Author: Chef M

Packaged flake coconut is perfectly fine here, but if you ever feel the need to crack a fresh coconut, this is the recipe for using it. Coarsely shredding it on the biggest blade of a shredder gives you a chewier texture in the finished bars and lets the coconut flavor shine through. The additional sugar in packaged flake coconut isn’t necessary when you’ve got so much brown sugar already in the batter. These have an intense, caramel taste that makes them just about the perfect blondie, but I also love them with the addition of a cup (no more) of…

As India has many villages, every geographical area has different vegetables and pulses growing. According to the availability of the vegetables and grains, farmers make the best use of them by including all of them in their diet during that particular season. Here in South India we have many farmers’ dishes that contain seasonal green leaf vegetables like spinach, leaf of radish, dill, and many more, using them in different combinations with tuvar dhal, mung bean dhal and many other beans and dhals. In the southern part of Karnataka farmers use rice and ragi as a main dish with the…

You can use a variety of bread for your burgers, but when you are looking for a reliable and winning concept, classic brioche is the burger bun favored by most. Light and with a thin crust, it’s especially suited to veggie burgers, which can be overpowered by heavier bread. If you want a funky color, try adding a tablespoon of charcoal powder for a black bun or spirulina for a green bun.

I couldn’t write a Polish recipe book without sneaking in a few cabbage recipes, and I hope they will convince you that cabbage is a great vehicle for flavour, as well as being very inexpensive. This is a lovely side dish, flavoured with caraway, which is a typical Polish flavour. If you’re not keen on caraway, try fennel seeds instead. I don’t think we eat enough red cabbage; it’s very underrated and usually only appears at Christmas time. Try this with any of the pork dishes in this book, or even the roast duck – it works really well. If…

I would travel the world in search of the perfect tuna steak. It’s my most favourite food ever. And the fancy guac is worth doing even if I can never, ever find fresh coriander when I need it. I think an alert goes out to the shops in my area to take it off the shelves just for a laugh.

This quick vegetarian recipe makes breakfast for the whole family in minutes. These muffins will keep in the fridge for a few days or, you could make the mixture ahead of time, store it in the fridge for a day or two, and then bake them as required. Feel free to swap the kale for a similar vegetable, such as spinach, bok choy, or zucchini.

We often make these at River Cottage, usually to serve with cheese, but they are also delicious with cold meats, particularly pâtés and terrines. We prefer a less sweet biscuit with meats, so we reduce the sugar content slightly. I have given both options here.