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Category: Vegetarian

Area: French

Ingredients:

• 1 tbs Rapeseed Oil
• 2 finely chopped Leek
• 1 large Courgettes
• 1L Vegetable Stock
• 400g Cannellini Beans
• 200g Green Beans
• 3 chopped Tomatoes
• 3 chopped Garlic Clove
• Small pack Basil
• 40g Parmesan

Instructions:

Heat the oil in a large pan and fry the leeks and courgette for 5 mins to soften. Pour in the stock, add three-quarters of the haricot beans with the green beans, half the tomatoes, and simmer for 5-8 mins until the vegetables are tender.
Meanwhile, blitz the remaining beans and tomatoes, the garlic and basil in a food processor (or in a bowl with a stick blender) until smooth, then stir in the Parmesan. Stir the sauce into the soup, cook for 1 min, then ladle half into bowls or pour into a flask for a packed lunch. Chill the remainder. Will keep for a couple of days.

Category: Vegetarian

Area: French

Ingredients:

• 1 tbs Rapeseed Oil
• 2 finely chopped Leek
• 1 large Courgettes
• 1L Vegetable Stock
• 400g Cannellini Beans
• 200g Green Beans
• 3 chopped Tomatoes
• 3 chopped Garlic Clove
• Small pack Basil
• 40g Parmesan

Instructions:

Heat the oil in a large pan and fry the leeks and courgette for 5 mins to soften. Pour in the stock, add three-quarters of the haricot beans with the green beans, half the tomatoes, and simmer for 5-8 mins until the vegetables are tender.
Meanwhile, blitz the remaining beans and tomatoes, the garlic and basil in a food processor (or in a bowl with a stick blender) until smooth, then stir in the Parmesan. Stir the sauce into the soup, cook for 1 min, then ladle half into bowls or pour into a flask for a packed lunch. Chill the remainder. Will keep for a couple of days.

Category: Beef

Area: Malaysian

Ingredients:

• 1/4 lb Minced Beef
• 1 Onion
• 3 Eggs
• 1 tbs Chilli
• 1/2 Baguette
• To taste Salt
• To taste Pepper
• Top Mayonnaise

Instructions:

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl.
Heat a pan or griddle with a little vegetable oil.
Pour the mixture onto the pan and place a piece of open-faced baguette on top.
Press on the bread with a spatula and grill for 2 minutes.
Turn the bread over to make it a little crispy.
Remove from pan and cut the bread into small portions.
Add mayonnaise and/or Sambal before cutting the sandwich (optional).

Category: Dessert

Area: British

Ingredients:

• 450ml Vegetable Oil
• 400g Plain Flour
• 2 tsp Bicarbonate Of Soda
• 550ml Sugar
• 5 Eggs
• ½ tsp Salt
• 2 tsp Cinnamon
• 500g grated Carrots
• 150g Walnuts
• 200g Cream Cheese
• 150g Caster Sugar
• 100g Butter

Instructions:

For the carrot cake, preheat the oven to 160C/325F/Gas 3. Grease and line a 26cm/10in springform cake tin.
Mix all of the ingredients for the carrot cake, except the carrots and walnuts, together in a bowl until well combined. Stir in the carrots and walnuts.
Spoon the mixture into the cake tin and bake for 1 hour 15 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. Remove the cake from the oven and set aside to cool for 10 minutes, then carefully remove the cake from the tin and set aside to cool completely on a cooling rack.
Meanwhile, for the icing, beat the cream cheese, caster sugar and butter together in a bowl until fluffy. Spread the icing over the top of the cake with a palette knife.

Category: Vegan

Area: American

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 cup Self-raising Flour
• 1/2 cup coco sugar
• 1/3 cup raw cacao
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 2 flax eggs
• 1/2 cup almond milk
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 cup boiling water

Instructions:

Simply mix all dry ingredients with wet ingredients and blend altogether. Bake for 45 min on 180 degrees. Decorate with some melted vegan chocolate

Category: Starter

Area: British

Ingredients:

• 2 tblsp Rapeseed Oil
• 1 finely chopped Onion
• 1 Celery
• 1 sliced Leek
• 1 medium Potatoes
• 1 knob Butter
• 1 litre hot Vegetable Stock
• 1 Head chopped Broccoli
• 140g Stilton Cheese

Instructions:

Heat the rapeseed oil in a large saucepan and then add the onions. Cook on a medium heat until soft. Add a splash of water if the onions start to catch.

Add the celery, leek, potato and a knob of butter. Stir until melted, then cover with a lid. Allow to sweat for 5 minutes. Remove the lid.

Pour in the stock and add any chunky bits of broccoli stalk. Cook for 10 – 15 minutes until all the vegetables are soft.

Add the rest of the broccoli and cook for a further 5 minutes. Carefully transfer to a blender and blitz until smooth. Stir in the stilton, allowing a few lumps to remain. Season with black pepper and serve.

Category: Dessert

Area: British

Ingredients:

• 3 Orange
• 1 tbs Demerara Sugar
• 2 tbs Grand Marnier
• 300g Christmas Pudding
• 500g Custard
• 250g Mascarpone
• 284ml Double Cream
• Handful Flaked Almonds
• Grated Dark Chocolate

Instructions:

Peel the oranges using a sharp knife, ensuring all the pith is removed. Slice as thinly as possible and arrange over a dinner plate. Sprinkle with the demerara sugar followed by the Grand Marnier and set aside.

Crumble the Christmas pudding into large pieces and scatter over the bottom of a trifle bowl. Lift the oranges onto the pudding in a layer and pour over any juices.

Beat the mascarpone until smooth, then stir in the custard. Spoon the mixture over the top of the oranges.

Lightly whip the cream and spoon over the custard. Sprinkle with the flaked almonds and grated chocolate. You can make this a day in advance if you like, chill until ready to serve.

Category: Pork

Area: Chinese

Ingredients:

• 1lb Pork
• 3 chopped Garlic Clove
• 1 tsp Ginger
• 1 tbs Soy Sauce
• 1 tsp Sesame Seed Oil
• 3 finely chopped Carrots
• 3 finely chopped Celery
• 6 chopped Spring Onions
• 1 Packet Wonton Skin
• Fry Oil
• Bottle Water

Instructions:

Combine pork, garlic, ginger, soy sauce, sesame oil, and vegetables in a bowl.
Separate wonton skins.
Place a heaping teaspoon of filling in the center of the wonton.
Brush water on 2 borders of the skin, covering 1/4 inch from the edge.
Fold skin over to form a triangle, sealing edges.
Pinch the two long outside points together.
Heat oil to 450 degrees and fry 4 to 5 at a time until golden.
Drain and serve with sauce.

Category: Beef

Area: Egyptian

Ingredients:

• 1lb Beef
• 1 Onion
• 1 Chicken Stock Cube
• 2 Tomatoes
• 4 Garlic Clove
• 1 tbs Tomato Puree
• 2 cups Rice
• 1/4 cup Noodles
• 1/4 cup Butter
• 2 cups Olive Oil
• 1 Pita Bread
• 1 tbs Cumin
• 3 tbs White Wine Vinegar
• To taste Salt
• To taste Pepper

Instructions:

To prepare bread for bottom of dish: Take pita bread and rip into bite size pieces. In a frying pan, add about a 1/4 stick of butter, add bread pieces and fry until golden brown and crisp. Put these pieces in a glass baking dish, preferably a square sized dish. Set aside.
Then add to same pan, a little more butter, salt, approximately 2 cloves of crushed fresh garlic, and a teaspoon or so of cumin stir around a bit until you can smell aroma, then add fried bread pieces to this mixture, stir to coat bread and put back into glass baking dish. Set aside.
To prepare meat: put some butter in a pot, stir fry meat until brown, add 1 onion quartered, salt & pepper, 1 cube of chicken bouillon and water to cover meat. Bring to a boil, turn down to simmer, cover and cook until tender, approximately 2 hours. After meat has cooled, take out chunks of meat and put in a bowl, set aside. Reserve soup from the meat separately.
To prepare the rice: Put some butter into a pot, add shareya (fideo noodles) like a handful or so, keep stirring until golden brown, not too dark, but very golden. Then add two cups of rice, stir a little bit until some of the rice turns an opaque white. Add 2-1/4 cups of water and salt to taste. Bring to a boil, cover and turn down to simmer, cook until tender. Test the rice tenderness after about 35 minutes.
Now take some of the soup from meat and add to the top of the bread pieces in baking dish to saturate.Add cooked rice on top of bread pieces. Slowly spoon remainder of soup onto rice, looking at glass dish sides to see level of soup, should reach just to top of rice, don’t worry, this doesn’t have to be exact. Now you’re ready to make the sauce and fry the meat to put on top.
To prepare red sauce: In a pan, add a little oil or butter, crushed tomato, a half teaspoon of tomato paste, salt & pepper, 2 cloves of fresh crushed garlic and cumin. Add also approximately 3 tablespoons of vinegar, stir this until you smell aroma and it is a bit smooth. It should be a bit thick, not watery, but if too thick you can add a bit of water. Spread with a wooden spoon atop the rice to cover.
To fry meat: In a pan add a bit of butter or oil, the meat, just a touch of tomato paste, about a tablespoon of fresh crushed garlic, salt & pepper, a teaspoon of cumin. Cook until meat is golden fried.
Spoon this atop the rice and serve. Enjoy!

Category: Chicken

Area: Jamaican

Ingredients:

• 12 Chicken Thighs
• 1/2 Lime
• 1 bunch Spring Onions
• 1 tbs chopped Ginger
• 3 cloves Garlic
• 1/2 Onion
• 3 chopped Red Chilli
• 1/2 teaspoon Thyme
• Juice of 1 Lime
• 2 tbs Soy Sauce
• 2 tbs Vegetable Oil
• 3 tbs Brown Sugar
• 1 tbs Allspice
• 200g Basmati Rice
• 400g Coconut Milk
• 1 bunch Spring Onions
• 2 sprigs Thyme
• 2 cloves chopped Garlic
• 1 tbs Allspice
• 800g Kidney Beans

Instructions:

To make the jerk marinade, combine all the ingredients in a food processor along with 1 tsp salt, and blend to a purée. If you’re having trouble getting it to blend, just keep turning off the blender, stirring the mixture, and trying again. Eventually it will start to blend up – don’t be tempted to add water, as you want a thick paste.

Taste the jerk mixture for seasoning – it should taste pretty salty, but not unpleasantly, puckering salty. You can now throw in more chillies if it’s not spicy enough for you. If it tastes too salty and sour, try adding in a bit more brown sugar until the mixture tastes well balanced.

Make a few slashes in the chicken thighs and pour the marinade over the meat, rubbing it into all the crevices. Cover and leave to marinate overnight in the fridge.

If you want to barbecue your chicken, get the coals burning 1 hr or so before you’re ready to cook. Authentic jerked meats are not exactly grilled as we think of grilling, but sort of smoke-grilled. To get a more authentic jerk experience, add some wood chips to your barbecue, and cook your chicken over slow, indirect heat for 30 mins. To cook in the oven, heat to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Put the chicken pieces in a roasting tin with the lime halves and cook for 45 mins until tender and cooked through.

While the chicken is cooking, prepare the rice & peas. Rinse the rice in plenty of cold water, then tip it into a large saucepan with all the remaining ingredients except the kidney beans. Season with salt, add 300ml cold water and set over a high heat. Once the rice begins to boil, turn it down to a medium heat, cover and cook for 10 mins.

Add the beans to the rice, then cover with a lid. Leave off the heat for 5 mins until all the liquid is absorbed. Squeeze the roasted lime over the chicken and serve with the rice & peas, and some hot sauce if you like it really spicy.