Recipes

Potica is a traditional holiday cake in Slovenia. It is baked on important occasions, like Christmas and Easter.

Syria’s national dish of minced meat and burghul is so deeply loved that over the years its fans have found many different ways to prepare it. The secret is using fresh, very finely minced meat. This is carefully spiced then served raw, baked or fried in endlessly varying shapes, often with delicious fillings (that often include more minced meat). This recipe is for a kind of kibbeh sandwich: a layer of cooked, spiced meat and pine nuts is pressed between two layers of fine kibbeh, then baked and served in wedges like pieces of cake. Serve with salad and drained yoghurt (natural yoghurt that has been drained in muslin until thick).

A Palestinian tradition, maqluba means “upside down” in Arabic and is a pot of stewed meat, rice and fried vegetables, cooked and flipped onto a serving dish to form an impressive tower. In Maha Sarsour’s version, the rice is richly spiced with cinnamon, allspice and more, and the chicken simmers to tenderness as it gives its flavour to the rice.

The thing I love about Hairtail is there aren’t many bones. Makes for easy eating!

The sound of the hot syrup as it’s poured onto the hot pastry is one of the best things, only surpassed by the sound of your first crunchy bite into this golden delicacy. Yum! This is a fantastic recipe for baklava.

This dried eggplant dolma recipe is a speciality of Somer’s mother. Traditionally in Turkey, small long eggplants are cut in half, hollowed out, then put on strings and dried out in the sun. In the rural areas, it is not possible to find eggplant in winter, so this is a great way of preserving them.

This pancake has been known for its soft and delicate texture, therefore is also given the name Pumpkin Soft Cake.

Borscht is a sour soup popular in several Eastern European cuisines, including Ukrainian, Russian, Polish, Belarusian, Lithuanian, Moldavian cuisines. Begin well ahead of serving because it takes time.

I like this main dish because it’s delicious and easy to make.

This hearty dish is perfect for a wintery lunch.

Nihari is a very well-known dish in Pakistan. It tastes very good with bread and rice. I like it very much and cook it once in a month.

Chor Muang or Thai Steamed Dumpling is a refined royal Thai cuisine. It shows the uniqueness of Thai art and its tradition should be preserved. It can be enjoyed with a filling of pork, shrimp, or chicken stir-fried with coriander root, garlic and pepper.

I learnt how to make traditional financiers in Paris in 2008 and bought the moulds for them straight after the class. Here’s my version of a somewhat less traditional chocolate financier. They’re great to whip up for a sweet treat in the afternoon and are a sure crowd pleaser. If you have kids of any age, they will be happy for hours.

Anna and Jordan’s Imqaret (Maltese date biscuits).

This is the flavour of the outback; chunky beef, a smattering of veggies, and a taste of the old world ways of cooking.

Pork San Choy Boa from Alvin Quah

My favourite food from Korea. Kimchi is so popular in Korea there are kimchi museums and entire kimchi fridges. In the past, we would make enough kimchi in summer to last our very cold winters and it would be buried underground in pots. Now, leading tech companies, such as Samsung and LG have created the kimchi fridge.

Anyway, kimchi is really healthy and tasty side dish and the Koreans believe it is their intake of kimchi that saved them from the SARS virus outbreak years ago as there is a fair dose of garlic included.

This is a simple, hearty peasant dish that will warm your cockles!

Traditional gluten-free cheese bread from Brazil.

A homely dessert perfect with tea.