes or until stock has been absorbed.

Serve with a green salad.

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Mix creamed corn, sweet corn, stock and milk together in a saucepan. Heat gently on low heat till hot.

Stir through chives and season with salt and pepper.

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Score a cross in the base of each tomato and place in a bowl of boiling water for 10 seconds, then plunge into cold water. Peel the skin away from the cross. Cut in half and scoop out the seeds with a teaspoon. Finely dice the flesh, then combine with the basil, garlic and 2 tablespoons of oil.

Toast the bread and, while still hot, rub with the cut side of a garlic clove. Drizzle oil over each slice of bread, then season with salt and black pepper.

Divide the toppings among the bread slices.

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Rinse fish and pat dry. Combine mayo, lime juice, salt and pepper. Rub fish with mixture and marinade at room temperature for 20 minutes.

To prepare sauce puree all sauce ingredients until smooth. Heat butter and oil in a small saucepan and add puree. When puree comes to the boil then lower heat and cook for 20 minutes or until sauce thickens. Add salt and pepper. Let cool to room temperature.

Preheat grill or barbecue and lightly grease. Place fish on gril for 10-15 minutes, basting regularly with excess marinade. Turn over and grill for further 10 minutes, basting again until cooked.

To make the sauce, saute garlic cloves in a little butter and oil and add the rest of the ingredients except the water and simmer for 15-20 minutes. Leave to cool and then puree in a blender, adding a little water until the sauce has the consistency of tomato sauce. Serve with fish.

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Roughly chop tomatoes, removing the core. Finely chop the onions and garlic. Saute onions and garlic in oil. Add chilli sauce, balsamic vinegar, pepper, lemon juice and wine.

Cover and place over a high heat and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 20-30 minutes, or until a sauce consistency is achieved.

Meanwhile, cook pasta. Drain cooked pasta and divide into bowls. Spoon over sauce, scatter basil and Parmesan and toss.

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Place rice in a colander and wash under running water to remove the surface starch. Place rice, stock, lemon rind and juice in a saucepan. Place over medium heat and allow to come to the boil. Reduce heat to its lowest and cover with a tight-fitting lid. Cook for 12 minutes or until all the stock has been absorbed. Stir through pepper, salt and herbs and serve.

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Cube the beef into 2cm chunks. Toss in seasoned flour. Add oil to a heavy-based pot and heat on medium-high flames. When the pot is hot add beef and brown. Set aside.

Add onions. Reduce heat to low and cook slowly until soft. Increase heat to medium-high and add garlic, rosemary, thyme, bay leaf and stir for 2 minutes. Add vegetables and stir for another 2 minutes.

Add red wine and water and bring to the boil. Reduce heat to lowest setting. Add mushrooms. Season with salt and black pepper, stir, cover and simmer for 3-4 hours.

Check seasoning. Serve with rice or mashed potatoes and fennel sautéed in olive oil.

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Combine all dry ingredients. Add cherries, condensed milk and rum. Mix well. Shape into small balls. Roll in coconut. Place in fridge until firm.

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Brown the chicken in a little oil over med-high heat.

Coat chicken all over with kecap manis and white pepper. Crush lemongrass stalks a little with the back of a knife. Add lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves and potatoes. Stir through 2 tablespoons of coconut milk.

Bring to simmering point then cover and simmer on low-medium heat until chicken and potatoes are tender.

Add the rest of the coconut milk and more kecap manis until the sauce is close to the colour of peanut butter. Reheat until simmering point again and serve with steamed chinese vegetables (like bok choy, choy sum or chinese broccoli) and steamed rice.

Note: You don't eat the lemongrass and kaffir lime leaves - you can pick it out or choose to leave it in but warn the guests beforehand!

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Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil. Add cumin and mustard seeds and stir until they start popping.Add garlic and ginger and stir for a minute. Add bay leaf, tumeric, kaffir lime leaves and lemongrass and stir for another minute. Add rice and lentils and stir until coated with oil and spices.

Add water to cover rice by 1cm. Season with salt and pepper and stir. Bring to the boil and then cover. Turn heat to very low and cook for 10 minutes. Turn off heat and stand for 15-20 minutes. Before serving add 1 teaspoon of butter/oil and mint and stir through.

Serve with a nice curry.

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Soak the noodles in hot water for about 5 minutes to loosen the noodles so they are not sticky, drain and set aside.

Stir-fry the onion in hot oil until brown. Add garlic and candlenut paste and stir-fry for 1 - 2 minutes.

Add the meat, fish sauce and pepper. Stir-fry for about 3 minutes.

Add the tomato and other veges and stir-fry for another minute.

Add the noodles, fish sauce, light soy souce, kecap manis, pepper and chicken stock and toss through the noodles until they are brown. Taste it if it's sweet/salty enough. If not, add more kecap manis.

Add noodles to veges, stir until warmed through and serve.

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Toss together spring onions, bean sprouts, carrot, capsicum and coriander.

Mix together sesame oil, fish sauce, soy sauce lemongrass, lemon juice and chilli. Pour over vegetables and toss together.

Serve with curry and rice.

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Combine chicken pieces, olive oil and about 1/3 of the curry paste in a mixing bowl. Stir-fry with mushrooms in a wok (or deep frying pan) until meat is brown. At the same time parboil potatoes in salty water.

Remove cooked chicken and mushrooms from wok, drain parboiled potatoes and let these rest in a separate bowl.

Add remaining massaman curry paste and coconut to wok and stir occasionally until almost boiling.

Add cooked chicken, mushrooms and parboiled potatoes to coconut curry milk. Cover and simmer for 10-15 minutes or until potatoes are cooked (NOTE: my preference is when the potatoes are still slightly firm on the outside but soft on the inside).

Add snow peas and cashew nuts to wok and stir in well. Cook for two minutes more, give it a final stir before taking off the heat.

Serve immediately over rice (Jasmine or Basmati is best) and enjoy!

Hints:

• About 55g of paste will produce a medium heat (spice) dish. You can get this paste from major supermarkets. Alternatively if you want to be super authentic you can make this from scratch by purchasing and combining lemon grass (30%), Thai curry powder (50%), red chili (15%), garlic (5%), salt and pepper (trace) with some water. I've never done this so good luck!
• Taste the curry during the cooking stages to see if you want to add more curry paste for more heat or more coconut milk to reduce heat.
• You can add or replace with other vegetables - such as sweet potato, pumpkin, green beans, broccoli, carrots etc. etc. Generally I stick to no more than 3-4 different veges for taste and presentation reasons.
• You can use other meats for this dish such as fish, beef, pork or lamb. Or you can go completely vegetarian!
• If using beef or lamb, browning the meat and then (covered) slow cooking the meat in a beef or vegetable stock broth for about an hour results in a very tasty braised meat consistency (yummy yum yum!).
• You can also use chicken thigh fillets for a stronger chicken flavour.
• Combine a few sprigs of saffron with 2 table spoons of cold water for about 2 minutes and then add to the rice before cooking to produce a lovely yellow coloured and slightly saffron tasting rice.
• Goes well with a crisp beer such as Becks, St. Arnou , DB Super Dry or Reschs Dinner ale. Also goes well with any semi-dry white wine such as a chardonnay or a white burgundy.

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