Can curry paste be religious?

This is translated as “Muslim” curry paste. It may have been brought in by Persian traders. "Mussulman" is arguably another word for Muslim. It’s interesting – either way it feels like it comes from well to the West of Thailand.

Ripped off from Dhal

Another made-up Mexican side dish because I don't really like the limited number I have in my Mexican cookbook

“We don’t have this in Mexico, it’s an American thing. But if we did it would be like this . . ."

This is a briliant recipe based on a recipe by Lourdes Nicholls who says something along the lines of “We don’t have this in Mexico, it’s an American thing. But if we did it would be like this . . .

One thing you can pretty much guarantee you can do better than a restaurant or pub can

I don't know what it is - cold fat; raw potatoes; crowding them in the pan... But anyway they are just always better at home

Made it up before I knew it had a name. Not authentic but it went down well

I couldn't anything I fancied in the Mexican cookbook - seems like all the veg had cheese and/or bread of some sort so I thought about ratatouille with Mexican flavours instead. The Spanish do something called Pisto but it's very tomato-ey and I wanted it a bit less gloopy

Makes me happy when we have this: "Tonight we're dhaling, Darling"

You've got to love this stuff. It costs pennies; you can make more than you need and it will keep; and it is delicious!

What do you mean you don't speak Thai? You eat Green Curry don't you?

You can buy perfectly reasonable thai green curry paste and the shop-bought stuff includes kaffir lime leaves which makes life easier, But Thai food is all about freshness; bright, fresh flavours - herbs, chillis lemongrass. You should try it

Crazy, mixed-up squid

Yep, you normally cook squid for a short amount of time and when you go over it's like an inner-tube. Squid is like a lot of other ingredients; lots of people don't like it but that's because a lot of people including restaurants don't know how to cook it.

Sunny Sunday in Frigiliana

This is a nice bean stew that may or may not be “authentic” but uses Spanish flavours and since I’m in Spain cooking it with things I bought here, I’m claiming its authenticity.

If you like cheese, you like peas, you'll love Cheezy Peaz!

Paneer is now widely available in supermarkets and is a bit like halloumi in that it stays together when you cook it, so if you fry it in spices it will collect them like tofu would

Panch means 5 in Bengali and is a beautiful thing.

Rendag-diggidy-dang-a-dang, baby: Cook beef in coconut milk until there isn't any liquid left

This is adapted from Charmaine Solomon's Complete Asian Cookbook

Anything but plain - you've got to love them Mexicans!

This is the same principle as Plain Rice where you measure the rice and liquid beforehand and cook it until the liquid is gone.