Southern Indian BBQ fish

In the month of May, I experimented with different versions of BBQ fish: one inspired by the cuisine of Kerala in southern India, and another based on a recipe from Tamil Nadu.

For the Kerala-style fish, the marinade consisted of red chilli powder, turmeric, black pepper, coriander powder, ginger-garlic paste, cumin powder, fennel powder, lemon juice, and salt. A separate masala was prepared with onions and tomatoes, green chilies, ginger, curry leaves, mustard seeds, fennel seeds, garam masala, red chilli powder, turmeric, and salt.

The marinated fish was wrapped in a banana leaf, topped with the tomato masala, and grilled over an open fire. Alternatively, the fish can be grilled on its own after marinating, with the masala served alongside as a spicy accompaniment.

A side dish that paired well with the fish was a cucumber yoghurt raita finished with a hot mustard oil tempering infused with mustard seeds, garlic and curry leafs, adding a cooling contrast to the spicy BBQ flavors.

Karela

But first I made a side dish with pan-fried karela, one of my favourite super bitter vegetables.

Heat oil in a pan. Add mustard seeds. Once they splutter, add urad dal, red chilies, and curry leaves.

Add onions and sauté until lightly golden. Add karela slices and turmeric. Cook on medium heat for 12–15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add chili powder, coriander powder, and salt. Cook until the edges become crisp.

Yogurt Raita with Mustard Oil Tempering

Tomato Masala

You slowly build the masala by first tempering mustard seeds and curry leaves in coconut oil.

Next, add the onion and sauté until lightly golden, then stir in the ginger, garlic, and green chilies.

Lower the heat and add the dry spices: Kashmiri chili powder, turmeric, coriander powder, and black pepper.

Add the tomatoes and simmer until they break down. Finish with fenugreek powder and a touch of lime or tamarind.

The marinade

The fish grilled directly over fire without the banana leaf.

My back yard cooking station.

What I cooked in April and May

Little time to cook in April but I finally mastered a Greek red wine braised octopus stew: Htapodi Kokkinisto me Patates (Χταπόδι Κοκκινιστό με Πατάτες). Since the result was so perfect I have to post the recipe.

Cut the octopus into 5 large pieces. Cut the thinner part of the legs into a bit longer pieces. I used four tentacles (600 gram). Rinse the octopus. Add the octopus to a medium-sized cooking pot.

Add a couple of diced onions, bay leaf, 150 ml wine, and 300 ml water to the pot. Bring to a boil and lower the heat to medium. Partly cover the pot. Simmer for about an hour until the octopus is tender.

Add less than 1 tablespoon tomato paste, black pepper, 6 tablespoons olive oil, and two potatoes, and drop the heat to medium-low. Since the octopus is salty because of the sea water, I didn’t add additional salt. I used potatoes from the Wadden Sea area, which were lightly salty as well.

Simmer until the potatoes are cooked and the sauce is thickened. It takes about 30-40 minutes. Scrape the bottom of the pot every now and then, so the food won't stick at the bottom.

Serve with plenty of freshly ground black pepper and crusty bread to soak up the juices.

Nigerian Bitterleaf soup (Ofe Onugbu)

I did visit a Nigerian restaurant for an Igbo classic: Ofe Onugbu. The bitter leaf is Vernonia amygdalina, a member of the daisy family. The soup is made by boiling larges pieces of meat: pork, pork skin, goat and shaki (tripe) and dried stockfish. When everything is soft, crayfish or smoked shrimp can be added. Palm oil and cocoyam is then added until dissolved. For savoury umami flavour Ogiri Okpei (castor seeds) are added and finally the biter leafs, which should not be overcooked.

It is served with a “swallow”. I forgot to ask if mine was made of yam, cassave or plantain. I’m guessing it was not plantain which is what I had in Harlem, New York. You eat the soup with your hands.

What I cooked in February and March

Greek fish soup with avgolemono. The recipe isn’t fixed. Instead of using stock, you simply boil a whole fish with the bones in water, after first frying some onion and garlic in olive oil in the same pot.

Remove the fish to debone it, then boil the potatoes and vegetables. Finally comes the avgolemono part—Greek for egg and lemon. Whisk the eggs yolks with lemon juice, add a bit of the hot broth, and then pour the mixture back into the soup. Avgolemono is originally Sephardic Jewish. Before lemon the souring agent was verjuice, pomegranate juice, or bitter orange juice.

Bocadillo de Bonito. Sandwich from the Basque Country. Bonito is Atlantic tuna. The base is a layer of mayonaise mixed with 1 tsp lemon juice, grated garlic, 1 tbs olive oil and black pepper. Whisk and spread on the bread. Add the tuna, anchovy and guindilla peppers. I used regular tuna since bonito is not easy to get.

Yúxiāng qiézi (fish-fragrant eggplant) from The Vegan Chinese Kitchen by Hannah Che. From the same book I made Mápó dòufu, or mapo tofu (without meat). Both recipes were really good and I cannot recommend the book by Che enough.

Pork stock for Vietnamese noodle soups. I used three pieces of pig's trotters, charred onions, charred ginger and salt.

I used the stock for Canh cải bó xôi với tôm viên (soup with spinach and shrimp balls). Cải bó xôi is spinach. I made the shrimp balls by smashing shrimp together with the white of spring onion, sugar, black pepper and fish sauce. I didn't mince the shrimp fine enough and the balls were falling apart in the broth. Next time I have to make the balls differently. After boiling the shrimp balls in the broth you add spinach and boil for another 3 minutes. Add some fish sauce in the broth before serving.

Kenyan or Swahili keema and ‘flaky’ chapati. When I was traveling in Kenya keema was on every menu. Especially in the north-eastern province where there was hardly any agriculture. Keema is a ground meat stew. I used lamb. Tomato, potato, green peas and carrots are added to in the stew, as well as Indian spices. The chapati is different from Indian flat breads. After rolling the dough, you grease it with ghee or butter and roll (or stake) the chapati into a long string, roll it in a spiral form and roll it again in a flat round shape. This leads to a flaky chapati.

What I cooked in December and January

I have collected far too many recipes to ever cook them all in my lifetime. From time to time, I will simply post new recipes that I’ve tried and enjoyed, without sharing the full recipe.

Sometimes I only need one celery stalk and end up with an entire bunch left over. That’s how I discovered a great way to use the rest: Iranian khoresht karafs. It is traditionally made with lamb, but using large butter beans instead of meat is just as delicious. The distinctive flavor comes from parsley and mint leaves slowly fried in olive oil until they turn a deep, dark green.

Vietnamese Nam Vang noodle soup, which actually has its origins in Phnom Penh. I kinda cracked the code to making very good noodle soups. It is difficult to make a perfect broth because you need time and many bones. The latter are difficult to buy. I cheat by making an average broth and adding a few table spoons of nam vang fried onion paste you can buy in a jar. I made my own Vietnamese pork meat balls and used quail eggs. Next time I will make fish balls to cut down on meat, but I will still make a pork bone stock.

Cabbage braised in miso butter. Many recipes to be found online.

Briam, the Greek slow roasted vegetables. I ate Briam on Naxos with no sense of smell, now I have to make it at home.

Lobia, Georgian bean stew. I made use of my blue fenugreek I bought in Georgia. The Georgian cucumber tomato salad is made with a dressing of oil, vinegar and walnuts.

Jiaxiang Tofu (家常豆腐), home style fried tofu with black bean sauce. I forgot to rinse the salt preserved black beans and it turned out to be salty. You’ll notice at 3 am when you wake up thirsty. Recipe: fry the tofu in slices. Rinse the black beans (max. 2 tablespoons), fry garlic in oil together with the beans, white part of spring onions and dried chilli peppers. One minute on high heat, add the fried tofu, Shaoxing wine, light soy sauce, sesame oil, ground white pepper, and the green parts of the spring onion. To thicken the sauce: cornstarch.

Urad dal. I bought the dal without the husk which limits the use. It just cooks to a pulp very quickly. I wanted to make Urad Dal Khichdi with Mustard Oil, but you do need the urad dal whole, otherwise the dal is already mush while the rice is not cooked.

Cooking oils to avoid in 2026 because they are too high in saturated fats: coconut oil (pretty tasteless anyway) and palm oil (mostly used in West African cuisine, I only bought this oil a few times). I learned that rapeseed oil is a very new oil for human consumption, it was introduced in the 1970s after low erucic acid canola was bred from rapeseed cultivars of B. napus and B. rapa at the University of Manitoba. I always thought rapeseed oil was ancient to northern Europe but for cooking, animal fat was mostly used or flax seed oil.

Quick pickles. I tried carrot (mixture of water and vinegar) and ate it the next day. At the moment I have a few jars of Georgian Pickled Red Cabbage Wedges in the fridge. They are not salt fermented but pickled in water, vinegar, salt and spiced with coriander seeds, black pepper, garlic and a few chilis.

Swedish Pickled Herring with Beetroot. More than one variation possible. I used crème fraîche, in hindsight sour cream would have been better. It would have been nice to have fresh horseradish. I did use a black radish, and the pickled herring was bought in a jar. Next up: Swedish Mustard Herring (Senapssill).

A can of Fried Dace and Salt Preserved Black Beans is a quick way to cook a meal. You can mix it with rice or – as I did – combine it with You Mai Cai (油麦菜) for a vegetable stir fry. Add garlic and the stems of the You Mai Cai in hot oil, after a few minutes add the leaves. Add the fish and beans (chopped up), a splash of Shaoxing wine (料酒/绍酒) and soy sauce. It takes less than 10 minutes.

Fried celeriac and apple. I fried the slices in oil until golden brown and soft. I serve the apple stacked on the celeriac and sprinkled some salt on it. For a dish with meat: add fried Dutch blood sausage.

Yes, I calmly barbecue in freezing snow.

The second weekend of January, I couldn’t leave Amsterdam because the city hadn’t salted the exit of my parking garage, which was completely iced over. My car wouldn’t have made it up the slope.

I finally used the squid ink I had bought in Sicily—only to realise that the squid I’d bought the day before also had an ink sac.

Spaghetti al nero di seppia. The recipe is simple: gently fry smashed garlic and a pinch of red pepper flakes in plenty of olive oil. Add the squid, cut into small pieces, and cook for about five minutes. Pour in half a glass of white wine, lower the heat, and let it simmer for another 15–20 minutes, until the sauce thickens. I added the ink from the sachet after the wine.

When the squid is tender, add the al dente pasta and a little pasta water, and cook together for a few minutes.

Giuseppe Garibaldi

Once again, I was in Chambéry, France, for work. One of the small pleasures there is the gastronomy. On Saturday evening, I was alone and came across an apéritif and cocktail bar. I ordered a Garibaldo spritz for €10. At the time, I had no idea what I’d ordered. I tasted the drink without knowing its ingredients. Do not confuse this drink with the 1960s cocktail Garibaldi, which consists of Campari and fresh orange juice.

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The Garibaldo turned out to be a beer-based apéritif spritz — a French regional reinterpretation. The listed ingredients are:

Bitter Dolin (a French gentian-based bitter liqueur)
Vermouth rouge Dolin (sweet red vermouth from Chambéry)
Bière blonde Caquot (a local blonde beer)

Ingredients

30 ml (1 oz) Bitter Dolin
30 ml (1 oz) Vermouth rouge Dolin
100–120 ml (3½–4 oz) Bière blonde Caquot – or another crisp, dry blonde ale (5 % ABV range)
Ice cubes
Optional: orange slice or peel garnish

Instructions

Fill a large wine glass or tumbler with ice.
Add the Bitter Dolin and Vermouth rouge Dolin.
Gently pour in the blonde beer, letting the foam settle.
Stir once, very gently — you want to mix but keep some fizz.
Garnish with an orange peel or slice.

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Spare ribs and Sapporo beer

Some of my outdoor cooking gear is a bit too specific, like my Snow Peak cast iron Micro Capsule, about 28 centimeters in length and almost 9 centimeters in width and height. It’s an odd shape for most kitchens.

But since Snow Peak is Japanese I was quite sure I’d find a suitable recipe on a Japanese outdoor cooking account.

Ingredients:

250g of spare ribs ・Sapporo beer 200ml ・2 tablespoons soy sauce ・Marmalade 3 tablespoons ・Garlic tube approximately 5cm ・Ginger tube approximately 5cm.

Now I don’t carry tubes of garlic or ginger, so I’ll just make Indian ginger-garlic paste with a mortar and pestle. Of course it doesn’t need to be Sapporo beer. The marmalade used in the video could have been orange marmalade.

Directions:

Grill the spare ribs. Then add all the ingredients and simmer for 20 minutes.

Aloo Baingan

Add a mixture of cumin and mustard seeds to hot mustard oil (tempering). Then you add chopped onion and the usual ginger-garlic paste. Simmer on a. low fire until the onions are browned. Afterwards chopped tomato’s. In this stage you add spice mixtures (coriander, turmeric and chilli powder). Then you add potato wedged and fry for 10 minutes. Add eggplant and then simmer for 10 minutes. Add a little water (150 ml or so, depending on how much water the eggplant releases) and simmer until the potatoes are done. In my case another 20 minutes. Finish with garam masala.

Serve with pungent cucumber raita with kala namak or black salt.

To make aloo gobi (potato-cauliflower) you can use exactly the same recipe, but you need a little more water to cook the cauliflower.

Mei Cai Kou Rou (梅菜扣肉)

Steamed pork with preserved mustard leaves. Mei cai, is a type of dry pickled Chinese mustard leaves originating from the Hakka people, a Han Chinese subgroup which migrated from Central China into Southern China. You can pair Mei cai in many different ways, but fatty pork belly is a classic.

Soak the mei cai in hot water for half an hour. I used 80 grams of dried mustard leaves. Fry the pork belly (500 gram) in its own fat. You can also keep the pork belly in one big chunk. I used an earthenware cooking pot. Remove the pork and set aside.

In the same pot, add sliced ginger, minced garlic cloves, and the drained mei cai. Stir-fry for about 2-3 minutes until fragrant and return the pork belly to the pot. I added cooked chestnuts as well, but taro root can also be used.

Add: 1 tbsp dark soy sauce for color, 2 tbsp light soy sauce, 2 tbsp Shaoxing wine and (almost) 1 tbsp sugar. The soy sauce is salty enough so I didn’t add any salt.

Add water and simmer for 1 to 2 hours until the pork belly is soft like butter. Add spring onion as a garnish. For an extra layer of flavour add star anise or five spice powder.

Autumn caviar and confit de canard

This early autumn, I attended Nel Schellekens’ open day at the Keunenhuis once again. I tasted Papeda made by two ladies from Indonesia. Papeda is essentially a starchy congee made from sago starch; however, they claimed they couldn't find sago starch, so they used potato starch instead. It is typically eaten with a turmeric fish broth, and the ladies offered a choice between a mackerel and cuttlefish broth. I asked if they used any rawit chili at all, but they said no, explaining, “It’s too spicy for Dutch people.” I was disappointed, as I didn’t taste any complex flavors. However, from what I could see, all the ingredients for Ikan Kuah Kuning can be purchased in the Netherlands. They also gave me a half raw lombok chili to nibble on, but soon my attention turned to the Achterhoekse caviar.

Small agricultural farms are increasingly difficult to sustain in the Netherlands In 1999, a farmer in Laren began farming eels, but due to high investment costs, they switched to farming Russian sturgeon and Siberian sturgeon. They sell both the fish meat and caviar. For €9.00, I bought a small plate that included potato salad, sturgeon fillet, and a spoonful of caviar—quite nice! Now, when I want to treat myself, I know I can buy locally made caviar. They even offer ossetra for less than € 30 for a 20-gram can.

Siberian sturgeon

Orléans

A few days later, my work took me to Orléans in France, a city I had never visited before. In medieval France, many cities owed their existence to bridges over dangerous rivers, and Orléans is no exception. Jeanne d'Arc helped lift a siege during the Hundred Years' War, after which the city prospered, partly due to its proximity to Paris.

The Basilique Cathédrale Sainte-Croix d'Orléans is relatively modern; although a medieval cathedral once stood on this site, construction of the current building began in 1601 and was completed in 1829.

On our first night, we arrived too late for dinner in the city center, but on the second night, we visited Le Brin de Zinc at 62-64 Rue Sainte-Catherine. It’s a small bistro-style restaurant where I ordered confit de canard along with a glass of red wine. I must say, it was simple but very, very tasty. We forgot to order crudités, but we had enjoyed a half-liter glass of ice-cold beer earlier; beer as an entrée—who cares?

I once made confit de canard at home, and it was quite expensive because I had to buy a lot of duck fat.

Xawaash

I started cooking some Somali dishes because I was not satisfied with the quality of a Somali take-away I discovered in Amsterdam. Xawaash is the basic Somali spice mixture. Apparently you pronounce this as ha-wash. The below quantities are enough for a couple of recipes:

Quarter cup cumin seeds
Quarter cup coriander seeds
1 tablespoon black peppercorns
A piece of Cinnamon bark
Half a tablespoon cardamom pods
Half a teaspoon cloves (whole)
One tablespoon turmeric powder

Toast all ingredients except the turmeric powder. Grind everything to a powder and mix in the turmeric.

Beer iyo basal

What can you do with xawaash? Make Beer iyo basal for instance, liver and onions. I bought a pretty nice goat’s liver at the goat farm near my father’s house. Camel liver is better but this is not an option for me. The recipe is very easy.

Fry 2 sliced onions, 1 red bell pepper and 1 green bell pepper in some oil. Add a couple of minced garlic cloves, anything between a teaspoon and a table spoon of xawaash and fry until the onion and peppers are almost done.

Slice the liver in thin slices. Add a bunch of minced fresh cilantro leaves and the goat’s liver. Depending how thin you sliced the liver, this dish should be fried on high heat for just one or two minutes. Don’t overcook liver. It will turn tough. Serve immediately with Somali bread.

Summer is over so I do most of my cooking in the dark now. The photos do not look very good.

Digaag Qumbe

Another dish you make with the spice mixture is a yogurt coconut chicken called Digaag Qumbe. I first blended the following ingredients: tomatoes, any type of spicy pepper, bell pepper, tomato paste, yogurt, and xawaash. Set aside.

Then I fried a mix of onion, garlic and ginger until fragrant. Add the blended tomato mixture. Boil for 10 minutes. Add potato and carrot and cook until half done. Then add pieces of chicken. I used thighs, but chicken with bone should be even better. Add a cup of coconut milk and simmer until everything is done. Adjust for salt.

I have seen version with added brown sugar and ghee at the end of the cooking proces.

Serve with rice, fresh cilantro and fresh banana.

Washoku (和食)

The concept washoku is registered as an UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage for being "Traditional Dietary Cultures of the Japanese".

Washoku is a social practice based on a set of skills, knowledge, practice and traditions related to the production, processing, preparation and consumption of food:

1. A Rich Variety of Fresh Ingredients and Respect for Inherent Flavors
2. Nutritional Balance that Supports a Healthy Diet
3. Expressions of the Beauty of Nature and Changing Seasons
4. An Intimate Relationship with Annual Celebrations

On my first night in the outskirts of Tokyo I had a late night dinner which has some elements of washoku, which is written with two characters: 和 means ‘Japan’ or ‘harmony,’ 食 means ‘food’ or ‘to eat.’ The aesthetic presentation of the food is emphasised.

江鱼仔上湯 Ikan bilis stock

Ikan bilis is Malaysian for the Indonesian ikan teri, which are dried small anchovy in English. You can make a simple stock with just a few ingredients as a basis for soups.

Soak about ten red dates in hot water and take the seed out. Quarter half a yellow onion and boil these in 1,5 liter of water.

While this is boiling soak 100 gram of dried anchovy in water to desalt the fish. Dry the fish thoroughly and fry the fish in a little oil until light brown together with a smashed piece of ginger.

Add the fish and ginger to the pot with the dates and onion and boil for no more than 15 minutes. Any longer the stock might turn bitter. Put the stock through a sieve and cool,

Mee Sua Soup 阿嫲面线

One recipe you can make with this stock is Mee Sua Soup. Mee Sua is wheat vermicelli. For this soup wheat is used instead of rice vermicelli. There are many variations on the recipe. Basically you add pork meat balls, sliced pork, pork liver, fish balls, green vegetables, like choy sum, and a raw egg into the boiling broth. For taste drip with sesame oil and Chinese cooking wine just before serving.

You must first boil the noodles separately because they are quite starchy. Just cook them for 20 seconds and rinse in cold water to remove the starch. Add the noodles to the soup after the egg is poached and the meat balls are cooked, otherwise the noodles get soggy. Vegetables are also best blanched separately first: rinse in cold water.

The pork meat balls are very easy to make by mixing minced meat with cornflour, soy sauce and some white pepper.

Garnishing: spring onion and crispy fried shallots. I discovered that frying shallot on high heat ensures crispiness but the moment between light brown and burnt only lasts seconds.

Thai green curry

When you try to find a recipe for Thai green curry the instructions are often to first fry the curry paste in oil. Not this recipe from the backyard of Mark Wien’s mother in law. She dissolves the curry paste simply in water. I decided to test this recipe. I used prepackaged curry paste and didn’t make any photos. The result was very encouraging and I will make this recipe again with self made curry paste. In Thailand this dish is not called a curry but แกงเขียวหวานไก่.

Ingredients for the paste:

50 grams Thai green chilies (พริกขี้หนูเขียว)
1 head garlic (กระเทียม)
3 shallots - small shallots about 2 tbsp in total (หอมแดง)
1 thumb sized chunk of galangal (ข่า)
5 cilantro roots (รากผักชี) coriander
1 kaffir lime - just the peel (ผิวมะกรูด)
2 stalks lemongrass (ตะไคร้)
1 tbsp. white peppercorns (พริกไทยขาว)
1 tsp. coriander seed (ลูกผักชี)
1 tsp. cumin seed (ยี่หร่า)
1 tsp. salt (เกลือ)
1 tbsp. shrimp paste (กะปิ

In fact I tested this recipe twice. The second time I used tofu instead of chicken and the result was not good. You need the flavour of the chicken bones. If you want to make green curry tofu you need to find a different recipe.

You need to dissolve the curry paste in about half a liter of water (2 cups). Add the chicken. This should be chicken including the bones, so buy a whole chicken. You want flavour.

When the chicken is boiling add a generous amount of kaffir lime leaves.

The green curry also needs vegetables. Thai egg plant is a first choice. Wash and quarter the egg plants.

Add the egg plant to the chicken and mix. By now almost all the water has evaporated.

The trick apparently is to use coconut cream instead of coconut milk. She has a rather large bag of coconut cream. The coconut cream you buy in a package is more concentrated: add enough water. You want about 3 cups of liquid.

Simmer the chicken, egg plant and coconut cream until done. Add a big hand full of Thai sweet basil.

For some colour add sliced spur chilis. In The Netherlands you can buy this under the Indonesian name lombok. They are not spicy.

After adding the lombok and the sweet basil leaves the curry is done.

Bhindi ki sabji

This recipe for fried okra, bhindi in Hindi, is dead easy. With a few tricks the okra will not get slimy but stays crunchy. In Louisiana gumbo soup the sliminess is a feature, but not in this dish. Okra is native to East-Africa. The amount of ingredients for this stir-fry is quite limited. On the right hand side in the photo below the fresh ingredients: okra, red onion, garlic, chili pepper and cumin seeds. On the left side: coriander powder, turmeric and salt.

Before frying, wash the okra and pat completely dry before cutting the okra in thick slices. When the okra is dry it will not get slimy. Like in most Indian recipes, first fry the cumin. I used mustard oil for an extra layer of flavour.

Next add the garlic, red onion and chili pepper.

When the onion is translucent add the okra. Never use a lid. A lid traps moist and the okra will get slimy.

When the okra is almost done season with coriander powder, turmeric and salt. Fry until the okra is completely done.

Karela ki sabji

This Punjabi recipe would be called “Karela ki sabzi” in Urdu, sabji being the Persian loan word in Hindi for ‘vegetable’. Karela is the Hindi word for bitter melon, which looks quite different in India from the Chinese variety I know as Surinamese ‘sopropo’. I found these karela in Amsterdam in a small corner shop called Sara Supermarkt & Slagerij on Eerste Oosterparkstraat number 154.

For this recipe you cut the Kerala is small slices and remove the bitter inner core and seeds for each slice. Wash the slices in water and mix with salt. Let the salt remove some of the moist of the vegetable and drain well. Make sure the slices are dry before the next step.

For the frying proces I used a neutral oil. I reserved the mustard oil for the last part of this recipe. Fry until somewhat crispy. Set aside.

Slice a few onions or shallot and fry until fragrant. Set aside.

Now the flavours are introduced. Puree or grate a few, or one big, fresh tomatoes and set aside.

In mustard oil fry the following:

1 teaspoon cumin seeds, 1 teaspoon fennel seeds, 1 teaspoon fenugreek.

When the seeds start to splutter add the pureed tomato. Add 1 teaspoon chili powder, 1 teaspoon coriander powder, half a teaspoon of turmeric and 1 teaspoon amchur (mango seed powder). Mix well until the oil separates.

Add the fried karela, mix and add the fried onions. Adjust for salt. Cook for another 4 minutes.

Serve with chapati and a chutney, this garlic chutney is great. This recipe is a keeper. It’s just perfect for me. The taste is amazing.

Water spinach / kangkung / ong choy / rau muống

Water spinach is native to Southeast Asia and can be found in practically any kitchen in the region. In Cantonese it is called ong choy and in Vietnam rau muống. Thankfully, it is also available in The Netherlands but hard to find outside a big city. Most recipes are very easy. I will try quite a few but I started with an Indonesian recipe: Kangkung Tumis Terasi (“stir-fry shrimp paste water spinach“).

Kangkung Tumis Terasi

Make a spice paste:

• 2-5 red lombok

• 1-5 red raw or bird-eye chilis.

• Shallot.

• 4 cloves garlic.

• 1 tablespoon dried anchovies, toasted or fried.

• 1 teaspoon terasi.

You simply fry the spice paste in oil, add some chopped tomatoes, a little water, salt and the water spinach cut in 3-5 centimetre long stalks.

Just stir-fry until the stems are tender.

Shashlik / шашлык

The recipe is almost too simple to post. Its origins are rather interesting. The word shashlik entered English from a Russian word, which was borrowed from a Turkic language. Shish means skewer, shishlik can be translated as "skewerable”. Its origins are from Central-Asia but by the 20th century it was very common in the Russian Empire. Originally the meat would have been lamb meat, but depending on your religion pork works really well. I got a 300 gram piece of Schweinekamm with plenty of fat. I cut the meat in big cuncks and marinated the pork in water with salt and cumin powder. The water evaporates on the fire leaving the salt and cumin behind in the meat.

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The shashlik I know is mainly from German restaurants we used to visit as a family in the 1970s or 80s. The meat is skewered with onion and paprika. All you have to do is keep the temperature of the charcoal low enough not to burn the meat, and turn the skewers often!

I simply served all three skewers to myself with a yoghurt sauce made of: yoghurt, grated cucumber, raw garlic, salt and cumin powder. This was just perfect.

Nasi Lemak

Due to the terrible summer of 2024, up until half of July at least, I was dreaming of Asian night markets and I stumbled upon an old video of Anthony Bourdain on Penang Island, Malaysia. While the bad weather almost warrants a premature suicide, I opted for making nasi lemak (rice coconut) instead. It is a simple dish but the individual elements are time consuming. I started with the sambal. It’s a sambal made from dried chillies.

Blend the following ingredients to a fine paste:

• 50g dried red chillies, almost any type will do, but soak them in water before blending.

• 50g or 1 large red onion

• 30g or 5 cloves garlic

• 30g or 1 tbsp ginger

• 2 stalks lemongrass, inner core.

• 20g or 1 tbsp belachan or trassi, toasted

• 2 tbsps of fried ikan bilis (dried anchovies), fried

• 1/4 cup oil to blend.

You also need to prepare the following: 1 tbsp tamarind paste, 50 gram palm sugar, a bit of salt. Mix with 3 tablespoons water.

Fry the paste on a low heat until the oil separates from the paste. This is called “pecah minyak”. Then add the tamarind mixture and taste if it needs adjustment in saltiness or sweetness.

While you can keep nasi lemak very simple, just serving sambal, tiny fried fish (you buy these salted; either fry them in hot oil straight from the package or wash them to get rid of most of the salt) and peanuts, boiled egg and cucumber, you can also serve this dish with a piece of chicken.

Chicken

It is important to cut the chicken in rather small pieces. Use chicken including the bone, just forget about chicken breast. Fry the chicken pieces in oil until the skin is nicely browned. Set the chicken aside.

Prepare a spice mixture of:

1 tsp coriander seeds, whole
2 tsp cumin seeds, whole
1 cinnamon stick
2 cloves
Lime leaves.

Prepare the following ingredients:

One chopped onion
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
3 slices chopped ginger, finely chopped
2 Birdseye chillies, finely chopped
2 tomatoes chopped.
Lemongrass
Trassi/belachan
1 tsp chilli powder
1 tsp turmeric
Coconut milk

Method

Add the spice mixture in the hot oil you used for frying the chicken., cook for a couple of minutes.

Add the chopped onions and brown the onion for 5 minutes. Add the garlic, ginger, chilli, chilli powder and turmeric powder and mix while stirring.

Add the chopped tomatoes, salt and if needed a little water. Stir until you have a sauce. Add trassi and the lemon grass.

Pour in the coconut milk and bring to a boil. Add the chicken pieces and simmer until the chicken is tender. Add water if needed, or chicken stock.

Jamaican rum punch

Mix in a mixing glass: ice cubes, 60 ml Wray & Nephew White Overproof Rum, 30 ml Appleton Estate dark rum, 1 teaspoon grenadine, juice of a whole lime; fill the glass with 100% pineapple juice. Add some spice: 1/4 teaspoon pimento. Pour in a glass. Note: a total of 90 ml rum makes a very strong punch!

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Arroz de Tamboril

Another easy one pot dish. Tamboril is monkfish (Dutch: zeeduivel), which has a firm texture needed for a recipe like this. I used my earthenware pot on an open fire.

Add olive oil, garlic, bayleaf and chopped onion to a pot (optional: celery stick) fry. Add diced tomatoes once the onion is soft. Stir in Portugese carolino rice, coat the rice with the oil and add a glass of white wine. Finally pour in a generous amount of fish stock (1 - 1,5 liter).

Simmer for 30 minutes. Add the monkfish and fresh prawns, adjust for water, and simmer for another 7 minutes or so.

When ready you can stir in some butter, add black pepper and salt to taste. One thing I noticed is that the rice will soak up a lot of moisture after the cooking proces. Serve with lemon and fresh cilantro.