coconut and celery salad with lime

This recipe, from The Complete Book of Turkish Cooking is super healthy and tastes delicious and refreshing. I have made a dairy free alternative too. Its perfect with flatbreads falafel and humus or as a side to roast fish or meat and I sometimes eat it with avocados or boiled eggs on roasted sourdough.

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tuna ceviche with chilli mango and lime

This recipe by the chef Peter Gordon is quite simply one of the most delicious things I’ve ever eaten. It’s the perfect food to eat in the summer as it’s a Polynesian style sweet savoury raw fish salad that requires no cooking and is fresh and light. I sometimes add crispy onions on top that you can get in a tub from the salad dressing aisle in the supermarket which add a bit more crunch and flavour. It’s perfect as a date night dinner for two or as a starter for a dinner party.

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vegan red thai curry with coconut, lime and basil

This healthy creamy tangy curry is a bit crunchy and packed with good things. You can also add any vegetables you like to it like mushrooms, sugar snap peas or whatever you fancy or have lying around in the fridge if you prefer.

Perfect for a dinner date or dinner party with thai sticky rice and vegan prawn crackers.

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japanese(ish) radish and cucumber salad

I love the salads in Japanese restaurants and this salad is super healthy and refreshing and works well with fish and sushi. I’ve even eaten it on a Ryvita with a sliced boiled egg. It’s crunchy, creamy, very tasty and looks gorgeous and I also sometimes eat it with avocados as it’s another great combo. If you prepare it in advance, keep it in the fridge and put the dressing and sesame seeds on just before you serve it.

Perfect combo with my previous recipe for japanese aubergines.

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roasted japanese aubergines with fried ginger matchsticks

I love the way the Japanese cook aubergines and I wanted to create a recipe which reminds me of eating it in their restaurants. This recipe is a delicious way to cook them and has lovely textures and is a bit crunchy with the ginger matchsticks. They are packed with flavour so they would be great with baked fish, salads and rice. Perfect as a little starter or a side dish.

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creamy egg curry with a coconut sauce

This recipe is from Madhur Jaffrey’s cookbook Simple Indian Cookery. I have made a few alterations to the recipe, like removing the dairy and chicken stock, and replacing them with coconut cream and coconut milk. I have also used an assortment of different eggs and put less oil in so it’s healthier. It is an excellent dinner party recipe and I would serve it with freshly made wholemeal chapatis from the Indian section of my supermarket in the freezer (Shana)as they are a great combination with this curry and super easy. I also would add a salad with wedges of lemon and my {okra} and or basmati rice. My friends think this is the most delicious curry ever, see what you think. I love it.

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nasi goreng

Like Gado Gado, this is another Indonesian street food recipe. It is a delicious mix of sweet and sour with a bit of crunch mixed with the creamy egg. Who’d have thought lime would go with a fried egg? Well it really does. You can soft poach the eggs if you prefer… It’s perfect Asian comfort food and its low budget and pretty healthy too. I love anything with a fried egg!

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tuna sashimi with sesame dressing

this delicious easy recipe lower carb sashimi style tuna has a fab dressing which is sweet and savoury with the flavours of sesame and soya sauce. I serve it with the Japanese pickled ginger and a wasabi sauce as you would with Japanese food. It takes  about 5 minutes to make and there’s no cooking. So it’s perfect if you fancy sushi and a bit of a sushi scenario and you don’t want the carbs. Make sure the tuna you buy is the colour of watermelon and has not gone brown, so it’s the freshest possible which tastes the best. I hope you like it as much as me…

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dal

I have cooked this simple recipe for a thousand years…it is from Madhur Jaffrey’s Indian Cookery book. Not only is it the nicest dal recipe I’ve ever tried, it’s my friend Sophie’s fave recipe for dal too. Its thick creamy and tasty, and lentils are fantastic for your digestion, stabilising blood sugar levels and lowering cholesterol amongst many other things.

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gado gado

This salad is inspired by the street food in Indonesia and this is my take on it. It’s a brilliant combo of crunchy and soft and sweet and sour, in fact I think it tastes pretty mind blowing. But, so it doesn’t end up looking like the contents of the bottom of a dustbin when you plate it up, it’s best to layer it with the sauce at the bottom. You can use other vegetables like cucumber or blanched carrot sticks or blanched cabbage, and fried tofu or tempeh too.
All work well, it’s up to you, it’s really great for using up vegetables in the fridge.

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